Last time she took her car in to get serviced, my fiance was told that she had a motor mount that was going. We decided not to have it fixed at the time (in part b/c i wasn't surethey werent just trying to BS her to make a few extra bucks). Its a few months later now and there is definitely some vibration in the car, coming from the engine. My question is - does anyone know how to check which mount is bad. Isit something that will be obvious when i look at the engine while running?

The car is a 2001 Saturn SL1. It looks like there are two mounts in the front and one in the back.

Thanks!

1/9/2006 1:03:55 PM

pop the hood, hold the brake in gear and in reverse and rev the engine, if there is a bad mount, the engine will move significantly

1/9/2006 1:22:05 PM

On a related note--how much damage can be caused by letting something like this go? My dad's '91 Accord has had a bad mount for some time, which he's been ignoring, and if it's going to seriously fuck something up I want to lean on him to get it fixed. Car is in great mechanical shape otherwise.

1/9/2006 1:33:07 PM

Vibration during idle, acceleration, shifting, or braking. Also, like mentioned above, excessive engine movement while revving the engine.

Best method is to visually inspect the motor mounts, if you feel comfortable doing so. You're looking for stretching/shearing/tearing/etc in the rubber.

As far as damage to the car as a result, maybe someone has more specific info regarding your particular car. I know that in other cars, a failed motor mount can result in damage to engine fan, radiator, assorted hoses, transmission mounts, etc.

I'm no expert, but hope that helps.

[Edited on January 9, 2006 at 1:43 PM. Reason : .]

1/9/2006 1:43:00 PM

my fan shroud cracked b/c the fan hit it when one of my mounts broke on 2000 zr2

1/9/2006 3:25:13 PM

Visual, while using a good long prybar to try and shift it around...some breakage isn't readily observable without either doing this or putting the car in gear and revving.

Of course, if it's a fluid-filled mount, you're gonna be looking for oil leakage...sometimes the top will just shear away from the bottom, and everything gets all grimy from the oil and any dirt that gets on it.

1/9/2006 4:03:27 PM

Quote :

"pop the hood, hold the brake in gear and in reverse and rev the engine, if there is a bad mount, the engine will move significantly"

also in drive

there should be at least 3 mounts on a car with a transverse engine

1/9/2006 10:00:43 PM

thats what i meant by in gear, also, cv axles dont like to stick around long when engine mounts are bad, its like when baonest moves into the neighborhood

1/10/2006 6:26:59 PM

Yeah, that nigga shows up in my neighborhood, I'm outta here...


THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD

1/10/2006 8:42:31 PM