Motor Mount Question

[MaydayDown_Joey]

I just picked up a 2002 Protege 5 with ~177K on it with what I'm assuming is the stock motor. At lower RPM with no throttle I can hear the motor shift and the car shifts a little. When I step on the gas again I can hear/feel the motor torque and the car lunges forward a little as long as you give it enough gas.

Now I'm assuming this is caused by the worn motor mounts. History has shown this to be the case in similar cars I've owned. Anybody who owns a 240sx knows what I'm talking about.

Questions:
- Is there a specific motor mount that tends to break down? The rear would seem to be the likely culprit but I wanted to ask around first.
- Has anybody ordered the 4 piece replacement mounts off ebay, are they half way decent?


Thanks.

 

[Hank3]

Might want to search "engine mounts" or "motor mounts" in this forum (specifically the Protege5 section). It has been discussed numerous time...even recently.

With that being said, IMO, if you want a stock ride, then you need to get OEM mounts. I've tried aftermarket ones that are made to replicate OEM, but they all exhibit more vibrations at idle. I drive this car to work and back and do not need performance out of it. Just need it to be reliable and have good gas mileage. I tried two aftermarket ones for the front mount (one behind the radiator) and noticed more vibrations. Went to OEM and it smoothed things out. The aftermarket ones were 1/2 to 3/4 the cost of the OEM. Fortunately the front mount is easy to take on and off. The rear one (along the firewall) is one that you want to do just once instead of trying different mounts.

 

[AntG1551]

Has anyone tried the poly inserts for the front and rear motor mounts?

Im in the same situation. The car needed new motor mounts. I bought a full set of cheap oem replacements. Not mazda brand. It was great for a while. But that only lasted for about 10k miles. Now theres alot of play again and its annoying.

My car is my DD. Its auto trans. And i just want something to last with the way i drive (aggressive plus alot stop and go driving). I dont mind a little bit of increase in NVH. But nothing crazy.

With that being said. I have solid front and rear motor mounts in 2 of my previous cars. 3000gt vr4. Fwd based awd. And it felt like i had stock motor mounts except for a little bit more "feeling" at idle.

The way my car is now. I cant even feel that its running. Now i like that about it, but the stock mounts are just alittle on the weak side.

I was going to try the 3M window weld method. Where you basically fill the voids in the stock mounts with polyurethane.

But then i saw theres a site that sells fully poly mounts and also poly inserts for stock mounts.

Should i jst try the window weld method to the front and rear mounts? Or should i go with the poly inserts? Should i buy maybe a better brand oem mount or even look into how much front and rear mounts would be from mazda.

Or should i just leave it alone and let it be? LOL... Thats hard for me to do, but its possible. This is my DD. My fun/weekend car is a bmw 335i coupe with a 6 speed manual.

I HATE drivetrain slop... The first parts i upgraded in that car was 335is motor mounts. Slightly stiff oem mount from bmw. $80 a piece though! (yupnope)

 

[Valk]

Im running silicon gasket stuff in 3 of my mounts and a awr 70dm solid up front. motor has enough give to not rattle the crap out of the windscreen at idle, but allows for nice, smooth shifts with minimal engine movement. not the prettiest mod surely, but holding up just fine.

 

[pcb]

,... but holding up just fine.

Mine Too !!!

(sorry guys.... I know you hate this picture)

 

[katapaltes]

To the OP, the front and passenger mounts were the first to go on my manual transmission '03 P5. The dealership told me about them, and I'll assume the others are still good, or they would have told me.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[AntG1551]

Mine Too !!!

(sorry guys.... I know you hate this picture)

Haha!!!

Umm...

Im looking for a more permanent approach?

But i love the red neck ingenuity (lol)

 

[pcb]

,..looking for a more permanent approach?

Kk This then,...

I'm not even gonna consider removing my rear mount to do it,..

Just gonna clean 'ER up and put 'ER in,...

 

[MaydayDown_Joey]

pcb: HAHAHAHA, hey if it gets you to work for a while!


Thanks for all the replies,

I bought a cheap DEA (DAE?) version, ~$22 shipped to my door for just the front one. Once I pulled that off I could see it was pretty well shot, not as bad as PCB's but still not good. If it rattles too much I'll buy something better worth the $22 for now to test and get me to work and back for a while.

 

[Valk]

Juat remove intake.manifold and spooge the shyte in there lol

I just put a new oem rear in, but filled it with red silicon. The mounts I filled 5 months ago still look and work mint.

 

[katapaltes]

Replaced my #3 mount (passenger side) last week thanks to my new Harbor Freight Engine Support Bar. Got the support bar for $60 on July 4th with their annual 25% off coupon. Harbor Freight tools are sometimes junk, but they manage to sell a decent support bar, which is mostly solid steel. http://www.harborfreight.com/1000-lb-capacity-engine-support-bar-96524.html

With #2 and #3 mounts replaced, the car drives and shifts great again. Zero wheel hop.

 

[Tabakki]

I replaced all of mine with AWR mounts except for the transmission one, and that one has inserts. I got the 90 durometer bushings. These are race quality parts, and give a race quality feel to the car. There is no more wheelhop or drivetrain lash at all, and the shifting feels much crisper...the shift lever no longer moves with engine torque. WARNING: your ride quality goes down considerably, in that engine vibration now shakes the whole car, to the point that the door panels buzz like theres a giant woofer in the car. If you consider the AWR mounts, i'd strongly reccommend ordering them in the 70 durometer bushings. I figured with a manual trans, I'd need the stiffer mounts, but these are practically solid mounts, and you will feel it. By the way, the vibration is worst at idle, and seems to create a "harmonic" around 3k-3500 rpm. The factory mounts are way too soft and weak though, especially in a manual trans car, so there may be something out there that is more of a compromise between sloppy soft, and racecar uncomfortable.
I'm planning to use the Home Depot sound deadening on the car, but then i'm going to have to offset that weight with a carbon fiber hood or something. (what i'm planning to tell the wife)

 

[katapaltes]

Here's a question... When I replaced my #3 mount as mentioned above, I used an engine support bar. I tried to center the bar front-to-back with respect to the engine as best I could. When I installed the new mount, I didn't have the ability to really "position" the engine. (The engine was supported by two chains from the support bar, and the chains might have been pulling the engine forward, backward, or side-to-side.) Should the nuts be perfectly centered on the shiny circles of my new mount (see attached picture), or do I need to worry about that? I've not seen this mentioned on any engine mount thread I've seen. Obviously, removing the support bar after the new mount was in place and letting the engine find its natural position was not an option (before tightening the nuts from above) as the engine would have just sagged.