Falling Hood (1 Viewer)

[sjpitts]

93FJZ80.

I was changing my oil last night and had the hood fall down on me. Luckily, I was not under it at the time. Still scared me.

What causes this? Bad struts? Or could it just be an adjustment thing?

Are OEM struts the way to go, or does it not really matter?

Jared

 

[Gold Finger]

I should think it is most probably the struts. My tail gait was falling on my head untill I replaced the struts on that, I just used used parts but is fine now.

 

[alia176]

Until you fix it, use a small vise grip to clamp it down in order to prevent future mishaps. I've used this as a permanent/temp fix on couple of my previous vehicles! As it gets colder, the hood stays does a poorer job of holding the hood up I'm afraid.

 

[Biff]

I got a big bump on my head when the hood fell on me. I have to replace the struts or use the vise grip solution.

 

[alia176]

If you're a CB (Cheap Bastard) and don't wanna pay high prices for OEM replacements, get creative with generic ones from www.mcmastercarr, do a search on "Gas Springs". You'll need to reuse the mounting hardware from the old one.

 

[cruiserdan]

I would use a stick before I would clamp anything on the strut arms. Clamping tools will mar the arms which will, in turn, cut the seals and effectively kill the struts off all the way.

 

[sjpitts]

Would you generally have to replace both struts, or could you just replace one? Right now it holds for a while, it just slowly drops until it reaches a certain point, and then it goes all the way.

But then, I am not sure how you could tell which strut was the bad strut.

Jared

 

[sjcruiser]

My experience with aftermarket hood struts have always been bad, most last less than a year. Providing they are 1/3 cheaper than OEMs, that does not justify getting them as OEMs last 10years+; atleast on all the cars that I've owned.

 

[cruiserdan]

I would replace in pairs. The logic being one bad one accelerates the wear and tear on the new one as it has to do all the work. In addition, if one could do the job adequately there would be only one to begin with.

 

[hoser]

An alternative is to rebuild them. http://www.strutwise.com/
Use USPS mail service for fewer hassles as he is located in Canada.
It is around $25(US)/per strut last time I checked. Lots of happy customers.

 

[Biff]

Dan, How much for the pair for hood struts? I might end up replacing them?

 

[scottm]

Suspa and Stabilus make most of the worlds gas struts. The gas struts I've bought from http://www.mcmaster.com/ have been great quality, you just need to know the strut length and stroke, and the weight it'll carry. The struts come with threaded ends, starting on page 1060, and end fittings are on page 1064. Our upper mount looks like a standard ball mount. I'd just cut the lower mount off the old strut. Drill a hole in it, and put a couple nuts on the threaded rod to hold it in place.

edited page number

 

[cruiserdan]

Dan, How much for the pair for hood struts? I might end up replacing them?

OEM units would set a board member back about 81 bucks a pair.

 

[jjbodean1970]

yes, bad hood shocks, i replace them in pairs as recommended all the time, dan's are cheaper than what i pay...

dan, can you get hood shocks for a lexus???

 

[Beowulf]

LX450 and LX470 for sure.

-B-

 

[jjbodean1970]

yeah, those are the ones i normally DON'T have problems with...