Well it's open.
I opened it by looping a piece of webbing around the release handle.
This gave me
something that I could really grip and pull hard on. By pulling hard in
a pulsing manner,
the bonnet finally popped. It was still a fight to get it opened. Once I
had it up, the reason
for the problem was clear. One of the two bolts that secures the striker
part of the latch to
the bonnet was down in the battery compartment. With that bolt missing,
the striker
must have deformed when the spring was compressed.
The threads on the bolt were stripped off. The PO or the PO's mechanic
must have
over torqued it. Lucky me.
Thanks for the great advice, I considered each one carefully before
acting. Interestingly,
each one was a unique approach to the problem. They probably belong in a
FAQ somewhere.
Steve
74 TR6
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