I'm new here, have a few questions about engine mounts

[atomic]

Hi all,

Forgive my ignorance, I'm not much of a car person. Please go easy on me. I have a 1994 V6 Camry.

About six months ago, I had two engine mounts replaced at Midas. They listed them as the dogbone, and under radiator mounts.

Today, I went to the Toyota dealership to have some things checked out and I was told that the left and right motor mounts were cracked. I asked to see them, so they showed me while the car was lifted up. The left mount was obviously very old (not replaced within the last 6 months). I can't judge whether the right mount is less than 6 months old, but it definitely looked a lot newer than the left mount. Both are definitely cracked, with the left being in worse shape.

Here are my questions:

Are either the dogbone or under radiator mounts ever referred to as the left or right engine mount? I did some searches on this forum and didn't find any results about left/right motor mounts. Did Midas screw me over by replacing the mounts with bad ones or not replacing them at all... or are these entirely different mounts that Midas and the dealership are referring to?

Don't know if this will help any, but the left and right mount that the tech at the dealership pointed out to me were right next to the left and right tires.

If you need me to clarify anything, I'll be more than happy to. Again, sorry for the newbie question... any help is very much appreciated!


Thanks,
Christina

[zoni]

chances are by left they mean either the front engine mount, tranny strut, or tranny mount. by right, that could either mean the torque strut (aka upper, aka dog bone), or the rear mount.

i'd take it back to midas and have them check it out again... tell them you just had 2 motor mounts replaced and the dealer recently told you that you had some bad mounts... have the guys at midas clear it up for you. they will treat you better than the dealer will, most likely. and if the mounts that midas installed are bad, they should have a guarantee on them.

if they are right next to the tires, they arent motor mounts... maybe you can clear it up a little bit by this... what numbers??

if these pics dont help, maybe i can get some better ones. let me know.










The REAR mount is a little different between 4 cylinder and V6. on the V6 there is a round insulator (rubber) and on the I4 there is the piece like a tripod, as seen below...

[Muddassir]

Cool pics zoni.
Is there any pics like that for 3rd generation 4 cylinder camry too?

[zoni]

all the mounts for v6 and i4 are roughly the same. gen 3 and 4 are also roughly the same.

[toyomoho]

Toyota refers to the mount near the radiator as the Front/Right. The dog bone is called an Engine Moving Rod. The mount below this in back of the engine is called the Right/Rear. There is also a Left/Hand Engine Mounting Insulator holding up the trans.

[zoni]

original post updated. hope this all helps. i hate seeing mechanics take advantage of women (and guys who don't know much about cars).

[atomic]

Thanks for the reply.

Gosh, I really can't tell for sure from those pictures. I honestly don't remember the exact shape of the mounts that the guy at the dealership showed me as I couldn't see the entire thing, but the relative position of both the left and right mounts are similar to #5 (Transmission Mount) in the 6th picture. I don't know if it is the same mount that the guy showed me, but I do remember that both left and right looked relatively the same... and both were in about the same position as the Transmission Mount on either side. So, if there are two transmission mounts on either side, I guess that's what he was talking about. If you happen to have a picture of the entire front end of the car from underneath I can probably tell you what I'm referring to.

I find it kind of weird that the guy at the dealership would seem to know less than the guy at Midas... And also, what exactly is the under radiator mount... and why does Midas refer to it as a motor mount? I checked my receipt and that's what it says.

Either way, I'm going back to Midas tomorrow morning to get this straightened out. I'd begun to lose faith in Midas and their service before this even happened, and this only makes it worse. Hopefully they didn't dupe me on this.


edit: Just to clarify since a few posts came in while I was typing up the above response - I think I'm just confusing myself more. The positioning of one of the mounts that the guy at the dealership showed me is similar to the transmission mount, but what he showed me looked more like the front motor mount. Ahhh, I really need a mechanic friend!

[zoni]

ok, first post updated again...

tomorrow i can take some pics from the bottom of the car. i just had these pics laying around in my picture archive on my PC. Except for the one with the wiring manuals, i just found a couple mounts and decided to take a pic.

chances are the guy was either jerking you around, just to get some work out of you... or he didnt know what he was talking about and maybe he was talking about a control arm bushing or something... next time you are shown something like that, and want to get another opinion, snap a pic of it with your camera phone or a digital camera.

no motor mounts are the same, and no motor mounts are left and right in a similar position.

[RningOnFumes]

damn zoni, those pics are very helpful, got any pointers on replacing the rear--- I have the part, but I've been hesitating on how to approach it since I can't see it visually and I can't to it without jacking the car up.

basically, tell me a safe apporach to get to it?

[-SCWEET1-]

Zoni, Im loving those pics... I already swapped all the old mounts out, longest time to replace is the rear one. Alos it is best to replace all instead of just one, learned the hard way.........

[zoni]

ok heres what you do to replace the V6 rear mount... i hope this is fairly complete, but if you are doing this and run into a problem, PM me. i am generally pretty fast to respond.

• jack the car up
• put jackstands on each side
• now you have some choices... remove the whole axle and motor mount as a whole piece, or remove the allen bolts in the center joint of the axle and remove the inner axle and mount together (gen 3 only, gen 4 is 1 piece). i'd take apart the axle in the middle...
• so... take off the passenger side wheel
• see what else you need to take off to get to the allen bolts. i havent been there in a while, so i dont know if you can do it without removing the hub from the strut or something else to get a good position.
• remove the torque strut
• if you have an engine hoist, hook it up to the rear hook. if not, position a jack under the oil pan of the motor
• loosen the 4 nuts on the bottom of the chassis that hold the mount to the chassis brace. dont remove them completely yet, but loosen them
• try to get the 1 bolt out which ties the rubber part of the mount to the metal part of the mount which is attached to the motor. that 1 bolt will act as a pin holding that joint together. use the jack to get the motor in the correct position so the bolt just slips out
• once you get that main bolt out, jack up the motor a little bit so the rubber part/bottom of the mount detaches from the upper part (engine side)
• take the 4 bolts out which attach the motor mount to the motor.
• now that the mount is loose, you can remove it. if you need more clearance, jack the motor up a little more.
• pull the axle and motor mount out from the transmission (may leak tranny oil)
• now the tough part is getting the mount seperated from the axle. there is a bolt which holds the bearing, there is also a snap ring which holds the bearing in. remove those, then pound like hell, or use whatever other method you can think of.
• installation is reverse of removal, pretty much.

thats the beauty of having done so many projects... i have pictures of everything, and i can pretty much take the car apart in my head without even looking at it.

[RningOnFumes]

lol....Zoni, I think your steps are for a v6, ... I4 should be more simpler right? The rear mount doesn't incorporate an axel.

[zoni]

^correct. ill discuss that later this morning...

[Kep]

Atomic,

Go back to Midas and ask them to show you which mounts they replaced. They should be able to go out to the car and touch each one while you are looking (OK, they may need to put it on a lift). Giving them the benefit of the doubt and assuming that they did indeed replace the mounts that they charged you for, the next question is why didn't they bring the other bad mounts to your attention? Like Zoni said, if one of the Midas mounts is bad already they should stand behind it and replace it. If they treat you right and have been up front with you consider having them do the rest of your mounts (but it keeps nagging me why they didn't mention the other mounts were bad).

Zoni, those are great pics. Sure wish you were a Gen2 owner!

Kep

[zoni]

Thanks Kep... but i'm glad im a gen 3 owner.

OK... for 5sfe...

• jack the car up
• put jackstands on each side
• remove the torque strut
• if you have an engine hoist, hook it up to the rear hook. if not, position a jack under the oil pan of the motor. make the jack or hoist tight on the motor, but not stressing the rear mount at all.
• you will have to get the 1 vertical jointing bolt off from underneith the car. you SHOULD be able to get at it without removing anything else.
• once you get that main bolt out, jack up the motor a little bit so the rubber part/bottom of the mount detaches from the upper part (engine side)
• take the 3 nuts/bolts out which attach the motor mount to the chassis
• now that the mount is loose, you can remove it. if you need more clearance, jack the motor up a little more.
• installation is reverse of removal, pretty much.