[eightcount]

'09 135i. I went to open my hood and felt no resistance when I pulled the hood release lever. With my hood closed I removed my passenger side kidney grill and pulled the cable from there which released the catch and allowed me to open the hood.

Inspection of the cable and mechanism didn't help me to identify the issue. I opened the junction box and separated the two cables. The hood release lever seems to be moving the upper cable (from driver seat to junction box) through its full range. With the hood latch closed and from the point at the junction box I pulled on the lower cable (junction box to catch) which did release the catch. So neither cable has broken.

Is the issue most likely just a cable that has stretched too much over time? Is there anything else I can test to help identify the root cause? What is involved with changing the cable?

Thanks in advance.