Is this a DIY job, or a body shop job?

My hood is impossible to close now without it being an affair. The hinges need to be changed. What's this job going to take?

 

I tried looking through several sections of the FSM - I found how to remove and align the hood, trunk, doors, and front/rear bumper covers, and that's it. There's no info (that I found anyway) on replacing the hinges...might be a body shop job? I should pop the hood on my car and see what it looks like by the hinges - are they bolted on behind the fenders?

 

It's a DIY job. You need to take out a couple bolts off the fender, including the one behind to door, to pull the fender out a bit to access the hinge bolts. It is not difficult at all, just close the hood slowly until you get the alignment right.

Edit: Obviously you want a second set of hands to help uninstall and install the hood.

 

Good to know. Then I may just tackle this myself soon.


Got a good source of hinges?

EDIT: Nevermind. Ebay has quite a few OEM hinges from Infiniti wholesalers. Just ordered a pair for $65 shipped

 

Just to update. Got my hinges. They are OEM and come unpainted. Since my car is black, I'm just doing a few coats of rattle can flat black paint right now and will install them this weekend.

Going to be great to open my hood all the way again!

Another minor issue fixed...

 

Mine was in horrible shape, and it started rubbing against the fender at the back passenger corner, but I was able to get the hood moving smoothly and not rub on anything by putting a rag between the hood and fender where it was trying to bend and rub, and then using a combination of PB Blaster lubricant and LOTS of slow large movements of the hood. Once it was moving smoothly enough, I wiped up all the lube and hit it daily with white lithium grease (WLG) for about a week, continuing to work it in with both large and small movements of the hood. That was a few years ago and all I do is hit with WLG about twice a year.

Only thing I wish I would have done was completely covering the outside air inlet for the a/c system. I was smelling that lube for a week. WLG doesn't have a smell, so it isn't an issue for continued maintenance.

I have the hinges I ordered sitting in a box, and I hope I never have to use them.

 

Well i had no choice when i had my windshield replaced and the guy opened the hood and really bent the crap out of them because he opened it WAAAAY up. Took me 20 mins to work the hood down to latch it. Now anytime i open the hood requires two people ot close it. So i need to fix this now and stay on top of the lube.

Honestly, with 150K miles on the car, if these are the issues I have to deal with, i guess I'm not doing too badly. Bad hood hinges, a dead door request button for the Ikey and a torn front CV boot. Not bad i guess.

 

Did you get the windshield repair company to pay for the hinges? Now you've got me nervous, I need to get my windshield replaced also, it got hit with a rock last winter and cracked most of the way across. I'd hate to have the same thing happen to my hinges!

 

I think I'll hit my hinges with WLG this weekend. Nothing like a heads up for unknown preventative maintenance - thanks.

 

Wasn't really the guy's fault. I'd been milking the failing hinges for some time now. Whenever i popped the hood I had to struggle to reset it into place. Checking the oil required only opening the hood halfway and propping the rod on something else to avoid openining it all the way. The guy didn't know and opened the hood all the way and basically bent them. I managed to get the hood to close, but knew it was time to fix the problem.

Bout time i addressed it, but I thought the job would be harder than it actually is or i would have done it sooner.

Hinges were $65 shipped.

 

Just changed my hinges last night. Definitely did not do a great job aligning the hood. If anybody has a good write up on how to do that, send it this way! The replacement itself did not take very long - 1 bolt in the door, 5 under the hood to pull the bumper back then 4 bolts for the hinge.

 

I'm interested in this as well, as my passenger side hinge has started to go. The hood is now off alignment and rubbing the fender, which since I've been doing engine work, has caused a small bend to form in the fender and also chip paint on the edge. To open my hood I have to pop it, then walk around to the side and basically lift it up from there to guide it so it doesn't hit my fender. Talk about a pain in the ***!

 

I had to do that too. I ended up loosening the hinges on both sides and sliding the hood until I thought it was aligned. Didn't take long at all.

 

Well, i gotta tackle this one of these nights now. Painted the hinges this weekend, and been "pre-lubing" them with WLG for a few days. Now time to install so I can open my hood normally again.

 

I suggest you fix it sooner than later. I procrastinated fixing the problem when one one hinge was not working as I was still able to open the hood carefully. Once the other side goes it becomes a two person job to open the hood. Not ideal when you need to get under the hood in a jamb.