Loud hood hinges

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burdar

burdar

Owen's Dad
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My hood hinges are very loud. There is a lot of popping and banging when you open and close the hood. They looked completely dry so I lubed everything I could see last night. First I sprayed everything down with spray white grease. That didn't seem to do much. Then I sprayed everything with WD-40. That worked into the joints and helped. I made sure to spray WD between the hood spring coils. After working the hood up and down a few dozen times, the noise is much better. I still get some groaning noises when the hood is close to all the way up though...and when you start lowering it...then it quiets down. A lot of brown WD is leaking out between the hood spring coils.

I'm not exactly sure where the noise is coming from. I think it might actually be coming from the hood springs themselves. Maybe as it loads and unloads, the coils are rubbing against each other and making the noise?

Do the hoods have a little bit of noise that is natural or should they be completely quiet? Since I'm getting a lot of brown WD leaking out, there is obviously some rust between the coils. Maybe repeated lubrications and working the hood up and down will clean things out.
 
68 Dart
Trying to see what the consensus is...where the noise usually comes from. The spray grease didn't work it's way into the area that's making the noise. The WD is helping so it's working it's way into something. If the noise is coming from in between the coils of the hood springs, maybe the WD will clean it out and then I can spray it down with something better?
 
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I believe this is what your hood springs and supports look like. Not sure what you're referring to by springs rubbing together. But if you mean rubbing on themselves then yep, that noise is never completely eliminated.
 
A56 said:
But if you mean rubbing on themselves then yep, that noise is never completely eliminated.
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That's what I was getting at. Maybe with some rust in between the coils, that's where the noise is coming from. When the springs twist, the coils have to slide on each other. With rust there, it isn't a smooth process and it makes popping/groaning noises. If that makes sense?
 
I should probably have someone open and close the hood while I'm in the wheel wells looking for anything out of the ordinary. Making sure the other pivot points aren't ovaled out and moving in a strange fashion.
 
Following. Don’t these springs eventually break? Would some dry lube help prevent this? I carefully open and close my hood and it also groans.
 
Lord Sparky said:
Following. Don’t these springs eventually break? Would some dry lube help prevent this? I carefully open and close my hood and it also groans.
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Anything that flexes will eventually break, but it may take more cycles than we could accomplish in a lifetime..
I don't think broken springs are that common, but they do happen. I would bet rust and corrosion have more to do with it than anything else.

Dry lube is what I'd apply. In a perfect world, removing the springs and having them cleaned and then dry-film coated (with a sandstrom or everlube product) would be a great upgrade. The cost and effort may not be worth it though.
 
If I remember correctly, mopar hood springs groaned from day one. Actually mopars were creaky and groany when new compared to Ford and gm cars. That’s why they didn’t sell as well. Then again they were faster and quicker not to mention handled better than the other brand cars.
 
My 69 Dart hinges moaned and groaned from the day the car was made. My friends Dart all did it too. It's a common trait of that style hinge. It's the springs making the sound. I tried every kind of grease, lube, and snake oil there is and nothing did any good. They are what they are. I've opened and close the hood so many times over the years, I no longer hear them make a sound. lol!
 
Don't go too nuts working that hood up and down aggressively. I've seen those hinges buckle...Plus the extra stress where the hinge bolts to the hood.
 
Lmao, that groan was and is just like the sound of the mopar starters, always there from day one.
 
Thanks for all the input on this. This is my first A-body and I didn't know what was normal and what wasn't. My Challenger hood is pretty quiet. There are just some faint spring noises when you open/close the hood.(that has a completely different setup) Before I lubed everything it was extremely loud with the popping and banging sounds. It's MUCH quieter now. By the comments here, the noises that are left are normal.

I'll blow air through the springs to clear out the WD. The car won't be on the road this year so there will be time for it to evaporate. I'll look into a dry spray like the garage door spring lube that was posted earlier.
 
Why people insist on using WD-40 as a lubricant is beyond me . It will work for the moment but is of no benefit after that . I would use penetrating oil if I used any fluid lubricant. My Swinger hood groans as well but I am going to be painting soon and dont want any contaminants on the body .
 
mbaird said:
Why people insist on using WD-40 as a lubricant is beyond me . It will work for the moment but is of no benefit after that .
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I used it because the spray grease I used didn't do anything to quiet the hinges. I wanted to find what was actually making the noises and I know WD will flow into tight spaces. Spraying WD into the spring made a big difference so that told me that the spring was the location of the noise. I hadn't planned on the WD being the permanent solution.
 
burdar said:
I used it because the spray grease I used didn't do anything to quiet the hinges. I wanted to find what was actually making the noises and I know WD will flow into tight spaces. Spraying WD into the spring made a big difference so that told me that the spring was the location of the noise. I hadn't planned on the WD being the permanent solution.
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The hood springs on your Challenger (if it's an E body)are similar to B bodies. They aren't coiled.
310-1570-p_1.jpg
 
hello..I removed springs from hindge brackets and sand blasted springs....seemed to take alot of spring noise away
 
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