2008 3.2 FWD engine mounts procedure - advice requested

[ogatrulle]

106k miles. Both of my hydraulic engine mounts have ruptured. The rear went first (noticed it when I changed the oil at 97k) and the front failed recently (I just noticed fluid leaking this afternoon).

I am also inclined to replace the other engine mounts/torque struts while I'm at it. Is that a good idea?

This will be the first time for me. Is there a way to replace the hydraulic mounts without the support bar? Or, is there a source for an engine support bar that will work for this engine? (I also have a 2006 V70 2.5T in need of new mounts, so I'm not averse to buying a support if I can use it for that as well)

Finally, should I consider aftermarket hydraulic mounts or stick with brand V?

Many thanks for your advice!

[SuperHerman]

I would use OEM or equivalent as the failure rate and noise/ride quality are known if you plan on keeping the car. I would also replace everything that requires you to support the engine as you are already into it. No sense doing the work twice. It is the time and labor that gets you.

On my 2004 for the 2.9T engine I used a Harbor Freight engine support bar and modified it. Attached is a picture of what I set up. I used a very long screw to hold the wooden stack together. The wooden stack and the cross bar allowed me to keep all the engine lift points aligned and the chains straight. I have seen others just go with two points and have the chains not straight. This set up gave me three support points, two at the towers and one on the radiator support will all chains straight and easy to adjust and control. Any questions ask.

You can accomplish the same thing with wood, bolts, chains and screws to get the job done. I built mine with the Harbor Freight support bar and scrap I had sitting around. The HF bar is cheap and I have used it on multiple cars - comes in handy.

[SuperHerman]

I missed one of your questions - "can one do this without a support bar?" I have seen some people use a floor jack and wood block on the oil pan. Other than safety concerns - the jack seems to get in the way. As you have two projects get the HF bar and fashion a solid workable, repeatable solution.

[Roger_850T]

I have to do the motor mounts on my 2005 XC90 V8, and I will be sticking with the official Volvo motor mounts. I've had sufficient trouble with non-Volvo parts, that when it comes to something I don't want to do again in short order (because the part failed), I buy the Volvo one. Besides, if you buy right, they are not THAT much more than the other options.

I have the same Harbor Freight support bar as SuperHerman - and I'm very happy with it! I like SuperHerman's extended kit. I need to do something similar for my V8, and I had planned to buy a second Harbor Freight bar to do the trick, but this might be a better way.

Can you do it without a support bar? Well, you need to support the engine somehow, and since you're pulling out all the support from below, you need to do something. You're going to drop the subframe to do the engine mounts, and the engine will follow the subframe unless you do *something*. I'd feel nervous if I was crawling under it with just a jack. Even on my 850, (and even my VW Rabbit) I had some sort of support from above while dropped things out from the bottom. Can you? Yeah, maybe you can figure out something you're comfortable with. But I have always used that support from above.

The Harbor Freight one is only $75. I recommend it.

Roger

[ogatrulle]

On my 2004 for the 2.9T engine I used a Harbor Freight engine support bar and modified it. Attached is a picture of what I set up.

XC90 Tranny Jig - Copy.JPG

The day after I posted my message, I got a call from a client (I do software contracting) who had a job starting Right Effing Now so I was absolutely buried in work and had to defer even thinking about the car. Finished the job and began searching for info on the car project - found these posts and realized, "holy cow! I started this thread!"

Thank you for the information. The support bar seems like the best approach. For some reason I am not able to view the image you attached. Not sure if something expired somewhere. It would be really interesting to see how you modified the HF bar, as I will probably want to do something similar. Any chance you could upload again or give a link to your photo elsewhere? Thanks!

[SuperHerman]

Here it is again. Basically it is the Harbor Freight bar with a third leg which sits on the radiator support bar. I used a piece of scrap metal I had lying around. You could get by with a 4X4 and drill three holes. The far hole that goes to the bar, the second hold is for the support and the third hole is for the wood stack. Ugly but it worked and was what I had - took a few minutes to make. To secure the wood stack together I used a very long deck screw (also lying around).

[SuperHerman]

I tried again, but for some reason the site is not working correctly. I get a green check but it doesn't seem to appear. You can send me a PM and I can try sending it that way.

[matthew1]

Upload images fixed. Sorry for the trouble!

[ogatrulle]

Got it, and I see the image in this thread as well, thanks!

How did you choose the rectangular stock? I don't work with raw materials much so am not sure what wall thickness would be strong enough.

[ogatrulle]

Car has 110k or so miles.

I got a support bar and all six mounts/torque struts a few weeks ago, but did not have a chance to do anything with them until today.

This was my first time doing engine mounts of any kind, so I went a bit slowly. I replaced five mounts in about six hours, including blocking the rear wheels, lifting onto jack stands in front, cleaning up leaked juice from the ruptured mounts and splash guard, and putting tools away.

I reviewed the VIDA procedures and discovered that I should have bought new bolts for the right side lower mount/pad. These are angle-tightened so the old bolts must be discarded and replaced with new. The local V dealership parts guy said they would have to get them "from their east-coast warehouse" (ha!) so I said "no thanks" and ordered them from MY Chicago warehouse. Once I get the bolts, I'll do this mount.

This car has two lower hydraulic mounts, two lower torque struts, a mount "pad" on the bottom of the right side, and a torque strut at the top right of the engine forward of the strut tower.

I had gotten some scrap rectangular steel tubing to make a third leg as shown in SuperHerman's photos above, but when I looked at the steel crossmember over the radiator, it did not seem to be supported by much at either end and I didn't think I could rely on it to support 400 pounds. Furthermore, the left lift point is at the front of the engine, which doesn't afford much leverage for fiddling about with the left rear where the mount is.

I set up the support bar somewhat diagonally to minimize the horizontal extent of the chains supporting the engine and tightened up the chains. Under the car there is an (aluminum?) bracket at the lower left rear corner of the transmission that looks like it was designed as an engine lift point. No idea if that's the true purpose, but I got a jack under it with a piece of 2x4 along the left edge of the transmission, just high enough to support some weight but not move anything.

Lower rear hydraulic mount

First up were the hydraulic mounts, rear first. Lots of extensions connected to get the long reach from above to the bolt on top of the mount. Once loose, I was able to pick it up with my foot-long hemostat pliers. Then underneath to take of the heat shield (2x 8mm hex) and the three bolts holding the upper bracket to the transmission. My upper bracket also had some cable attached on top, so I just left the bracket hanging up close to its original position.

Lower bracket has three nuts from below, one obvious forward one and two rear in the crossmember. There was a small horizontal bolt occluding one of the nuts in the crossmember, so I backed it out (8mm hex) and fortunately remembered to retighten afterward. The mount comes out with the lower bracket. I clamped it at the workbench to undo the single nut holding the mount and then reversed the process to install the new mount (after wire-brushing the old juice stains off the lower bracket).

The new mount of course sits taller than the ruptured mount. I was having trouble getting the three horizontal bolts for the upper bracket into the corresponding threaded transmission holes until I remembered this. I gave the aforementioned jack a few pumps and up went the rear of the transmission easily, and the bolts went right in.

A bit of masking tape holds the top bolt to the socket while lowering from above.

Lower front hydraulic mount

I moved my jack and 2x4 to the front of the oil pan and loosened the two forward bolts of the torque strut adjacent to the front mount. I took out the nut in the crossmember holding the mount stud.

Took out the snorkel leading to the air filter box. VIDA says to also take out the air duct to the throttle intake, but it looked like a giant pain to get to the hose clamp. I had just enough room to get my arms in from above into the area in front of the bracket. Three bolts out from the bracket. Hmm, removing the air duct might have provided room to actually get the mount+bracket out. I eventually worked it out on the right side of the engine above near the oil filter, but it was a tight squeeze.

Visibility to install the three horizontal bracket bolts to the engine was limited, but I was able to do it from above. Same issue as with the rear mount: the new mount is taller, and I had to jack the front of the engine quite a bit to get the threaded holes to line up with the holes in the bracket. Getting the bolt threads started was the most time-consuming aspect of replacing this mount.

I found that with various length extensions, I could get at the three bolts from below with a torque wrench for final tightening.

Lower front torque strut

This one was trivially easy. I had already loosened the torque strut forward nuts (above). Two bolts at the transmission, and done. Mine had a cable (inside plastic wire loom) running under the transmission affixed with a couple of push-in fasteners; the cable ran over the two bolt heads of the torque strut, and it was chafing on the bolt heads. I cut a 2-inch section of 1-inch ID hose, split it along one side, and tie-wrapped it over the wire loom where it passed over the bolt heads. That ought to give at least a few years' protection.

Lower rear torque strut

Fairly easy. Two bolts for the bracket (strut), two more bolts for the removable bushing. There are two ways the new removable bushing can go in, they are not identical: the position of the hole in the middle of the rubber shifts. I don't know if it really matters, but I used the orientation that matched that of the original bushing.

Clearance to get a torque wrench on the bolts for the removable bushing is a bit tricky. This is where my socket slipped off the bolt and I hit my thumb. Hope the neighborhood kids weren't listening.

Upper torque strut

Two bolts. Pry forward part down with a screwdriver, then pry rear part toward inboard to clear bracket, then remove forward past coolant reservoir. Bit of a puzzle, but no need to remove the "hood" that covers this bracket.

After I got cleaned up, I sat in the driver's seat and turned the key. Ahh, finally smooth again!