Poly Top Engine Mount

kmoney · Post by **kmoney** » 05 Apr 2009, 21:05

I have an'04 S60 and just replaced the top mount with the polyurethane mount from IPD. They warn of more vibration but couldn't believe how much worse the vibration is. Think I'm going to swap this bak out for the OEM style mount. Before I do I was wondering if anyone else had the same problem and cured it by replacing other mounts? The car has around 120,000 miles on it by the way. I'm also thinking of replacing and upgrading the upper engine stabilizer (bar across the strut towers) mounts to poly to see if maybe this helps reduce the vibration a little but have a feeling it may intensify the issue.

Anyone have the same issues?

billr99 · Post by **billr99** » 06 Apr 2009, 05:18

I had a poly top mount on my '96 R (5-sp) along with all new OEM mounts elsewhere. I got a bit more vibration at idle but the mount worked great off idle. Now with that said, I had thoughts about doing something similiar for my '02 XC (geartronic) but after reading about increased vibration at idle I figured I would stay clear of any poly. Two issues have arisen however and I've changed that thought somewhat but not due to vibration concerns. Specifically, I went with solid strut brace mounts to basically create a pseudo-strut bar and that has been effective in tightening up the steering a bit which on the XC was a bit sluggish stock. It has also increased vibration a wee bit but only when the temperatures are a bit colder (i.e. below 0C). My next issue is that I cannot seem to keep the small end bushing in one piece in these new design lower motor/tranny mounts. I suspect that the design is really mushy for vibration control but also the compounding of the rubber seems to deteriorate quicker now that I live in sea air 100% of the time. Plus the roads around here are not the greatest, especially during the spring thaw and that seems to have an effect as well. So I'm in the process of changing out the small-end bush only to a Powerflex poly (big-end bushing stays OEM rubber). I haven't received the mount from the UK yet but I will get in it ASAP once I do get hold of it. I have another thread on the subject on this forum and intend to report my results once I get it installed.

Cheers,

Bill

Mandrake · Post by **Mandrake** » 06 Apr 2009, 08:45

kmoney, I did the same with my 01 S60 T5. The poly upper mount really made the car vibrate at idle to the point where I took it out and replaced it with a stock one. I feel that if you did replace the strut mounts with poly ones it would intensify the problem.

Georgeandkira · Post by **Georgeandkira** » 07 Apr 2009, 08:37

Hello, The poly-mount transmitted terrific vibrations in my 1999; surprising since the engine ran so smoothly. I restored the rubber mount. A Volvo mechanic near me has restored EVERY one he has installed.

kmoney · Post by **kmoney** » 07 Apr 2009, 13:03

Put a rubber mount back on today. The vibration is just too much to deal with..

bshinn · Post by **bshinn** » 08 Apr 2009, 17:55

Did you preload it properly?

Mine is slightly worse than with no bushing at all, but by no means untolerable. When you install it, someone needs to be in the car with it in drive & their foot on the brake before you torque the bolt. Might want to try this b4 giving up completely. My 01 V70 drives far better with the IPD bushing than B4!

BTW, I have both the upper AND lower mount installed.

vantassell · Post by **vantassell** » 15 Sep 2010, 15:27

Sorry to dig up an old post, I just wanted to add to it for when someone searches.

I just installed a new poly upper engine mount and now I have 'barely' noticeable vibration. It's so slight that I doubt my wife noticed a change at all when she's driving. My engine feels a lot smother now (including shifts) but that's probably because of the placebo pill I took right after I installed it.

If you're having a lot of vibration you should probably check the other mounts and make sure they're still good. I was pretty worried when I looked at my upper engine mount, because I thought the rest of them would be in the same condition. As you can see, it was pretty trashed.

The good part was I didn't need to use a hacksaw or anything to pull it out

tigmaned · Post by **tigmaned** » 16 Sep 2010, 17:36

i have a yellow powerflex set up i am not useing if anyone is looking?

marmau · Post by **marmau** » 18 Sep 2010, 16:19

I noticed a slight increase in vibration - and i replaced all the uppers (either side of the strut brace and the top mount). It does get slightly annoying on certain days depending on atmospheric conditions and the way my motor is running. But i like the improvements more than enough to make up for it. Lower tranny mount is next - i hope that will stop the clunk i can hear with the windows down sometimes when i shift gears.

endothrow · Post by **endothrow** » 26 Oct 2010, 11:25

I replaced mine with a poly upper engine mount after I found that the OEM mount was torn (although not noticeable). After fooling with old rubber piece for a while trying to remove it, I fitted a yellow poly bushing in and reinstalled everything. Started it up and the vibration was terrible. I thought that I could live with it, but I started hearing a "clunck" when I would accelerate. I attributed this to the amount of movement the new bushing allowed. After running it for a few weeks, I started to notice more of a grinding sound under the engine every time I pressed the gas.
Thinking I was doing damage to the other mounts, I purchased the OEM mount and installed and everything went back to normal. Since then I have replaced the upper torsion bar mounts as well as the transmission mount link. Next come the engine to frame mounts as I think that these were the most abused during the time I had the Poly mount.