Bonnet Safety Catch - Spring position

[redduster]

Removing the broken safety catch I checked where the spring was located, but reassembling with a new one, when placing the spring back as it came does not appear to give the catch any tension.

Checking the web shows the spring in a different position from when I removed it so are there different springs for different models or am I just being overly cautious in reassembling it?

Cheers

[Gareth]

The spring does need to be under some tension - not a vast amount, but it is there the hold the rod in the closed position. You know that, already, of course; but indulge me for the sake of completeness.

You may find that the spring you have is a different length to ones used on other cars - I know the one on Phyllis is because when it went PING! (as these things are wont to do) I didn't have the correct spare and used whatever happened to be in my 'box of bits'. I'm sure many others have done the same over the years.

[simmitc]

If I read correctly, Gareth is talking about the spring on the bonnet release rod that you pull from inside the car, but the enquiry relates to the upright catch in the centre of the front panel. The spring for the safety catch has one leg pressing against the catch, and one against the panel where it is mounted. It needs to be pre-tensioned to ensure that the catch is spring-loaded. The most common mistake is to fit the spring without pre-loading it.

[redduster]

Thanks for the advice.
Now fixed when I used some logic and turned it around fitted and works perfectly, exactly as simmitc described..