Snapped the motor mount off my engine the other day., passenger side, not the rear Options

[RocketScott]

Prologue...

The car has been in the shop for a couple of weeks so I could replace the half shafts. The passenger side boot had torn open at some point, grease everywhere. Checked the driver side too. There wasn't a tear in the boot but there was grease all around it so I figured I'd replace it. While on that side I discovered that the driver side didn't have an oil seal on the outside of the bearing so it was shot. Not being one to just put it back together I sandblasted all the parts I could, painted them, and put in new seals and bearings on both sides.





After looking at the drive components I checked the rear motor mount. I replaced it nine months ago but it was shot again. I just figured pushing the Scion tC 17" rims put too much stress on it so I ordered up a pair of the polyurethane motor mount inserts. Great price and they were here super quick. They even fit the new Autozone rear mount like a glove (front mount pictured).



Putting the rear mount in was bad, really really bad. I know it's normally bad because I've done it before. This time it was worse. I couldn't figure out why it was so difficult. the motor wasn't moving the way I needed it to when I lifted it up with the jack. I finally got it in after loosening and lowering the rest of the sub frame. It felt good that things were going back together.... except the motor still looked kinda funny, like it was tilted...


The Real Problem...

Because of the tilt I thought I should check the upper motor mounts. First took the airbox off and checked the drivers side, everything looked fine. Then I went to the passenger side. It's so tight that I figured I should unbolt the mount from the chassis and just see how much it flexes. Wow it flexes a lot, like it isn't even attached to the engine. That's because it's not. The whole unit came right out without unbolting it from the engine. Awsome. From the looks of things the top two bolts sheared off in the block and the bottom one stripped out after wriggling around for a while.



Looks like the engine fell onto the mount and the timing belt wore a pretty good path into the bracket (I think parasitic drag is too light a term for that). Here is a shot of the bracket cleaned up:



Now I'm looking at replacing the timing belt and whatever else that got ruined. The belt cover is shot, I had to pound the bottom bolt down just to get it off. Haven't gotten too deep into it yet. I found all this out yesterday after work so who knows what else needs to be replaced. The big problem is getting the mount back on. The top two bolts were sheared right at the block, there is nothing to grab onto to twist them out. To drill them and use a easy-out or even a helicoil I think I'm going to have to pull the engine.

I'll try to get some better picks of the side of the engine. It's tight and the pictures I took weren't very good the first time.

Anybody have to deal with this before? Am I going to have to pull the engine? If I do pull the engine do I really want to put a four cylinder back in? How long can Rocket's pocket book hold out!?

[ricochet1490]

you are in deep s**t . as if you didn't already know. I don't know of pulling the motor is necessary or not... But I would try to come up with something clever. Like get a small drill bit for like a 10-24 machine screw. drill the hole in the center of the bit as far in as possible. Get a left hand thread tap for a smaller bolt/machine screw and tap the bit with LH threads. Then as you tighten the new screw or botl in, when it bottoms out it will lock into the remaining bolt and twist it out. weld a different bolt to the end of the sheared one? clearance? just some ideas

[Neon90424]

holy crap did the cam gears do that or was it the belt?

[czwalga]

I've never had success with the easy out type devices....


What did work for me, i'm not sure if you know a good welder or can weld, but get a piece of steel lay it flat next to the hole like this:
(Steel) []o (bolt)

Drip the weld down onto the sheard off nut. The head is aluminum so you have some breathing room, when I did it the surrounding material was steel so it was more critical to only hit the sheared bolt.

Anyways once you get a good weld, you can use the piece of metal as a wrench. The piece of metal I used was 1/8" and about 8-12" long. Also hit it with some PB blaster before hand just to help break it. The hardest part is getting it to turn initially, I end up breaking a few welds and redoing it after it twisted off, mainly cause I was so worried about welding to the surrounding material.


Sorry if its worded poorly but hard to explain through text. If you can weld good its pretty damn effective.

This post has been edited by czwalga: Nov 7, 2011 - 5:36 PM

[RocketScott]

Thanks guys for the replies. I just came in from the shop to look on craigslist for a cherry picker to pull the engine. I've got most everything off and it's ready to come out.

The worn down part on the motor mount came from the timing belt. Hard to beleive it didn't break.

That's a good idea about welding a bar to the bolt. I have awelder so if the easy out doesn't work I'll try it.

I still don't know how it sheared in the first place. My only guess is that the shop that did the timing belt last over torqued everything. It was a huge PITA to get the crank pulley off (lots of heat and a big impact gun). I'm also pushing the heavy 17" scion tC rims.

[Bitter]

try a sharp punch and hammer to try to turn the bolts back out a little to grab with vice grips, you should be able (once the timing belt is off) to get enough room to work without pulling the engine by lifting the engine up with a floor jack and block o wood on the oil pan.


I'd be more worried about the hole with no thread, it sounds like they didn't tighten the bracket enough rather than over tightening. Use some thread locker (medium strength) when you reassemble.

[RocketScott]

Quick update:

Got the motor pulled out. Drilled and used an easy out to get the sheared bolts out. They weren't stuck at all. Got some helicoils to fix the lower hole.

I'll post more pics a little later, spending a lot of time cleaning everything. How many gallons of grease do they put in those CV joints anyway?

[Bitter]

yea, that means the bolts broke because they were left too loose, not because they were over tightened.

If you took the inner axle joint apart it should be replaced since the two halves are worn together, putting them back not the same exact way can cause a premature failure. Easier now while the stuff is apart than later when the engine/trans is in.