I have an 04 coupe. I got my brakes redone monday. One of the idiots somehow loosened brake line and when he test drove the car, the obvious happened. He got it back in the shop safely and popped the hood. A few minutes later, he calls me into the work area. The hood was all F'd up. Up by the window where the hood hinges are, the hood actually pressed back into the surrounding fender and chipped the paint off both the corner of the hood and the corner of the fender where they meet.

At first I was pissed at the guy, but then I remembered that a few weeks earlier, I had checked the oil and noticed that the driver's side hinge sounded and felt weird when opened. So I realized that there was something going on with it before ******** opened it.

I then took it to a local bodyshop that I somewhat trust. The owner came out and said that hood hinge failure was pretty common with Nissan cars. He called up another of his shops that is actually inside a Nissan/Infinity dealer and confirmed it. The other guy said that it is covered by the manufacturer. I called my dealer and have an appointment this monday to have them look at it.

A couple of things:
1) Anyone hear of this?
2) Why would hood hinges go bad on a $35k car? WTF?
3) Any suggestions for dealing with stealership?
4) BTW, I am at 58k miles, so I'm out of warranty. In my opinion, that shouldn't matter if the parts are defective.

 

Are you sure that the mechanic didn't accidentally close the hood with some bolts or tools underneath? I would not take it to the stealership though so they can charge you 400.00 for 2 hours of labor though.

 

Yeah, I'm sure. Now, whether an oil change guy did it at my last oil change is another story and one I didn't think of until you mentioned that. Hmmm. I'm only taking it to the stealership to see if it is something that is covered. I'll have the bodyshop do the work.

 

I used to have a bad habit of leaving tools on my windshield and radiator suport until one day I did it and I went for a drive and my hood flew open. Luckily the hood didn't go all the way up but I bent my hinges a little bit. Take it by there and just ask could someone look at it. They shouldn't charge just to take a peak.

 

Thanks.

 

i bet it is the hinges. My wifes old car had a problem with BENDING at the pivot point. That would let it almost hit the fender. I personally put a new set on and that was a job! The fenders have to come off.

 

I think that is what is going on here. I just didn't know it because I never expected such a problem to exist. On all of the "cheap" cars I have ever owned, I never had a problem. My problem now is that the paint is also chipped at the fender and hood. I am severely doubting that Infiniti is just going to say it is a defect and they will take care of it. That leaves me with a pretty expensive repair unless I just do a crappy touch-up. Uuugh.

Thanks for the response.

 

Cassman, I had the same type of problem. A mechanic friend of mine was changing the oil and couldn't believe how stiff the hood hinges were. We oiled them and they freed up, but it kind of freaked me, because the car isn't that old and with an alluminum hood, it felt like the hood would bend before the hinges would move. I live in the Northeast where the weather is more harsh on moving parts, so I keep checking the hinges every so often and oil them. Good luck with the dealer.

 

mine is bent on the drivers side the hinge is bad

 

Update: I brought the car in today and the service guy told me that it is probably covered under warranty. They have seen a few G35's with the hood hinge failure. Unfortunately, I'll have to get a repaint of the hood and one, if not both, front fenders. Good because of numerous rock chips, bad because it will be a repaint. I'm expecting a call today with verification of warranty coverage.

 

Bring it to the dealer. Mine is driver's side also.

 

I noticed the same thing on my 04, I was showing the car to a buddy of mine who used to have an 04 6mt and when he popped the hood it hit both fenders and pulled them up. I took the car back to Carmax since it was covered under their 30 day warranty and they said they tightened it down, I lifted the hood and seems fine now. Good to know that Im not the only one with this issue, I thought that the car might have been wrecked but not reported for a second. Let us know if the dealer fixes it under warranty for sure.

 

I had this problem, ****in scratched both sides next to the windshield, Infiniti said the "alignment" was bad, i was angry, they fixed it for free tho, minus the fact that they didnt fix the chips...

 

Those hinges go bad very easily. One of the causes that I suspect is that they are really tight and have to be lubricated regularly to minimize the chance of bending the hinges when one opens/closes the hood