nismotech

When my hood is closed, and I press gently down on the front of the hood (where the hood lock is) I hear click sound, almost like the hood is not locked all the way down. But I know its locked secured and its not going to fly up on me when I'm on the highway, but still when I go over bumps or rail road tracks, I can hear my hood rattle. Is there a fix for this??


I checked my friends 2k3 Sentra SE-R and his hood is Fully secured and doesn't make this sound. I also checked my sister's 97 Maxima and doesn't do this either. What can I do? Its really annoying......

03SheerMax

Same thing with me, except it started happening right after my HID's got stolen. I've done a visual inspection and can't see anything that would cause the hood not being secured. The noise is so damn anoying that I just put my radio on loud so I don't hear it. I plan on going to the nissan dealer to getting it checked out soon.

ckohl23

there are round rubber hood stops on the sides that you can adjust by turning (counterclockwise i think), to help push the hood up and make it more tight. not sure if that will be enough to secure the middle though.

nismotech

I'll look into the hood stop, anymore suggestion?

03SheerMax

Just adjusted the bump stops and it worked! Good looking out Ckohl23.

-Red-

iTrader: (2)

Have a look at this TSB, I'm not sure whether this is the exact problem you're having but, it may be worth checking into. http://maxima.theowensfamily.com/tsb/NTB02-005.pdf
(This is out of Studman's maxima site)

2002 Maxima SE

iTrader: (3)

Seems like the hoods on our cars aren't tight. The clicking (as mentioned) maybe due to that. Try raising the bump stops a little.

2k3TitaniumSe

iTrader: (3)

Same problem with me. Took it to the dwlaer and they said they changed the latch but it's still there. It doesn't bother me so I don't care.

nismotech

Forgive me for being slow, but are these "circle in red" Bump stops I should adjust? (Turn counter clockwise)

If not which one's are the ones I should adjust?

03SheerMax

That's it.

nismotech

Thanks! How many turns should I give?

03SheerMax

I played around with it, gave each side a couple of turns.

LloydBanks

I have the same problem, adjusting the bump stops did absolutely nothing for it. I tried raising them a little at a time, eventually getting them up as far as they would go and all it did was make the hood sit higher and look funny. But the rattle was still 100% there. I've also taken it to the dealership, they claimed to fix it and of course the rattle is still there. At this point I've given up.

nismotech

Did you ask the dealer, where under the hood they try to adjust or fix?

03SheerMax

Really!? Adjusting the bump stops worked for me, the rattle is 100% gone.

LloydBanks

He told me that they adjusted the latch, or possibly replaced the latch, I don't remember exactly. But it had to do with the front latch and adjusting the bump stops. And of course, I checked it before even driving the car out of the service lot and it's not even a little better than it was.

The funny thing was...I went right back in and told my service writer. He then proceeded to tell me how this was "a normal thing". I disagreed. So we walked around the lot and tried a bunch of different hoods...several 2004 Maximas, various Altimas, and even a brand new 350z. How many of them made the rattle you ask? A big fat ZERO. At that point he said, "Well we already tried to fix it but I guess we could see what else we can do." Needless to say, he didn't sound too enthusiastic about it so I never followed up with him.

Todds_max

the diameter of the rod attached to the hood that hooks into the latch is a little too small for the latch assembly. No matter what you do regarding the bump stops, the rod will compress slightly in the latch when you press on the hood, making a clicking, loose sounding noise. Raising the bump stops will apply more tension and lessen the tendency, but it can't be eliminated. By the way, that's not what causes the wiggling appearance at highway speed. The skin of the hood is very thin and the underlaying frame does not support the skin well in the rear part of the hood allowing it to flutter at speed. Press lightly in the rear corner areas of the hood and you will see just how flimsy it is.

MannyNJ2k2max

iTrader: (3)

I adjusted the bump stops on Sat and my rattle went away.....