Hi guys,

This is my first post to the forum, although I have enjoyed reading other listings over the years. I have a problem I was hoping you all could help me on.

I have a 2002 Audi A4 1.8T Quattro. My hood release cable appears to have detached again for the second time inside the engine compartment. I am pretty sure of this because my release lever inside the passenger compartment has no tension and moves freely. When I pull the lever back and forth with my head outside of the car, I can hear a slight sound of the cable moving back and forth in the engine compartment, however, it does not unlock the hood latch.

When this happened before, the car happened to be at a smog shop, so they were able to hoist the car up on the lift and somehow got the lever open from underneath. My car is at my house now though and I do not even have a jack to be able to try to get to the latch from underneath the car.

I have heard that there is a way to get to the hood release by going through the front grill. Is this true? If so, can someone tell me how to actually get it off. I tried using a screwdriver wrapped in a thin cloth. I was able to get the chrome trim off, however, I am not sure where to pry off the black grill.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I need to get into the engine so that I can refill the steering fluid which is very low (starting to get a lot of whining when turning the wheel). I need to find this leak of course, but that's another post for now.

Thanks in advance for any ideas. I really am hoping to get this fixed without having to spend an arm and a leg!

-WB