[s-cars] Replacing Engine Mounts

[chad clark]

Jed, this procedure is relatively painless if you're just a bit mechanically
inclined. Get the front of the car in the air on jack stands(not too high)
Depending on which front snub mount(located up near the radiator) you
have(stock vs. the larger after-market delrin piece) you may have to remove
this first. You'll have to jack up the motor from the bottom but only do one
side at a time(I used a small piece of 2x4 wood and jacked using the oil pan
gasket bolts as my wedge) I wouldn't jack from the oil pan itself as you
could end up crushing it and the oil pump suction tube. You really don't
need to jack up the engine very much at all, just to get the weight off the
mount(s).

Next you have to be some what of a contortionist as you loosen both the
upper and lower nuts on the engine mounts. You'll need extensions and
wobleys? to get around some of the angles in there along with some small
wrenches. I used air and they came right off. If no air, two people would be
handy here. May want to hit the nuts with a penetrating oil the night
before. Once you have one of the mounts off, replace it and move to the
other side. As I have found and many others may comment on, the turbo side
mount suffers from extremely high heat being underneath the turbo and
therefore fails at twice the rate as the other(drivers) side. It gets dry
and brittle, not sure if that side of the motor gets more torque applied to
it. I'd bet many are running around out there with a failed turbo side motor
mount and don't even know it. Mine was broken in two but I didn't notice any
unusual noises or driveability issues prior to removal. However, car
definitely felt tighter upon installing new motor mounts. I think the whole
job took me 1.5 to 2 hours by myself. Turbo side is definitely tougher. I
purchased my mounts for about $50 each two years ago. I'd bet a shop would
charge at least 2 hours labor in addition to their markup on the parts
themselves.

Your rubbing sound could also be exhaust related. Check all exhaust mounts
and the condition of your heat shields as they tend to break loose from
their welds and rattle. They seem to rattle or resonate at certain engine
loads and rpms. Solution is removal or a 3" Stromung with no steenking
shields:-)

As a side note, you may want to check the condition of your tranny mounts
while the car is in the air. From my experience it seems these last quite a
long time and rarely need replacing. You should be able to see the ripped or
cracking webbing of a failed tranny mount should they need replacing. I
think the Europe only V8 S6+ had beefier tranny mounts that are a direct
replacement for ours. Maybe Tom could comment on these? Maybe we could do a
GP for when I decide to replace mine? Good luck and HTH,

Chad Clark


on 10/19/03 7:42 AM, Batchelder at jkvt at wcvt.com wrote:

> Does anyone have any advice on replacing the engine mounts on 1992 S4?
> Under extremely heavy acceleration there a vibration that appears to be
> coming from the front of the car.  Several friends, while riding in the
> car have suggested that it is worn engine mounts.
>
> What is the cost/effort involved in doing this?
>
>
> How much would a shop charge to replace?
>
> Winter is just around the corner here in VT, and I am without a garage.
>
> Thank you!
>
> Jed
>
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