Motor Mounts Topic is solved

Sil · Post by **Sil** » 05 Sep 2005, 01:19

Hey everybody.

Good evening. It is late here in Texas but nice and quiet. This evening I was talking to my grandmother who is afraid that she's being hoodwinked by the Volvo dealership. Suspicion runs in her Russian genes so I thought I'd do a little research myself and see if I can help her in any way.

She own a 97 Volvo four-door sedan; I want to say its an 850 but to tell you the truth I'm not sure. The car has 46,000 miles on it and has been babied like an only child. Oil-changes, repairs when necessary--the works. Around 30,000 miles she took the car in to an independent mechanic who did the routine factory scheduled work for her. Now, ignorant in the world of automobiles, she trusted the mechanic to operate according to the standards and procedures of the Volvo 30,000 mi. scheduled maintaince. Well, 16,000 miles later the car begins to make some noise, in her words, "the car shook a bit whenever I changed gears upwards (it's an automatic) and whenever it came to a complete stop." She took the car into the Volvo dealership and they made her sign papers saying that whatever diagnostic tests show as problematic, the dealership has the perrogitve to fix. AND they made her pay up front for some parts she needed that they didn't have in stock, one of which was a MOTOR MOUNT. Scandalized at the price, she asked if the car was safe to drive home. "OF course," they said. To her pleasure, she found the noise had vanished on her way home. Now she is wondering: do I really need to fix this mount? After all, she is selling the car in a few months; is it worth the $600 plus bucks the want. She lives in an area with very few hills and never drives up steep mountains. Lastly, in response to the laundry list of problems she discovered she had (or supposedly) she asked why are there all these problems. WIth anger in her voice, the Volvo dealership employee replied that it is because my poor grandmother doesn't take care of her car. So...does she need a motor mount? Two, what's the deal the the dealership? Three, even if she needs a new motor mount, is it worth it if she is going to sell the car in a few months? Finally, what causes a motor mount to go out and how much should it cost.

Thanks everyone or anyone who replies. Signing off with a preemptive thanks.
Sil

White850Turbo · Post by **White850Turbo** » 05 Sep 2005, 05:33

If I may ask, where in TX are you and which dealership are you taking it to? Motor mounts go bad on lots of cars. We've had motor mounts go bad on American made, Japanese made, and European cars. It's almost a regular maintenance type thing, sort of like suspension bushings. They just go bad from heat and vibration. Now, getting to the point, there are 2 motor mounts subject to failure on these cars. There is one on the passenger side that costs about $40 for the part and takes no more than an hour to install using this guide. Then there is what's called the engine stabilizer mount, which is notorious for failure. It can be replaced with a polyurethane piece from IPD for $26 and about an hour of your time. Dealerships have a reputation for ripping off those who might not know any better, particularly elderly customers. This is why we call them stealerships. If you are in the Dallas area, I'd be glad to give you the name of a good friend and mechanic of mine. He is the only one allowed to work on my car and is a straight shooter; very honest guy.

Sil · Post by **Sil** » 06 Sep 2005, 08:57

Thanks for the speedy reply. It seems I might have mislead you a bit. The car is actually a 97 Volvo 960 and not an 850. My apologies. Does the advice hold true for this car as well as the 850?

Secondly, she actually lives in New Mexico, a land of enchantment and swindlers. I passed on the advice to her. We will see what happens. Thanks again.

Sil