Re: More $$

[steveb@newkla.kla.com (Steven Buchholz)]

Paul Souza queries:
>           
>           (1) How do you determine that your motor mounts are in need
>               of replacement?  What are the symptoms?

When the oil pan touches the subframe :) ...  Boy the amount of engine 
noise coupled into the frame decreased significantly after replacing 
those MMs!  Recommend that you check to see if the rubber is all broken 
up.  If not you're probably OK.  If you have that high of mileage you 
probably need to replace the mount on the exhaust side.

>           (2) When first starting up my car, I have no problem shifting
>               smoothly.  But as driving progresses, shifting gears gets
>               increasingly more difficult.  The gears don't grind and 
>               there's no slipping, it just feels progressively less smooth.
>               The trans and diff fluid have never been changed, though I
>               do have that big honkin' 17mm Allen socket to do the job.
>           
You could have a problem where the clutch is slipping just a little when 
the engine warms up.  This would be more likely if you had a hyd clutch.  
My friend has a similar complaint on his T-bird SC.  You might also want 
to look into the shift linkage ... the symptoms are not usually temp re-
lated, but there are some plastic parts in the linkage that can get brittle 
and break with time.  

Steve Buchholz
s_buchho@kla.com
San Jose, CA (USA)