Couple of questions - problem with the bonnet catch and opinions on lowering

[Scuzi]

I'm going to use this thread for a few questions so sorry if it's a bit random. The main question is to do with the bonnet catch. When I pull the bonnet release in the footwell, the bonnet pops up slightly and a plastic lever shoots out from the grille. To lift the bonnet you pull on this plastic lever which releases the catch and lets you open the bonnet. Recently when doing a random oil and fluid check, I pulled the bonnet release in the footwell but the plastic lever didn't shoot out from the grill. The only way I can open the bonnet now is to squeeze my hand into the gap and fiddle about until I can lift the catch which can take a bit of time, especially with my chubby fingers!
Here's some pics:

The red arrow is pointing to the plastic lever which shoots out when the bonnet release is pulled. This lever is subsequently pulled while lifting the bonnet to release the bonnet catch.

Here's a view from the top. I've played around with the mechanism but even when I try to manually push the lever out it just doesn't look like it goes. It should move out about two inches but I can't figure out what is blocking it.
The blue arrow is pointing to where the plastic lever connects to the catch mechanism and the red arrow indicates the direction in which the lever is supposed to shoot out.

The car is a 2003 Seat Toledo 20VT Sport. Any ideas on how I can get this fixed? The car is still under warranty but I don't fancy having to leave it in for a day when the problem is something simple I could fix myself.


While I was out taking pics of the catch I caught a few of the car in its dirty state. I think it came with that diamond coat thing because no matter how dirty it is, it still manages to shine. What I want to know is do you think the car will look good on 30mm lowering springs on the standard rims? I may be changing the car in 6 months - 1 year so I don't want to fork out for bigger alloys. I was hoping lowering it might make it look a bit better as well as help the handling a bit.

(BTW the white specs in the pictures are those seed things which float about. There's millions of them blowing around everywhere!)

Thanks

 

[Griffo]

My housemate has a Leon Diesel Cupra thing of the same age (and colour :/ ).

Same thing happened on it a few months ago. We tried pulling at the bugger with various clampy implements to no avail, ended up taking it to the local Seat garage, and ..well as far as my friend can remember it just needed greasing, no new parts.

I'm not sure where it got greased or if any panels etc needed to be ripped off to do it :/

So the only thing I have of any use really is it shouldn't cost much to fix!

 

[Scuzi]

Thanks for that
I think you might be onto something. There's a lot of grit and dirt in and around that area (as you can see from the pics) from the winter roads so it's very likely that the mechanism has seized somewhere. I'll have another fiddle with some grease today to see if I can get anywhere with it.

Anyone else?

 

[oweneades]

As above it just sounds like its jamming due to lack of grease (sort of seized).

On the lowering front I wouldn't bother. That is a nice car as is. Lowering it would make it harder so sell (seeing as its 'normal' target market is family etc).

I would express this seeing as you are thinking about selling it.