At 165K my timing belt went, I know I should have changed it sooner and I was actively working to get it replaced but it had different plans. Fortunately no head damage and some other critical work was taken care of.
While it was apart, the shop called and said that the passenger motor mount was bad. Two different aftermarket parts stores provided the wrong part, not sure what they provided, did not see them. I did some searching myself and we finally decided to put the bad one back and I ordered the Amazon set.
I will say, the parts appear to be just as good as the OEM ones I was removing. Did the timing belt side mount first, no real problems, had to lift the motor just a bit with a jack to get the nuts on the motor side of the mount started. I needed a breaker bar to get some of these bolts and nuts loose. Be prepared to use some muscle.
The front mount was pretty easy as well, just some really tight bolts. Put the car on jack stands or ramps and use a jack and a piece of 2x4 as a pressure spreader to lift the motor to get the tension off the cross bolt.
The Transmission Mount is a bit trickier, for ease of access remove the red strut brace, the air intake box, the battery and the battery pan. You will need to lift the motor a bit to remove the cross bolt. The rest of the mounting bolts were harder to remove due to obstructions from the mount. I have a 14mm ratcheting box wrench, that helped a lot. When installing the new one you will need to really work the mount to get all 4 of the car side bolts started, after that, you slowly jack up the motor until the cross bolt goes through.
As for the back mount, I will pay someone to do that job. It is so packed in there I am not sure how I would go about doing the job.
The first three mounts took about 2 hours to do, its really not that hard of a job. The transmission mount was the hardest of the three, but just pull everything out of the way and take your time.
The car idles smoother and it feels more responsive. It was worth doing it as a DIY project.
All three of the mounts were shot, the lower mount was torn completely through. This was definitely a job that needed to be done.
Have a helper of at all possible, that way one can work the jack while you try to get the cross bolts in or out. I was really glad my 15yo son was available. He is waiting to take the car from me, so its in his best interest to get it fixed now.
Next project: Struts
While it was apart, the shop called and said that the passenger motor mount was bad. Two different aftermarket parts stores provided the wrong part, not sure what they provided, did not see them. I did some searching myself and we finally decided to put the bad one back and I ordered the Amazon set.
I will say, the parts appear to be just as good as the OEM ones I was removing. Did the timing belt side mount first, no real problems, had to lift the motor just a bit with a jack to get the nuts on the motor side of the mount started. I needed a breaker bar to get some of these bolts and nuts loose. Be prepared to use some muscle.
The front mount was pretty easy as well, just some really tight bolts. Put the car on jack stands or ramps and use a jack and a piece of 2x4 as a pressure spreader to lift the motor to get the tension off the cross bolt.
The Transmission Mount is a bit trickier, for ease of access remove the red strut brace, the air intake box, the battery and the battery pan. You will need to lift the motor a bit to remove the cross bolt. The rest of the mounting bolts were harder to remove due to obstructions from the mount. I have a 14mm ratcheting box wrench, that helped a lot. When installing the new one you will need to really work the mount to get all 4 of the car side bolts started, after that, you slowly jack up the motor until the cross bolt goes through.
As for the back mount, I will pay someone to do that job. It is so packed in there I am not sure how I would go about doing the job.
The first three mounts took about 2 hours to do, its really not that hard of a job. The transmission mount was the hardest of the three, but just pull everything out of the way and take your time.
The car idles smoother and it feels more responsive. It was worth doing it as a DIY project.
All three of the mounts were shot, the lower mount was torn completely through. This was definitely a job that needed to be done.
Have a helper of at all possible, that way one can work the jack while you try to get the cross bolts in or out. I was really glad my 15yo son was available. He is waiting to take the car from me, so its in his best interest to get it fixed now.
Next project: Struts
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