Bad engine mounts, but who cares?

Just got a '96 toyota Camry from my father in law, 150K miles.
Great shape otherwise, but it shakes like ten epileptics when idling
in drive. Mechanic recommends replacing motor mounts, about $700
to replace two of the three.

My father in law recommends just ignoring the shaking, or putting it
in N at stoplights. How long can I get away with this? Will the
engine
really get into trouble soon if I ignore the bad mounts, or can I go
on indefinitely like this?

well, if all the mounts break, your engine could end up on the ground
instead of in the car. Or something like that. 700 bucks!!!!! That's
rediculous. Take a look and see if you can't do it yourself. Engine
mounts shouldn't be more than 20 or 30 bucks each. Although, I have
never owned a 96 Camry, so what do I know. Come to think of it, I have
never had any front wheel drive vehicle, but on a rear wheel drive car,
it's pretty easy. Just jack up the engine on something safe (not the
oil pan!) and swap it out. That's assuming there is nothing important
that would be bent or harmed in any way by lifting the engine enough to
get to the engine mount. Check it out....

loren


wrote:
> Just got a '96 toyota Camry from my father in law, 150K miles.
> Great shape otherwise, but it shakes like ten epileptics when idling
> in drive. Mechanic recommends replacing motor mounts, about $700
> to replace two of the three.
>
> My father in law recommends just ignoring the shaking, or putting it
> in N at stoplights. How long can I get away with this? Will the
> engine
> really get into trouble soon if I ignore the bad mounts, or can I go
> on indefinitely like this?

You can go to www.groups.google.com , search for {(engine OR
motor) mount camry}, and a lot of good hits come up. Notably
I just saw one from a guy who called himself a total
layperson. He did this job himself. That says something to
me about how much labor to expect. Many of the posts mention
the cost for the repair, too.

I think whether to change the mounts depends on how long you
want to keep the car, and what sort of trade-in value you
expect on it when you do finally give it up. ISTM that, even
if the vibration itself does not worsen, you are taking a
gamble that much more serious damage will occur to other
components connecting to the engine and not used to the
fatigue stress that the vibration will cause.

The following site has a good discussion of motor mounts and
how old ones that let the engine move more than new ones can
cause problems in a variety of systems, from radiator hoses
to transmissions to the throttle to the CV joints. Skip down
to the "Motor Mounts" section.
http://www.babcox.com/editorial/us/us50126.htm You can
google for something like {"motor mounts" alignment} and
turn up more discussions of some of these points.

From googling, seems the parts price of this repair is
around $100 per mount. So parts alone will run you around
$200.

Another $500 for labor does seem a little high to me, too.

I would shop around and see if this could be done for closer
to $400 to $500 total.

Ask at alt.autos.toyota.camry and alt.autos.toyota, too.

If I planned to keep this Camry more than six months, I'd
have the mounts changed out, or do it myself.



> wrote
> Just got a '96 toyota Camry from my father in law, 150K
> miles.
> Great shape otherwise, but it shakes like ten epileptics
> when idling
> in drive. Mechanic recommends replacing motor mounts,
> about $700
> to replace two of the three.
>
> My father in law recommends just ignoring the shaking, or
> putting it
> in N at stoplights. How long can I get away with this?
> Will the
> engine
> really get into trouble soon if I ignore the bad mounts,
> or can I go
> on indefinitely like this?
>

lolo > wrote in article
.com>...
> well, if all the mounts break, your engine could end up on the ground
> instead of in the car.


Naw !

The friction of the fan blades as they grind against the radiator SHOULD
stop the engine before it moves all the way through the radiator........

And, when the driveshaft drops out of the back of the transmission, THAT
should bring the car to a halt.

Besides, you've also got things like wiring harnesses and throttle cables
that will s-t-r-e-t-c-h out as they rein in the forward progress pf the
engine......



> wrote:
> >
> > My father in law recommends just ignoring the shaking, or putting it
> > in N at stoplights. How long can I get away with this? Will the
> > engine
> > really get into trouble soon if I ignore the bad mounts, or can I go
> > on indefinitely like this?
>
>

Just remember, your kids will be carrying HIS genes........be gentle with
them !

> wrote in message
ups.com...
>
> Just got a '96 toyota Camry from my father in law, 150K miles.
> Great shape otherwise, but it shakes like ten epileptics when idling
> in drive. Mechanic recommends replacing motor mounts, about $700
> to replace two of the three.
>
> My father in law recommends just ignoring the shaking, or putting it
> in N at stoplights. How long can I get away with this? Will the
> engine
> really get into trouble soon if I ignore the bad mounts, or can I go
> on indefinitely like this?
>

There are usually safety locks built into the motor mount insulators on most
FWD cars, so that when the insulator cracks the motor will still not allow
the engine to fall out. However, when all the mounts are bad, there may be
enough shifting around of the engine to cause wear and tear on other
components attached to the engine and transmission. It really would be wise
to have it fixed. I would certainly shop around for a better price on
getting the mounts replaced though. It might still be a considerable
expense, because I have see some mounts that do cost several hundred
dollars and require a lot of labor to replace. What were those engineers
thinking of?

Good luck,


--
Disclaimer:
Due to the nature of solving problems over the internet being mostly
guesswork,
please do not consider the above recommendations as the only possible
solutions.

--
Kevin Mouton
Automotive Technology Instructor
"If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy"
Red Green

They were going to design it so it was cheap and easy, but a mechanic
came to the engineer in the night and whispered in their ear to make it
REALLY difficult and expensive to replace the engine mounts. It wasn't
the engineer's fault...


Kevin wrote:
> > wrote in message
> ups.com...
> >
> > Just got a '96 toyota Camry from my father in law, 150K miles.
> > Great shape otherwise, but it shakes like ten epileptics when idling
> > in drive. Mechanic recommends replacing motor mounts, about $700
> > to replace two of the three.
> >
> > My father in law recommends just ignoring the shaking, or putting it
> > in N at stoplights. How long can I get away with this? Will the
> > engine
> > really get into trouble soon if I ignore the bad mounts, or can I go
> > on indefinitely like this?
> >
>
> There are usually safety locks built into the motor mount insulators on most
> FWD cars, so that when the insulator cracks the motor will still not allow
> the engine to fall out. However, when all the mounts are bad, there may be
> enough shifting around of the engine to cause wear and tear on other
> components attached to the engine and transmission. It really would be wise
> to have it fixed. I would certainly shop around for a better price on
> getting the mounts replaced though. It might still be a considerable
> expense, because I have see some mounts that do cost several hundred
> dollars and require a lot of labor to replace. What were those engineers
> thinking of?
>
> Good luck,
>
>
> --
> Disclaimer:
> Due to the nature of solving problems over the internet being mostly
> guesswork,
> please do not consider the above recommendations as the only possible
> solutions.
>
> --
> Kevin Mouton
> Automotive Technology Instructor
> "If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy"
> Red Green

"Kevin" > wrote in message
news:1aSyg.67233$9c6.16599@dukeread11...
because I have see some mounts that do cost several hundred
> dollars and require a lot of labor to replace. What were those engineers
> thinking of?

They were designing to a cost goal and a NVH goal. Maintainability was NOT
a design objective.

Motor mounts will not fail under warranty and the more labor it takes means
more $$$ for the shops.

Kevin wrote:

> There are usually safety locks built into the motor mount insulators on most
> FWD cars, so that when the insulator cracks the motor will still not allow
> the engine to fall out. However, when all the mounts are bad, there may be
> enough shifting around of the engine to cause wear and tear on other
> components attached to the engine and transmission. It really would be wise
> to have it fixed.

Do they make solid rubber motor mounts that can substitute for
hydraulic ones?

Do aftermarket motor mounts differ a lot in quality compared to OEM?

On 29 Jul 2006 08:33:49 -0700, wrote:

>
>Just got a '96 toyota Camry

V6 or 4 cyl? If I knew that I could advise you as to the legitimacy
of $700 and which mounts are probably needed as we service these car
on a near daily basis.

This applies to ALL posters who have questions -- PLEASE help us help
you by providing FULL INFORMATION as to what the vehicle is.

Don
www.donsautomotive.com

> from my father in law, 150K miles.
>Great shape otherwise, but it shakes like ten epileptics when idling
>in drive. Mechanic recommends replacing motor mounts, about $700
>to replace two of the three.
>
>My father in law recommends just ignoring the shaking, or putting it
>in N at stoplights. How long can I get away with this? Will the
>engine
>really get into trouble soon if I ignore the bad mounts, or can I go
>on indefinitely like this?

"larry moe 'n curly" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> Kevin wrote:
>
>> There are usually safety locks built into the motor mount insulators on
>> most
>> FWD cars, so that when the insulator cracks the motor will still not
>> allow
>> the engine to fall out. However, when all the mounts are bad, there may
>> be
>> enough shifting around of the engine to cause wear and tear on other
>> components attached to the engine and transmission. It really would be
>> wise
>> to have it fixed.
>
> Do they make solid rubber motor mounts that can substitute for
> hydraulic ones?

Not usually.

>
> Do aftermarket motor mounts differ a lot in quality compared to OEM?
>

Usually.

Kevin