I apologize in advance if stupid "weird noise" questions are a newbie faux pas.

New-to-me 2003 TL Type-S with a lotta miles, which I'm trying to work the kinks out of after the previous owners mistreated it somewhat.

The problem is simple: the hood, when closed, isn't sitting firmly on the bumpers underneath, so it starts rattling somewhat once you get up to speed and the air pressure is pushing on it. I can make it rattle by jiggling it when not moving, so the source of the sound is definite.

What I can't figure out is what part I need to fix/add to get it to stop (apart from just sticking foam to stuff under there). The front bulkhead cover (part 04074117-S0K-A01 on the official list) was broken into two pieces and missing some clips, so I bought a pack of clips, stuck it together, and tacked it down thoroughly, but that didn't end up helping at all.

The two rubber peg-like bumpers are fine. I'm assuming that a gasket or pad is missing somewhere, but I can't find any obvious suspects on the official hood blow-apart diagram.

The only other obvious suspect is the passenger-side hood strut, on which the screw isn't attached to the base at all. But, since it's still pushing fine so long as you don't lift the hood too far and unseat it, and the driver side feels just as loose as the passenger, I'm not sure that's it, and I don't want to waste shipping ordering parts twice when replacing that strut.

Any ideas? Thanks!


This is probably for a separate thread, but there's also a knocking sound when hitting bumps at lower speeds from somewhere around the front passenger wheel well. It sounds quite similar to the loose break calipers on another car I had, but it stops making the sound both when the brakes are applied and when the gas is--it only does it when I'm coasting. Two mechanics so far haven't figured that one out.

 

welcome to acurazine--there are no stupid or silly questions--just ones the answer was not searched for~
you are ok for this prob

if the hood struts are weak I would replaced both of them, clue as to why hardware is missing??
Aftermarket hood struts are fine and cheap! any parts store or supplier like rockauto online

look for missing foam or rubber bits
(guessing car was crashed?)
Look in our Regions section- top of pages--thats by area- ziners who get together for meets etc
One of them will be happy to compare cars side by side for correct assembly
thats better than staring at a diagram
Or go ask the dealer parts desk guy to come outside and look for what you need- its part of their job--just ask for the extra help

Have you ckd the hood latch the most likely as it holds the front tight--do the old wear marks from bolts show,,or things are back where they should be (again guessing car was crashed)

noise--ck shocks for leakage of oil, ck sway bar end links (very likely) use MOOG brand to replace if those are bad (much better than stock)

for dealer parts click on VENDOR list -at top of pages right side- thats places that cut us a break--you see them on popup ads here too- various dealers who give us 25-30% off,,sweet

 

Thanks for the suggestions, 01tl4tl.

I wouldn't be surprised if the car was in a fender-bender at some point, but I don't think it was ever in anything serious--one of the headlights was still stock, and it came with pretty thorough maintenance records, the worst of which was getting the transmission replaced at about 175K miles. And there isn't really evidence of anything missing, that was just a theory on my part.

The hood latch is a good suggestion, though; it looks fine, but it seems like you're probably right that it's not holding the hood down tightly enough against the rubber bumpers on the sides, allowing it to rattle up and down against the latch--the latch seems to be what's making the sound. I suppose nothing to do but try replacing it.

Good suggestion on the online shops that cut a discount over factory prices--I discovered those on my own when I got some sticker shock on headlight parts.* Funny that the latch and a few related parts show up on the factory parts diagrams, but the numbers aren't in the price list--any idea what's up with that?

I need to go mail-oder anyway, since the nearest dealer is about 300 miles away. Living up here behind the Redwood Curtain also makes meet-ups tough. Maybe I'll just ambush another TL owner at the supermarket and ask them to look under their hood...

I'm not mechanically inclined enough to check the suspension myself, but thanks for the suggestions on what to have looked at, and brands to go with. (Factory headlights are one thing, but shocks I sort of assumed that factory is just overpriced and average.)

(*The previous owner had cracked the headlights open to paint the HID shield rings and some of the bottom part matte black. Is that common? They eventually started leaking because they didn't get put back together well, which lead to me having to replace both headlights, and on top of it the water blew out one of the HID inverters. His paint job cost me more to repair the headlights than I paid for my first car.)

 

are the outer rubber stoppers in place? They screw up and down to adjust hood height. If the hood can move up and down slightly and the hood is aligned properly, loosen the hood latch and move it down some to get rid of some of the play and force the hood to sit on the stoppers when latched.

 

Well if that wasn't ridiculously simple.

They're in place, but I didn't realize that they were adjustable. After screwing them up a bit from their all-the-way-in position, it fixed the rattle entirely.

Since the edges of the hood (it is straight, as far as I can tell--it looks symmetric) now sit maybe 3mm above the side body panels, I'll try adjusting the latch downward as you suggested--I didn't realize it was adjustable, either.

Great community here!