Hood rattle help please

[dzaster89]

First off i know there's a thread on here on on rattling but i can't seem to find any info on there on my specific problem. So here goes, my car is an automatic and whenever i am at a stop light the hood rattles like crazy if i shift it to neutral the rattling noise gets lower but still there. Other than this the car runs perfectly smooth. Not really a car person so i really don't know how to start tackling this problem. Anyone else have a similar problem any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[pasadena_commut]

First off i know there's a thread on here on on rattling but i can't seem to find any info on there on my specific problem. So here goes, my car is an automatic and whenever i am at a stop light the hood rattles like crazy if i shift it to neutral the rattling noise gets lower but still there. Other than this the car runs perfectly smooth. Not really a car person so i really don't know how to start tackling this problem. Anyone else have a similar problem any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I have experienced two kinds of hood rattles.

The first was after getting the car back from the body shop after being rear ended. In that case the hood was closed but not latched. There was nothing wrong with it, they just had not shut it all the way. (I am too ashamed to say how long it took me to notice this.) If you slam the hood shut and you can still lift the hood at the latch then the latch may be broken.

The second was due to the two cylindrical rubber mounts under the leading edge of the hood. Those were out of adjustment. (The poor car had been dinged before I got it and the hood was never quite right afterwards.) Those can be adjusted up or down by turning them by hand. If you can move the hood up and down away from the latch those are probably too low on that side, raise it.

Other than that, it might not actually be the hood. Anything up front that rattles can sound like it is the hood. The best diagnostic is to have somebody else sit in the driver's seat as if at a stop light, while you go out and prod the hood to see what is actually shaking.

 

[dzaster89]

I think it might be the latch because the sound is definitely coming from the hood. My rubber mounts are all the way up and i still get the rattle. Its really loud at times hopefully i can get this fixed.

 

[walkingchaos]

check the 4 bolts holding the hood to the brackets (2 at each side) they may have backed off for one reason or another. I would also suggest soaking the heck out of the hood catch mechanism with WD40. if its not engaging properly its going to need to be freed up.

 

[dzaster89]

Found my problem. It was the rubber mounts on the front of the car I lowered them a bit I guess they were too high. Thanks for all the suggestions.