Hood hinges
 

Hi All,
I have a question. My car is in the paintshop and they put the hood hinges back on are trying to close the hood and have said that the right hand one now needs replacing because there is too much play in it. The hood now sits higher on the right hand side and they say they can't adjust it down any further. The hood opened and closed properly before the car went in so I don't understand why there is a problem now.

What are your thoughts?

the hood hinge didnt just magically go bad sitting in the shop, they dont have it adjusted right or they damaged/tweaked it when removing or installing it.

i found that the rear of the hinge needs to be adjusted all the way down while the front slot can be up more. its a balancing act, but if it fit right before they removed it, it should fit right again.

test it by putting a washer in the FRONT bolt area under the hinge to reverse cantilever the hinge, see if it sits down better. ( on the hood part )Also I have had to elongate the mounting slots "Up" To allow hinge to drop down more after a fender is re installed and aligned.

Lift the rear of the hinge to make the rear of the hood sit down. Plus, quite possible the hinge is worn out too.

If you pull the spring off, you can easily tell if there is any play in the rivets. Takes about 200 lbs to stretch them enough to remove.

I think if they are even questionable it is probably as good as assuming they are, springs are good things to avoid playing with wherever they are on a car!

Not hard if you know how to do things safely.

Didn't say it was hard, but many on these forums don't have the experience or correct tools but still want to attempt things.

That's exactly why I put this post up. I don't have the knowledge, so I put it out there to help me sort out the problems.

Thanks for everyone's input.

The paintshop has taken all the comments onboard and now has the hood sitting heaps better.

All good, wasn't referring to you in particular or this thread, just generally. Good news on the hood.

One learns by doing. Glad it worked out for you.

so was the hinge bad?

I haven't seen it personally yet but the guy said there is still more movement in the right hand hinge than the left hand hinge but the hood is sitting heaps better. When I can, I will head over and have a look.

I spoke to the guy yesterday and he said the hood is now sitting correctly. He mentioned that the comments you guys had given had really helped and he had worked through it with those in mind.
So, thanks heaps everyone and it just shows that these forums really work.