2001 E320 - Motor Mount Replacement - You Can Do It!
Rough idle? Rough acceleration? Really rough in reverse? Over 50,000 miles? I bet your motor mounts have leaked out all their oil and your engine is sitting on your frame - metal touching metal! I speak from experience.
I replaced my motor mounts today. It looks hard and was easy and took about three hours. Here's the details.
Remove the plastic splash guard from under the motor. There are holes in the crossmember that allow easy access to the motor mount's lower bolts. Remove the lower bolts. By the way, purchase a set of ratchet wrenches before you start - you'll want them when you work on the upper bolts. I would have paid alot for a set when I needed them!
The passanger side upper mount is best reached from the top. Remove it and the metal shield under it. This will take a while because you can get about 1/12th of a turn before running out of room between the motor and the inner fender. Thus the value of the ratchet wrench - there is not enough room for a socket wrench.
The driver side upper bolt is best reached from under the car. You might as well unbolt the AC compressor now, because you'll need to slide it forward to make a path big enough to remove the driver side mount later. The driver side upper bolt is best reached throught the space where the compressor was. By the way, only three bolts hold the compressor to the engine and it's easier to remove if you take off the surpentine belt before loosening the bolts. While wearing gloves, you can pull on the belt sufficiently to displace the auto tensioner and slide off the belt. Remove the upper bolt and metal shield.
I used a one foot long 2X4 and a floor jack to raise the engine. I positioned the 2X4 across the oil pan (perpendicular to the drive shaft) and raised the engine about 1 inch.
The passenger side mount is removed to the rear over the stearing rack and the driver side mount is removed to the front where the AC compressor was. Both are a tight fit.
I had to raise the motor another inch for the new mounts. Be sure and line up the little post on the top of each mount with the slot it fits in. You'll know what I mean when you're doing this repair.
Don't torque the bottom bolts until threading the top bolts or the top bolts may not line up well. Tighten all four bolts, bolt on the AC compressor and attach the splash guard.
I was able to pull the surpentine belt tight enough by hand (in a glove) to move the auto-tension pulley over far enough for me to put a screwdriver handle in the space between the tensioner pulley and the water pump pulley. (This tip should suggest how accomplished a mechanic I am!) This creates just enough slach in the serpentine belt path that you can get it back on. Remember to remove the screwdriver!
Start your car and enjoy being amazed at the improvement this repair makes. It is worth the trouble - just not worth the hundreds of dollars of labor charges everyone wants!
RE: 2001 E320 - Motor Mount Replacement - You Can Do It!
texas-patrick,
Thanks for your posting. Sounds very encouraging and tempting. Will have to think about it though. [:)]
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“Design embodies the values of a company. Even if there were no star, the car must always be recognizable as a Mercedes-Benz.” Peter Pfeiffer, Daimler AG
I just had mine done (98 E430) by a local indy...wish I would've done them myself.
AllData lists 2.4 hours per side, so the garage quoted me based on just under 5 hours. I happened to come back in about 90 minutes and they were already done! I checked and it looks like they were done properly. An interesting negotiation ensued with the shop manager that wasn't very satisfying.
Does the factory procedure call for a different approach? I know AllData is frequently "off" but this seems excessive....
Actually, Curt, that's pretty typical. Most every repair that can be done is based on flat rate, which is pretty much the time it would take a competent mechanic with the proper tools following a standard procedure to do the job. Of course once they've done it several times they've learned all kinds of tricks and shortcuts, sometimes they make or modify tools to speed it up. Then the flat rate is much more profitable. The only way around that is to pre-negotiate and most shops won't do that. Their point of view is you agreed to a set price and their competence is what saved them time, you're paying for their competence as well as the job itself.
For a different take on flat-rate and shortcuts, I had a friend who was a mechanic in Tucson, had a mid-80s Jag in his shop one day, he was pulling the engine and tranny. I asked him what the heck he was doing and he said, "heater core". Turns out that the flat rate for the heater core was something like 24 hours because you have to disassemble the whole dash. Then you have to try and get it all back together without missing one of the millions of fasteners and not pinch any wires, etc. And hope you don't have any rattles. Good luck. Anyway, he'd learned that you can pull the engine and tranny, do a quick cut-out on the firewall, swap out the heater core, patch up the firewall, drop the engine/tranny back in and have it done in about 6-7 hours. He was honest with his customers, though, and didn't charge full flat-rate, plus he figured they should know he would be cutting their firewall.
Anyway, so long as the job was done right and they didn't exceed their quote, that's the most you can hope for at any shop. It hurts, but look on the bright side: at least you don't drive a Taurus.
I got mine replaced yesterday just in time before getting metal to metal. The Dealer charged me US$. 60,00 for each mount and i had the Bosch Car Service to change it. They charged me US$. 50,00 an hour.
The Bosch Tech lift the car on a dock and lift the engine a little and took both mount out from the rear. He slide each one(new) back inside and titghen it. After he lowered the engine on the mount and lowered the car
Over time the hydraulics will fail and the engine will drop slowly on the mount making the car idle rough. This is common for MB and VW cars.
I hate to make you guys sick - but I've just had a mobile mechanic come to me at work to replace both engine mounts, all six glow plugs, and the auxillary air-con fan belt - all three jobs took him all day to do, and he charged me £90 GBP all in!
Thanks for the great info on changing the motor mounts. My 1997 W210 is running rough and I suspect it is time to change out the mounts. Where did you buy yours and what kind? Do you know if the procedures that you described would apply to my year/model?
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