Can you try the stand-on-the-brake-and-ride-the-clutch-while-someone-watches-with-the-hood-open-and-you-goose-it trick to see if the motor is moving around up front?
Can you try the stand-on-the-brake-and-ride-the-clutch-while-someone-watches-with-the-hood-open-and-you-goose-it trick to see if the motor is moving around up front?
Update:
Still haven't found anything glaringly obvious. I had T rev the engine while I stood and watched. It hardly moved. I had her stand on the brake, in gear, and let out the clutch to stall the car and the engine hardly moved. So nothing seemed completely kaput.
But after getting the car in the air I did discover one further issue.
20160324_133316.jpg
The drivers side motor mount has a crack at the bottom where the stud meets the mount. I had to remove the nut to find this crack. With the nut removed from the stud, the stud only moves back and forth a few mm but it's enough to make me wonder. And probably not safe long term if that crack grows. I figure the passenger side of the motor coming out of the subframe tweaked on the drivers side motor mount and cracked it. Same thing that probably tore the tranny mount bushing. I suspect this is all because of the one nut coming off the car.
Since 2 out of 3 drivetrain mounts are suspect, used stock motor mounts have been purchased off eBay. $45 beats $300 for a new Megan kit in this case. Especially since I'm not 100% sure this is the entirety of the problem. Plus we found a barely used OEM trans mount in our Stash O'Parts from the PO. Win. The drivetrain will be buttery soft when we're done, but hopefully it'll be back on the road without breaking the bank.
Now to see if I can do this myself or not. I sure hope I don't have to disconnect hoses and wiring harnesses and stuff. Hoping to just ease the subframe down, ease the engine up, and find room to fish the mounts out and in. I'll hunt down a writeup - surely someone has done this before.
You should be able to do it the way you describe without too much trouble. If you play your cards right and disconnect the mounts from the engine and everything from the frame you could support the engine, and drop the subframe, without needing to disconnect any lines or electrical connectors.
If you can't do it at home, drive the car to work and see if one or more of your co-workers will lend a hand.
Yeah, just drive it to Long Beach and have someone take a look in between sessions
Get that weak shit off my track
It sure looks like that subframe is designed so you can get some space and tilt the motor mount out. That's nice! Most cars you need to get enough clearance for the studs which creates other problems. That slot sure seems like it'll be really helpful!
Potentially. There are studs on each end of the motor mounts, so it will take some effort for sure and the tops may not be so easy. I already exhausted my tool arsenal looking for something to loosen the top nut on the drivers side mount. No room!
Steering rack is also bolted to the subframe so not sure if I need to tie that up somehow or can let it sag with the subframe yet (after disconnecting steering arm). Lots of things connected to lots of things and the mounts are surrounded by stuff, so it will take some thinking for sure! This would be a a lot easier with the headers removed but not sure I want to take on that job right now. It's not impossible just very time consuming.
The car's not safe to drive in its current state, so if it has to go anywhere to get the work done it'll be towed to a local shop. Of which I know no good ones.
Probably a project for next week. Need time to get mentally ready.
Admittedly I think it's unlikely on a newer car, but you may find you can do what you need to do with just a floor jack. Wood on a jack under the oil pan, all mounts loosened, jack up one side, replace mount, repeat, then refasten. That works on a lot of cars, but maybe not a newer, tightly-packed longitudinal motor.
The only problem I see with that is that's the movement that probably cracked this motor mount to begin with. With all nuts removed things would be under less stress but I'm still not sure.
I'm brainstorming 3 floor jacks atm.
For a modern car it's actually pretty simple overall, but this is probably one of those jobs (like the often-leaky valve covers) where you might have to spend 90% of your time removing/replacing parts in the way before you can get to the real job at hand.
Motor mount removal. Step one: remove headers.
Yeah, the top nuts are that buried. It's ok though, the headers take time but it's not the most difficult job. They were out in 2-3 hours. Once I could reach the top nuts, everything else went to plan. I did use all 3 jacks, which was pretty funny.Harbor Freight don't fail me now!
OEM mounts are in. Tomorrow I'll put the headers/starter/intake/steering/bracing back on and go for a test drive.
I did also discover the melted/mangled remains of something metal, stuck between the right front knuckle and the inside of the brake rotor. It's quite possible this is the missing motor mount nut. How it took a trip 90 degrees sideways toward the brakes and wedged itself in there, I'll never know. I had to pull the brake disc partially out to remove the squashed piece of metal. The knuckle is scraped up but not too bad, should be fine.
Looks to be about time to start looking at new brake pads.
Last edited by CudaMan; March 30th, 2016 at 08:09 PM.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote