kinakoes2

For about three months now, I've had a slight rattle at idle that at first wasn't such a surprise given the car's history... but within the last month or so, it'd grown into a genuine problem, esp after the last storm...

On my Sunday errand it'd tripped my tech's paranoia a touch so decided to check out where exactly it was coming from -- while parked, was a sharp but at the time I thought a plasticky rattle only at idle or taking off, esp with the A/C on... so thought it might be a front cap clip not installed correctly).

Thought it was that as when the grille was held with a hand the rattle disappeared... but when the A/C cycled on and engine vibration increased, it wasn't doing much after all. Then held the hood on a hunch... well I'll be damned...

Hood latches are exactly like door latches, except the component positions are switched -- and like your doors, they aren't supposed to rattle when latched. There are a couple of reasons why my properly-secured hood was rattling:


1) the latch support (the rad holder) was damaged in a minor impact, raising it above where it's supposed to be to hold the striker (the loop on the hood)

2) ten MYs of wear have worn the striker and latch hook to the point where clearance allows rattling to occur past the spring mechanism's ability to prevent it

3) either the latch or striker loop are installed/adjusted improperly (where applicable)


This problem turned out to be a combination of factors -- the latch and loop are worn, plus there may've been a slight front impact just enough to throw off the hood latch alignment. If your 7th gen has this problem, I found a way to correct it where I didn't have to buy any new components, just do a bit of adjustment. The latch replacement I'll probably do in the future, but if this fixes the problem for long enough, I won't need to do even that.


Tools you'll need:


: 10mm box end wrench

That's it! However, the below tools if you already have them, make this even easier (really, all of these tools should already be in your in-car toolkit )

: 10mm regular-depth socket either 3/8" or 1/4"

: 3/8" or 1/4" 3"-4" extension

: 3/8" or 1/4" rachet


--


1. Pop and prop your hood and look at your hood latch mechanism above the rad... you should see three 10mm bolts holding it on the rad support... two on the left of the latch, one on the right.

2. Loosen all of these until you can *juuust* move the latch with your hands.

3. Push down and hold the latch as far as it'll go, then tighten down the bolts snugly.

4. Profit...


--


You may be asking... why was that so simple kinako... what did THAT little bit do?

Well, when the striker loop on the hood goes into the latch, the latch hook mechanism is spring-loaded inside, so the loop can go a tiny bit of a ways past where it needs to go in order for the latch to close behind it. This is to insure latching in lots of temperature extremes, closing effort, whether dropping the hood from a foot or pressing the hood closed after contact, and whether dirty or slightly rusty. Just the normal engineering margins. When the latch is closed, that spring pressure keeps the striker quiet.

Where I think Honda skimped a bit (what a surprise! ), is in the three 10mm bolts, which are quite a bit smaller than the ones that hold the door versions in place... even though the hood is much larger than a door, and will vibrate all of its weight in the same plane as the suspension (up and down), whereas the doors won't. This causes the latch to get a tiny bit loose, esp over ten MYs, where the constant rattle from a loose latch will cause greater wear, and clearance, in the hard parts, the longer it's allowed to exist.

The way to fix it, is to get that spring to do its job again -- and that requires you to lower the latch, so the clearance is taken up again. Not a whole lot of adjustment... but there is more enough to take up 0.0005" - 0.0010". Don't worry about hood height -- there are bumpers to do that. What you want to do is make the latch hold the hood a tiny bit more firmly.

Did mine, and voila -- the rattle I'd heard every single time I'd reversed or launched the car or turned the A/C on, was eerily gone (when a used car is new to you, you don't know what noises at 150K are and aren't worth pursuing). Not surprisingly this makes the old 7th gen feel a lot more solid and refined when it doesn't sound like it's shaking itself apart at idle.

Lubed up the latch with some good lithium soap grease, good to go.