So over the past three years of owning my car, I have not been able to determine why it keeps throwing front engine mounts. They would literally last 3,000 miles (and I am not a hard driver, mostly conservative).



Since I am up at college and have no tools/space to work on my car myself, I have been forced to take it to a mechanic. I was going in for a wheel bearing replacement and when he drove my car into the shop he noticed my transmission/engine were extremely loose. After jacking up my car he found that the side left mount was missing a bolt, which strained the front engine mount and caused it to wear much quicker:



After a few attempts, the mechanic said he tried to get it back on and wasn't able to. I've looked for schematics of this set up, but all the parts lists are too vague, I was wondering if anyone had a picture they could submit of their setup, or at least an explanation. I looks like a simple fix but for some reason we can't make the holes align.

 

Those empty holes in the tabs there - those aren't used for anything. Your mechanic was wrong to assume they are structural in nature.

If you fill the voids in that front mount with polyurethane, you'll be solid again. (3M Window Weld - comes in a caulk tube, used for windshield instillation) I suspect the two side mounts have become soft over time, and your front mount is suffering. The tube comes with enough to fill all your mounts and then some. I did all the mounts on my CRX. The engine doesn't move at all and the car is much more responsive, but the vibrations at idle are a LOT more noticeable so you might want to do just the front.

 

pro tip: auto body supply stores usually sell the Window Weld for much cheaper than Autozone.

 

Wow, I never knew that. My other mounts look worn, but not near as torn and as damaged as my front mount.

I suppose I will have to remove both right and left side engine mounts before applying Window Weld to them? And damn, I wish I knew that would work because NAPA charged me $78 for an engine mount I could have bought for $20, and I didn't know until the mechanic handed me the bill.

They felt so bad though they only charged me a half hour for labor, even though they nearly tinkered with my car for two hours.

 

Filling only the front one will go a long way towards eliminating your engine movement problem. If you do the side mounts also, you can do one at a time. Use your spare tire jack under the engine to take weight off the engine mount you're going to do, remove and fill with urethane, let dry overnight, re-install. But like I said, you WILL feel engine vibration inside the car if you do the side ones too. Interior bits will rattle. When driving around, things smooth out. The rear mount (down low behind the engine) probably isn't worth the trouble to fill. It's almost all rubber - the voids are really small.

pro tip: When I did my torn up front mount, I used a zip-tie through the bolt hole and around the outside of the mount to sort of center the bolt hole and hold it into proper position while the urethane hardened.

 

THANK YOU!!! My wagon idles hard at 600 and when I rev it a little past it goes smooth. I can just use that stuff, and problem fixed!