Do hood supports give warning before they die?

[Pepsi90919]

Hi, I have a car that has 2 of the gas-filled (i'm guessing, anyway) hood supports so you don't need to support it with a steel rod. Now I've seen a lot of these dead on cars, where the hood will no longer hold its own until you buy new supports...so fortunately mine are still fine, but I just don't want to be under there with my face buried in the engine compartment working on something and suddenly the hood collapses...any info appreciated on if they just go at once or if they gradually start going downhill...thanks

 

[Sacotool]

My car has those hydraulic things that hold the hood up; I've worried about that too, (having the thing come down on my head some day). Sometimes when there's a little snow on the hood, it'll slowly go down by itself. I bet when the supports are ready to fly south, they'll slowly die, like the hood won't stay up very long. That's just my guess.

 

[NutBucket]

Sacotool is right. They die slowly. My friend's car had a pair on the hatch, and sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn't.

 

[yakko]

They just wait quietly until you aren't expecting it. Then they bite.

 

[Pepsi90919]

:Q

 

[Pepsi90919]

thanks for the responses. i wonder why the changed it, i prefered the rod thing anyway just because you can rest assured your hood isn't going to slowly creep down on you, or won't stay up at all.

 

[DadofOne]

The hood supports on my '94 Intrepid won't support the hood below 30 degrees--work fine above that....gotta expect these things at 287300 miles.....

 

[Sacotool]

On my old 89 Accord I broke the rod due to stupidity on my part I had the hood open with the prop rod as usual, but I needed to move the car for whatever reason; I backed the car up fairly fast (with the hood open) and the pressure snapped off the rod

 

[paf077]

It won't just fall all of a sudden. You'll know when they go because it will try to close when you open it. By the way they're gas filled shocks just like on suspensions.
That's why they don't have the same pressure when it's cold out. I live on the south shore of Montreal and I am an automotive electronics specialist. In temp below -15C (that around 8F) these shocks loose half their pressure.

 

[Wingznut]

Yep, they die over time. However, since you don't open your hood every day, they can work just fine one day, and then the next time you need them.... BAM!

As an ex-mechanic, I've been hit on the head a couple times. A minivan liftgate hurts much more. :disgust:

 

[Pepsi90919]

Ouch Wingznut PEZ :Q