So the Submarine made it back from the 1300 mile journey to Bonnaroo with no problems. So to reward her, I'm finally going to replace my engine & torque mounts. I'm getting a loud clunk from the RH side as the engine shifts forward, and i've noticed there is a ton of play in the mount that attaches the torque rod to the firewall. I haven't seen the lower front mount yet, but am gonna assume it's F'ed, since all the others appear to be worn out.

So the parts i was planning on replacing are as follows:

9135178 Engine Side Mount (Right Lower)
9141042 Engine Torque (Lower Front)
8631159 Bushing for Upper Rear Engine Torque Rod (engine to firewall)





At this point i really don't konw where to begin to start on this job, other than getting the parts I found a pretty good writeup for the engine side mount, but didn't find anything for the other 2 mounts. Has anyone done this job recently and want to share some of your experiences or tips?

Is this something that can be done w/ 'normal' shop tools without pulling the block? I'm guessing i'll need to somehow move the engine with a jack or something to get the old mounts out...is this safe to do? Any special places i should use to push the engine?

Finally, are there any other parts i should replace or inspect while i'm down there, such as the regular engine mounts, or subframe bushings?

 

Leave the Hydrolic mounts to LAST. 6801722, and 9434435 They are a real pain to do.

The others are really easy to do.
The right side one jack on the oil pan with a 2X4 between the jack and oil pan. It will not hurt it. Keep it kind of towards the subframe and oil filter.

The others are just remove and replace easy.

 

How do i access the one that attaches to the firewall? It looks like i need to remove the plastic piece and maybe the windshield wipers to access it...is this correct?

While i'm doing the work what should i look for to see if the Hydraulic mounts are bad? What makes these such a pain to do? I never really noticed the mounts were bad before, but i'm sure they've been shot for at least 10k miles...i'm wondering what other components or mounts that would affected by this. The engine rocks back and forth by prolly an inch when pushing/rocking the car foward/reverse while its in park

Thanks!

 

Haven't done this yet but I think you're right. Both wipers come off and I think you can get away with partially removing the black cover just to get at the two bolts for the mount. When you do the side mount I also heard that you're not supposed to jack up the engine too much or else you could damage the CV joint. Do it like tech says and you'll be fine.

 

Nothing has to be removed. You should be able to get to everything once the Black rod is out.
I will double check tomorrow.

Look and see if the mounts are leaking something that looks like rust.

To replace you have to hold the motor up and drop the Subframe to replace them.

 

Thanks for checking tech. That would be great if the wipers and trim do not have to come off. I could not figure out how it would come apart any other way though. The firewall mount I have has flat boltheads on the underside so it doesn't look like mine can be removed.

 

I was able to get at the upper mount by partially removing the plastic cowl...i did have to take off all 5 torx screws and the wipers, but after that I was able to fit a ratchet in there to remove the nuts from the top. my old mounts were completely shot...on the upper one the metal sleeve was totally separated from the rubber...it fell out when i removed it.

So, I changed out all 3 engine mounts yesteday and noticed a big difference in the popping noise. It did get a lot quieter; probably b/c the engine isn’t resting on the subframe anymore. But there is still a noise coming from the Fr RH wheel area. I can get it to clunk like clockwork when just tapping the breaks when in drive at slow speeds. There seems to be 2 clunks…1 when the breaks are applied, and another when I give it some gas.

The endlinks were replaced about a week ago, breaks (rotors and pads) are relatively new (~9 months old)…I haven’t done anything to the calipers yet. I’m wondering what else could be causing this noise? Would a bad ball joint on the control arm cause this type of noise?

The control arm was replaced ~6 months ago, but I did have the issue when my RH CV joint separated on that side. Maybe when that happened it put too much force on the ball joint? The boot on the ball joint is in good condition, but i haven't removed it yet to check for excessive play in the joint.

Any ideas?

 

Just pulled off the control arm and this is what i found.

One of the bolts had a couple stripped threads. It was tightened to the proper torque when i installed it.



Looking at the ball joint, there is actually a small tear. i couldn't see any grease coming out of it so i'm wondering if it's all gone already. The pin was still very firm...not nearly as bad as when i replaced it when it was just flopping around freely.




Could either of these be the culprit of that popping noise i hear?

finally, is it alright ot leave the strut hanging w/o the control arm on? i have it supported now, but it's got the tendency to move backwards. Dunno if this would damage the cv? or strut mount?

 

That should be fine.
Are you sure the Nut for the Axle is torqued properly?

 

pretty sure... I remember when i put it back on i commented on how it had the highest torque spec that i'd dealt w/ so far... 90 ft lbs maybe.

 

I think it is supposed to be like 120 FT LBS.

I was thining maybe the axle was shifting in the Hub.

 

Hmmm...i'll double check the Haynes manual tomorrow and check the torque once i get the control arm back on. Tired and sore from busting my hand several times doin the RH engine mount. One question about that? How high up can you jack the engine above it's 'normal' resting position? I had a hell of a time trying to fit any type of ratched in there and I question how tight i torqued them (couldn't get the torque wrench to check)...

Is it alright to leave the spindle/strut assembly hanging there? Everything is connected except for the Arm, and it seemed to want to pull towards the back. Wasn't sure if that would mess up the CV joint or strut mount up top.

If there was a hole in the boot of the ball joint, shouln't i be able to squeeze some grease out if there was anything in? i thought it was packed w/ a pretty thick grease, which i didnt' see


Thanks for all the help Tech!

 

You should be fine leaving it hanging for Tonight.

Some grease should come out but not alot.
If the joint still feels tight it should be fine.
When they are bad they slop around when loose.
Also make sure it doesn't slide from side to side.

The Right mount I always use a wrench to tighten it. An off set one usually works really well.
The back one you will get to it form under the car easier by the Axle support.

You can go up some about till you see the top hole in the bracket in the engine side over the mount.

 

Time to answer my own question...dunno why this never dawned on me before.

Look at the pic of the bolt where the threads are smashed. Those threads just happen to be right at the point of the bracket that attaches it to the subframe. And they're a bit thicker than the metal thickness. So even though it was tight, was able to move up/down because of the extra clearance.

When the front bolt in the control arm first broke, i only ordered 1 nut/bolt to replace the one that sheared off. I didn't notice the bad threads on the other one tile i took it apart a while ago. I guess my short limp home was enough to smash the hell out of the threads. So i'll be ordering both nuts/bolts when putting it back together this time...just to be safe.

Lesson learned once again...make sure you use the correct grade of bolt! that first one breaking on me caused a ton of problems that hopefully are solved now...'cept for the steering, but no idea if that was caused @ the same time the CV was lost.

 

Hi guys. Am also considering replacing lower engine torque rod and front right engine mount. (Upper torque rod totally shot - will replace bushing this w/e - and am getting vibration in the steering wheel...)

How hard was it to replace the lower engine torque rod? Any words of wisdom on what to whatch out for? Is it a simple remove/replace - perhaps using a jack stand to hold the tranny/motor while removing?

I saw a video on the front right engine mount, that one seems like something I can do. I will use a 2x4 like tech suggested (the guy on youtube did the same) when raising @ oil pan.

Thanks for your help!