Other Homework Help

I have a 2003 Ford Interceptor – police car, and it runs and works o.k., but lately I have been noticing a weird noise coming from the hood area.  It almost sounds like a light scraping sound – like a piece of metal is scraping against another piece of metal. I have a friend that looked under the hood, because he knows a lot about cars, but nothing stood out as needing replacing. I am probably going to take it into a shop, but I am afraid of being taken advantage of because I am female and have no idea what could be the problem – and I dont want them telling me all kinds of things that are wrong with the car – I just need my car to continue to work because I use it everyday around town for work. I am willing to fix and pay for the problem, but I cant afford to fix every little problem that might be wrong, since its a used car. Does anyone have any clue as to what this sound could be coming from?  I would appreciate it!