Miata Mailing List: June 1994, Message #194
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   From: SETH@dsi.Coded.COM (SETH MILLER)
Subject: Squeak discovered!
   Date: Thu, 9 Jun 1994 11:32:19 -0400


Well, a red-letter date this weekend...  I finally found the chassis
squeak that had been driving me crazy for several months.  As
I suspected, it was something quite simple (not that that made
it any easier to live with...)

I had already lubed all of the rubber hood cushions (twice) and
hinges, but since there were so many responses that mentione
the hood and latch I decided that it would be wise to re-visit this
area.  The problem turned out to be the hood latch after all; I had
overlooked it because it just wasn't that sort of sound (or so I
thought) and the latch looked to be pretty-well lubricated already.
Still, I inundated it with white lithium grease and the problem was
solved...

Many thanks to all who responded.  I probably never would have
found it without all the advice...

Now for some of my own...  there was a noticeable (almost
alarming, given the low miles on the car - 20k) amount of metal
worn away from the loop attached to the hood that engages the
hood latch, in the form of a groove maybe 1/32" deep.  Either
there is a significant amount of stress on this part, or Mazda
didn't use a particularly hard metal here.

In any event, I would recommend that everyone keep this area
well-greased, even if you are not experiencing any obvious
noise problems.  If I extrapolate the amount of wear I noticed
out over the life of the car, there could be a problem...  and the
attachment loop is riveted in place and does not look very easy
to replace...

Anyway, thanks again to everyone for all the help...

- Seth