By: Wes Stinson
Diagnosis of bad motor mounts:
– Set the parking brake
– Put the car in drive
– Place foot on brake as firmly as possible
– Floor the gas pedal, release quickly
– Have a helper (standing to the side) approximate the distance the engine moved
– Anything over 1 inch and the motor mounts are past due.
Another way is to jack the engine up (by putting a wide piece of wood to protect the oil pan) and if you see separation in the motor mounts (as you jack the motor up and thus they expand), they are definitely bad.
5 hour job. SAFETY FIRST!! I had the car on jack stands, with a set of stands as backup.
Use a floor jack and stand to support the engine. Removed tension rod, sway bar links, motor mounts and traverse links from the crossmember. (Did not loosen the steering rack.)
Lowered the crossmember (about 6-8 inches), enough to get to the mounts.
Removed the brackets (4 bolts) for each mount (did not even attempt to remove the single nut from the top of the mounts). The only bolt that was difficult was the top rear bolt on the drivers side due to the heat shield partially covering the bolt. I bent the shield a bit to allow better access, put on a short socket and wedged an extension into the socket and tapped the extension into the socket with a small hammer (bending the shield to accommodate the extension).
Assemble in reverse order.