I was having fun in an empty field a couple of days ago, and I hit a ditch harder than I planned. So far as I can tell, the damage is minimal. I bent the front radiator support inwards, tore off the front skirt, that kind of thing. I'm not leaking coolant, and the AC still works, so I don't think I did any major damage.

Unfortunately, it looks like I tore the rubber portion of the front motor mount. Can I get the part from a parts store or do I have to go to the dealer? How hard will it be to replace?

 

take your car to a body shop.
From what i understood, seems like you bent the radiator support, the bumper needs to come off, car needs to go to a frame machine and have that be pulled out.
As for the motor mounts, there's OEM options and aftermarket ones (cheaper).

 

Nah, I already took my car to a regular shop, and they bent the lower radiator support (or whatever that piece is called) back into some semblance of what it used to look like. I'm not sure why I'd take my car to a body shop. Is there a problem with leaving it this way? The engine cradle is intact, the steering components are intact, and the radiator is intact. I don't think there are any safety or driveability issues here, right? I'm going for functional, not pretty.

 

If you have got that done, then forget what i said about raditator support...
Now, just take care of the motor mount like you said, that is very easy btw...so you could do it yourself.

 

Thanks, glad to hear it's easy. I have a small shop, and I don't have a spare car for emergency runs to the parts counter until my roommate gets back tomorrow.

I changed the front rotors on my car. Nothing can be more of a pain in the *** than that. I really hate honda for putting the rotors behind the hubs, btw.

 

Take it to an alignment shop and see what they have to say about how everything lines up. A regular shop with a calibrated eye mechanic with a rubber mallet, bashing your sub frame "straight" is not going to work if your suspension is out. Once everything checks out straight from the alignment shop then your good to go.

 

It was more like one guy holding a six-foot pry bar while another guy pounded on it with a ten pound sledge. Sometimes I regret my juvenile tendencies, and this is one of those times. Thanks for the advice.

 

for going off concrete / cement

 

pics of damage?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by oem_certified_accord &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> for going off concrete / cement</TD></TR></TABLE>

I did it once.... when I was 15. I learned real quick not to do it.

 

i did as well, and it was the first of 3 times i tore off my bumper. never been in a ditch though

 

No pics, the damage wasn't even that impressive. The only real issue was that the passenger-side fan blades (AC fan?) were clipping on the front motor mount.

It's funny though. This is the second time I've had the exact same problem. The first time was in Baja, on spring break, 300 miles south of the border. We were driving along the Sea of Cortez on a road that hadn't been paved since the 1940s, so it was basically washboard and potholes the whole way. Damn if that didn't make for slow, dusty driving. Anyway, I hit a washout, and bent the engine cradle or a motor mount or something, I didn't know much about my car back then. I had the exact same issue with the fan blades hitting the motor mount, which I discovered when my car started making a horrifying, panic-inducing buzzing noise.

I trimmed the interfering portion of the fan blades with a leatherman, played cool for my passengers, and made it back to LA without any other issues. I won't be taking the Accord back to Baja though.

Oh yeah, four people and a week's camping gear and water, that's a tight fit.


Modified by guymontag at 11:44 PM 6/15/2008

 

Id take it to a shop with a laser alignment system. Theyll be able to tell you if youve tweaked more than your front radiatior support. If you hit it harder that you thought it this would be a good idea. If youve tweaked the frame or even the front clip this will throw everything off putting stress on parts (alignmet, steering, ball joints, bearings, cv shafts. It sounds stupid but even little tweaks in a frame will put some serious hurt on other part that will now be taking the stress of the whole aframe pushing against it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gianinline &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...From what i understood, seems like you bent the radiator support, the bumper needs to come off, car needs to go to a frame machine and have that be pulled out...</TD></TR></TABLE>
It's not hard to beat the radiator support back into place - I know he's already had it done but this is how to do it:

Lift off the radiator so you can see the support, the radiator doesn't even need to be drained if I remember right. Then just take a 2x4 and a 3 pound or heavier mallet and pound away. Be sure to check the fitness of the hood afterwards since the hood latch is connected to the radiator support, the hood latch parts are adjustable to an extent.

I went through this a few years ago after my wife drove up onto one of those 30" wooden poles used as parking barriers at a nearby park - the car was supported by the radiator mount which was sitting on top of the pole. It was right in front of the car but she didn't see it and she drove forward, the tires started spinning and she thought that she was in loose gravel so she gunned it.