Mack anthem, scratching my head.

Might go to the 9+mpg club on Facebook, Joel Morrow might be able to help you out, he's the resident Mack expert.

 

Front end popping could be spring bushings. Grease them up good. Try grease or oil soaked rags on the hood bushings. Don't know what Mack uses but on my peterbilt I was very close to loosing my mind with hood squeaks until I was changing my oil one day and dropped a rag in my oil bucket. Dropped it over my hood bushings and no more squeaky squeak

 

Im going to try that with my hood. I never heard a hood squeak so bad until i drove a peterbilt

 

I don't know why I didn't do it sooner. Just draped a thin oil soaked rag over the rubber blocks. Made all the difference in the world

 

Squeaky hoods have been around forever and I don't think oil or grease is a good thing for rubber.

Check the hood alignment and all rubber components related to the hood, bushings, snubbers, weather stripping.

Try roughing up the rubbers with coarse sandpaper, see if that helps.

If that don't work, get some new hood hold downs, they might be weak.

If that don't work, look at snubber replacements, maybe a different material.

If that don't work, try vaseline.

K-Y jelly might work, but being water based it would dry out pretty quick, but easy to rehydrate, a spray bottle with water in it.

If that don't work, get new bushings, new snubbers, new hold downs, smother them with vaseline and K-Y and see what happens.

If that don't work, buy a really loud stereo!

 

Popping noise from the front end means the bushings are dry, they need to be greased up.

Hood squeaks are from no grease on the hood latching points.

Grease is cheaper than parts.

 

I always take a stick and scrape some excess grease off the 5th wheel and put it on the rubber hood seats. Works great! Just don't forget to NOT grab onto it when you're climbing up to clean your windshield or check your coolant...