So the insulation material on the underside of the engine hood is soaked with snow/water/moisture, and has torn away from many of the attachment points. Should I just rip it off and forget about it? Or replace it with OEM? Or cheapest stuff I can find from aftermarket? I live in Canada where it gets very cold. Not sure if this material is for keeping the engine warm, or sound insulation, or ???

 

No idea but here rodents love them. Once deteriorated enough they get thrown away by me. I'd rather risk losing whatever benefits they allegedly provide rather than rodent damage, plus poop all over the engine bay just annoys me on principle

 

I think its mostly for sound insulation, considering the amount of airflow you get thru the grill, I can't see it being real effective at keeping the engine warm. If its falling down, just tear it out, call it a day.

 

Since I had my truck painted a few years ago, I wanted to replace the underhood insulation pad, since it was in bad shape and sagging. I also hoped that the new pad would help to protect the newly painted hood from the engine's heat. I found a replacement insulation pad on eBay that was made for 2nd gen trucks and even came with new clips to hold it in-place (Chrysler part #4878883AA, but my kit came with GM style hood pad clips that worked just fine). The aftermarket kit was dirt cheap when I bought it a while back, but not sure if it's still available cheap, as these trucks are getting older by the day..

Attached is a photo of the completed job.

 

I think there was an old thread on this subject.