Poll: Have you changed fore and aft engine mounts and how difficult was it?

Post by **dosbricks** » 21 Dec 2015, 12:29

We are talking about the hydraulic mounts in front of and behind the engine. I changed these on the S70 both at the same time and they both fought me every step of the way coming out and going in. I would rate this job more frustrating than pulling the engine on my 850 to replace the RMS which was just a lot of work but not near the hassle. What was your experience and where did I mess up? Because this was nothing like McNally's FCP video or Jim Peisker's Red Wagon blog post.

PS: I used OEM Hutchinson front and Corteco rear. I unbolted the top torque mount, passenger side mount by the crank pulley, lower trans torque mount, and then changed out the forward mount first and then the rear.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 21 Dec 2015, 16:06

My biggest problem was on the rear. The bolt broke in half where it goes through the mount.

...Lee

Post by **dosbricks** » 21 Dec 2015, 17:58

Lee, was the bolt seized and twisted off, or did it break while you were lifting to change out the front mount? If it left a stud sticking down, I would have said just shoot me now. I loosened up the bottom bolt and top nut on the opposite mount before lifting each side.

One comfort I have is that when Robert and I had the engine out of my wagon, I stepped into the engine bay and put in a new Corteco rear mount in about five minutes flat. The rear seems to be the one most prone to collapsing from the torque load.

Post by **cn90** » 21 Dec 2015, 18:12

From watching FCPEuro video, it didn't look too bad:

Post by **dosbricks** » 21 Dec 2015, 18:17

Yeah, I watched that video before I started. They're in the business of selling parts, not doing realistic DIYs.

Post by **tryingbe** » 21 Dec 2015, 18:53

Easy, but my engine and transmission were out. I also have an engine hoist.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 21 Dec 2015, 19:59

Lee, was the bolt seized and twisted off, or did it break while you were lifting to change out the front mount?

It twisted and sheared when I tried to loosen it.

...Lee

Post by **cn90** » 21 Dec 2015, 20:12

Re FRONT and REAR mounts (not the side mount near the Timing Belt area, and not the torque mount on top of engine): what are the symptoms?
I am at 175K with original mounts, no noise, so I tend to leave them alone unless you guys tell me otherwise...

Post by **dosbricks** » 21 Dec 2015, 20:57

cn90,
Yes, if you are not experiencing any issues, by all means, leave them alone.

One problem is if one splits and leaks out the fluid--very rare. The issue I was having was very noticeable vibration with the car stopped, transmission in drive with the brakes on. Note that the passenger side (Volvo blue box) mount was good as well as the upper (Lemforder) torque mount.

The other problem was what I at first thought was a hiccup on mild acceleration which I imagined to be an engine issue. But I narrowed it down to a repeatable little clunk at 50mph in third gear before the car shifted into overdrive when I gave it light throttle and then let off. I could repeat it as many times as I wanted, so I determined the engine was torque clunking.

Jim Peisker had the vibration issue and traced it to the rear hydraulic mount. He also has the best DIY I could find on changing these. Scroll down to posts #105 and #83:
https://volvo850wagon.wordpress.com/cat ... nt-engine/

As it turned out, my rear mount was settled about 9-10mm and the front about half that--very similar to Jim's.

bugs11 · Post by **bugs11** » 22 Dec 2015, 12:39

I thought about replacing the front motor mount when I had everything of the engine during my head gasket replacement job. But I didn't, the mount looked old but solid and I already had enough on my hands with the head gasket job.