Hello,
Now that I've done my control arms, I'm trying to plan my next "little" repair of replacing the motor mounts in my 2007 base cause it vibrates pretty bad.
I figure I can pull off something akin to the operation I did with a buddy on his BMW E90 where we got the mounts out by dropping the crossmember and lowering it, but adapt the procedure for the LS. It looks like its somewhat similar in layout. Maybe I'm wrong, but I hope to come up with an easier way of replacing these stupid mounts.

Mainly to pull this off, you need to hang the motor with support bars. To make that work, I need mounting points.

I have only glanced briefly under the cover and didn't see anything that stuck out as a hanger or lift point, but I really didn't spend a bunch of time looking
Has anyone else hoisted an engine out, or used support bars and tried it this way? Where did you mount it?

I only have the stupid Alldata access, which is a pretty lousy resource for this car. I had TIS for a few days, but didn't manage to download all the necessary parts I need for this job. Can anyone with TIS access let me know if there is a section on engine removal? Ill happily buy access again, I just want to be sure I don't waste my money if its not helpful.

Thanks for any help!

 

Here you go. It seems that there are no hangers pre reinstalled so you have to remove the intake and install 2 hangers. There are part numbers for the hangers and bolts in the PDF.

 

Thank you! This is exactly what i was looking for.

I will update with my findings if this works as planned in the upcoming weeks. Im sick of feeling like im driving an earthquake simulator!

 

I definitely want to hear how it goes. I thought about how difficult a job this might be. On my 400 the passenger mounts comes out with no problem but the drivers side i had to drop the cross member a lil on that side and hold it with a pry bar while my helper took small turns on the nut since there is very little room. It takes forever to get the nut off but it was doable. You also had to jack the engine up by the oil pan to create space.

 

Oh I did it on the LS400 too. Lots of cussing at rusted bolts on that 97 I still miss that car, man it was great, even with the vibration.
I expect a lot of cussing with this one too. Thankfully we have a shop nearby Im going to try called "Your Dream Garage" which has lifts and stalls with tools for rent ($30/hr! seems like a deal). Should help immensely.
Hopefully i dont get so greasy i cant take photos, so i can share I cant make promises though, when i get into the repairing mindset, the last thing I want to do is stop and take photos.
I will share my findings one way or another. Probably 2-3 weeks from now.

 

Photos are good but not a must. A real clear explanation of what you had to do would be very helpful though. I wish I could find one of those shops that rent their lifts out. It would make life easier for sure.

 

Please post pictures and details of what you actually needed to do. I picked up a set of OEM ones, and I was going to have my Indy shop do it and they didn't want to touch it...

 

I will try to get something. As I said, photos are not always something that are possible for me and my workflow. I can type something after, sure, but to go wash my hands, get my phone out, and stop my momentum to take photos every time i make another step isn't realistic for me. I'm willing to share my experience and findings, but I don't want to make my day longer (especially while i'm paying hourly to rent a lift).

I understand why your local shop didn't want to do it if he looked at the Lexus manual. I don't think that's the only way though. I think its actually kinda crazy to suggest the whole drivetrain has to come out.

If you want an idea of the approach, I suggest looking at this video (below) for the on how its done on a BMW E90 (recent 3 series models) . The '07 460 (Base, i'm not sure of the other versions) has a somewhat similar layout, but there will be differences that require some thought and adjustment. I'm not even sure it will work and give enough clearance, but there is another post on CL where a user describes dropping the subframe to remove the mounts with success (not very detailed post unfortunately). I just wont be 100% sure of what needs to move until I get under it and start popping out the bolts . Thankfully the LS has removable mounting brackets, so if I get it out and its still not enough room, I can remove the brackets to make clearance.

Ill keep y'all posted though. It all depends on holiday/family visits/work schedule changes as to when I can get to it.

 

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I'd like to share my DIY experience of removing the engine mount on the passenger side. When I replaced my 2008 LS460's starter, I had to remove the engine mount on the passenger side as part of the starter replacement job. I didn't need to remove the drivetrain or the motor to remove the engine mount on the passenger side. I did the job on my driveway on jack stands. The steps I took are as follows:
1) jack up the front of the car
2) remove the two front tires
3) remove the two undercover panels
4) remove the stabilizer bar
5) remove the front suspension member on the passenger side
6) remove the oil dipstick assembly
7) place a jack (with a piece of flat wood wrapped with a thick towel as a buffer) under the engine jack support spot and jack up the engine a little bit
8) remove the engine mount
That was how I removed the engine mount on the passenger side. I am not sure if it will be the same for removing the engine mount on the driver side. The point here is that there was no need to remove the engine or drivetrain to remove the engine mount on the passenger side.
Hope that this information helps.
BTW, thank Sha4000 for posting the detailed Toyota/Lexus procedure for removing the engine mounts. The information is very helpful for understanding the steps for removing the engine mounts from Lexus/Toyota's perspective.
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That's not that bad of a deal. Let's hope the drivers side is as simple as the passenger side.

 

Looks like @miket000 Did it. By removing the rack and subframe, he cleared the way.
it's finally a DIY guide that gets everything done.

Definitely not a beginner job, but it's not outside of the scope of us home guys.

I'm going to modify his instructions a to bit and try with an upper engine hanging support, and possibly just lowering the subframe or possibly substituting the subframe bolts as I go with longer ones temporarily to spare the headache of having to lift that beast back up off the ground. Might not be possible (due to the front bumper/crash bar), but I can't always find help where I live, so I always need to find workarounds for "heavy"

But thanks to the man of the hour and his instructions, this is great info!!
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...l#post10677082

 

Hi Unabee. Your welcome for the write up. I hope it helps you. I didn't pop the hood at all. My oil pan support method was painless. In my opinion it is probably a better method than hanging the engine. The weight of the engine on the jacks keeps it from moving around. If you were to hang the engine from above the engine could sway side to side. The studs on the engine mounts need to line up with the subframe holes as you slide the subframe into the front crash bar. The front crash bar is a very tight fit. The 2 crash bars slide into the subframe with hardly any play. During my instal the subframe was 1/4" slid into one crash bar and the other side crash bar wouldn't slide in. You need to practically slide them in at the same time. This was probably the most difficult part of the job. If I had to contend with the engine swaying even a bit during that I think my help would have left me It took us approximately 10 minutes to get it lined up. It's also good to point out the 4 bolts all the way in the rear of the subframe assembly will not line up until the huge main subframe bolts are tight. The rear bolts ( sway bar area) are at an angle they simply don't line up until the frame is tight.

I think your idea of not completely lowering the subframe might work. The only catch is the subframe has a lip that extends over the front crash bars about 2 or 3 inches. I think the 4 main huge bolts do indeed need to be removed. But the crash bar bolts you may get away with just loosening them. My only concern would be the weight of the subframe hanging on the front crash bar. I think the weight could damage them. If you let the rear of the frame down slowly with a jack say 8 inches or so with the front crash bars still hooked up then the mounts might clear. It would make reassembly a lot easier. But the crash bar bolts were the first ones I removed. I didn't want to risk damaging anything up there. I really have no idea what they mount to up front. I've never had that front section of a car apart to understand how well they are supported.

A few more helpful hints I thought of....

Use a 17mm ratcheting wrench to remove the left top engine mount bolt nut. There may not be enough room to break the nut free with a standard 17mm wrench depending how your nut is clocked. I don't think a typical socket and ratchet will fit. The engine mount bracket on this left side looks much more difficult to remove. I would go buy a 17mm ratcheting wrench before attempting to remove it.

You may get lucky on the right top mount nut bolt if you use a flex head type ratchet I would be curious if that works. If all else fails the mount bracket is easy enough to access on that side.

Also before you tighten the subframe make sure the alignment nubs on the engine mounts are showing through the sight holes on the subframe. I'm not sure if these could get misaligned but at this point I was tired and forgot to check. I just tightened everything up luckily they were both in the sight hole after I was done.


It took me 9 hours from start to finish to replace both mounts.

 

This is the alignment nub I was referring to. Left side mount faces one way. Right side mount faces the opposite way. The mounts themselves are identical so you need to orientate them the correct way.
There are also nubs on the top of the mounts.



This is the lower threaded section that goes through the subframe. It's length is the reason the subframe needs to be out of the way. Also there are not any gaps in the cars engine area to remove the left mount the only way to make enough room is drop the subframe. The benefit of removing the subframe is the alternator does not need to be removed for the right mount removal.

 

I made an attempt at consolidating the info in the threads to make it easier to follow. Here it is https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...l#post10679075

 

Unabee I had an unconventional idea for you. If you can't find help to lift the subframe you might be able to use ratcheting tie downs to hoist it into place. I'd probably put both lower rear control arm bolts in place. Secure the tie down to the bolt and the other end to the top of the strut spring. With that done on both the left and the right side you should be in the ball park to slide stuff together. You will probably need a third tie down on the back of the subframe as well, the back is much heavier. I can't think of where to hook the top of the rear tie down but I'm sure there is something in the area.