Oro

Today I replaced some motor mounts - but not the front one (behind radiator/left of engine/front of car). I could not get it form local stores or online when I ordered last week. Worried about this one. History: Recently posted about a new,sudden driveline vibration:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...vibration.html


Today I replaced the, what I would call, left and right drivetrain mounts. The ones on the front side of the engine (behind pass. side wheel) and end of transmission (behind driver's side wheel) -both were clear and easy to replace. The transmission side was clearly bad and broken internally. The torque strut was OK, but starting to crack and I replaced it also. The car runs well now and no clunk.

But, I can't re-thread the bolt back into the front mount - the one behind the radiator longitudinally, between the battery and exhaust manifold transversely. I think this is the hydraulic one? It was the one unavailable from the local and online dealers.

I took the upper bolt out of it to allow the engine to move as I jacked either side to replace the left and right mounts. All went well but when I went to re-install this bolt, it only threads in 1/2 way then goes no further. Feels like it hits a wall of rubber and just bounces off any further attempt to thread it in. This is after carefully aligning it with the upper bracket, and making sure it was not cross-threaded.

I drove the car afterwards (bolt 1/2 in only) and it drives great. But I need to solve this; does this mean the mount is broken internally, or is there some real trick to re-installing this front (Engine left side) mount?

I have never seen a mount like this or threading problem so bizarre.

Bofin

Thanks Oro for confirming that this particular model has only three engine mounts plus a dog bone.

Re that active front mount, you need a trusted mechanic to have a look at the fitment of that bolt just to be sure that nothing internally is skewed or broken. I had mine and the dog bone replaced with genuine parts (front one cost $$$) 2k miles ago by a friend mechanic because I didn't feel comfortable doing the electrically-controlled one.

fortitude

The electric component mounted to the side is part of evap system. It is only attached to mount bracket and not part of the mounts functionality.

You may have to loosen the 3 nuts under the mount to be able to wiggle it to get better alignment. Some have even removed the dog-bone and jacked the engine slightly to get alignment. Look at finding a dowel (or other item) that is smaller in diameter that the bolt, but longer than the bolt, then you can feed through the whole to get alignment. Put a piece of tap on it signifying the length of the bolt so you know how deep to go

Oro

I meant to follow up on this; I took care of it a few weekends ago.

The threads inside had been distorted; I used a tap and die to clean both up and reinstalled it.

Getting the thing out was a little bit of creative puzzle-fitting once it was free.

I found that removing the dog bone bolt and the lower nuts on the driver's side mount (transmission end mount) made it easy and kept from stressing those. The engine moved enough to loosen an evap. hose so going back over it is necessary after jacking it. I did in fact need to use an impromptu dowel because that stud is notched to fit into a recess on the underside of the engine bracket that you cannot see. That took some figuring out since I was not aware of it at first.