No I'm not going to sing you a song...

Just a couple weeks ago I started to hear a rattling noise from the front end when I stop. Then the other day I had the windows down and realized it's the hood making the noise because of the vibration from the drivetrain. I determined that it only makes this noise when the car is in drive and I'm at a complete stop. A/C on or off makes a very slight difference, but still get the annoying rattle, and it's very loud outside the car. I can subdue the noise by holding the hood down in the front near the latch. If I put it in park or neutral their is much less engine vibration and the rattle goes away. I don't believe I've read much about it, so I don't think it's a common issue. I was just wondering if anyone had a similar experience and how they might have fixed it. I'd rather fix it myself if I can because the dealership is 90 miles from here, even though I'm under warranty ('05 with almost 22k miles). Thanks in advance.

-Shaun

 

^^ There are some rubber spacers under the hood that you can turn in order to make it close higher or lower. Makes those go a little higher so there is less play in the hood. Give that a try first. Good luck.

 

This is the first I've heard of this. Kenny's proposed solution makes sense to me.

 

Common problem/Easy fix

I had the same problem with my 06 with the hood vibrating. It would only vibrate on the hwy at +65 mph. The dealer can adjust the rubber hood stops or you could give it a try.

 

So I adjusted the rubber stops last night. This worked okay, but then I realized my fenders were no longer level with my hood. Then earlier today I called a friend who works on Hondas and he told me most of them have adjustable hood latches. I took off all the stuff on top and around it, loosened the bolts holding the latch to the body of the car and sure enough there are a few centimeters to play with there. Then I adjusted my rubber stops to even up the hood with the fenders and I moved the hood latch down a bit so when the hood latches there is no give whatsoever. It now feels solid, and as a bonus the hood doesn't rattle when I shut the car door anymore. I assume that when I took my car in for the headlight recall they moved the rubber stoppers from their original position, that seems to be around the time when I started hearing the noise with the hood when closing the doors. They should have checked the latch at the same time but I guess you can't think of everything. It took me half an hour to fix total, overall it ended up not being as big a deal as I thought. Thanks for the replies everyone.

-Shaun