The bonnet catch on my SZ was a bit lazy when I bought it, but this gradually became worse until it stopped opening the bonnet unless a block of wood was put behind the lever to keep it in the "open" position.

The fault seemed obvious, as the bonnet release handle would return to it's original position when pulled, I suspected it wasn't pulling enough on the latch mechanism and a simple adjustment would eliminate the annoying problem.

This is what I did....

The clips look like this, they just pull straight out, but might be stiff.

Its a good idea to grease the holes to allow for easier removal in future

If this happens, simply remove the female part from the grill and gently bend the metal clip outwards using a small screwdriver.

This will create a bit more grip in the panel when reinserted.

Once this was uncovered it was clear the mechanism might not need adjusting after all, it was filthy and crunchy when operated!

Lots of grit around here too, this won't help.

Undo the four screws shown to remove the lock mechanism.

Here it is, clean everything up and relubricate, I used Lithium grease.

For easier access you can undo the single cable retaining screw and remove for cleaning on the bench .

The bonnet part also needed cleaning, push the spring upwards, clean and regrease.

Also pull out the cable and grease the wire, pushing it in and out a few times.

The bonnet catch now works perfectly with no adjustment necessary. All the muck and grit stopped the catch moving as freely and as much as necessary, a simple clean and lube was the solution to allow full release.

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