Infamous hood squeak

[MJOR]

I'm suffering from the well known MM hood squeak, and after trying everything that I can find from doing searches on this site, I'm still going crazy over this. I'm pretty sure it's the passenger side hood hinge, or at least that's where it sounds like it's coming from, and it doesn't happen when the hood is open so I don't think it's the suspension.

I've tried greasing the rear hinges (which made it better, but it's still there), adjusting the front bump/supports and installing felt pads above them, greasing the latch, and adding the bumpers from a Ford Ranger that were suggested in an old post. At first I greased everything with Lithium Spray, but then went back with a grease gun (with needle point) that's loaded with standard black all-purpose grease.

I'm about to give in and order a new hood hinge for the passenger side, but am I just wasting my money?

[joedee]

Have you tried adjusting the latch? I had a noise and found that when I adjusted the latch up just a little it took care of the problem. It seemed like the hood catch was not engaged all the way before I made the adjustment.

Joe

[252life]

Try WD40 or some other penetrating oil. And it's most likely the hood latch that's making the noise.

[Hooptie]

Try Here... (http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=47135&highlight=hood+squeak)

or better yet here... (http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=26084&highlight=hood+squeak)

[MJOR]

Thanks for the tips/links. It looks like my problem was a little atypical, but I figured I'd post it in case anyone else is getting a noise in the same place. I loosened the bolt on the bottom of the strut/shock that holds up the hood, let the strut bar shift to where it wanted to be and then re-tightened it, and now the noise is completely gone!

I had some...er...body work done on the front end a couple months ago and I know they took the hood off, so it's probably the bodyshop that misaligned it rather than a Ford assembly issue.