Date:         Thu, 23 Jul 2015 21:09:46 -0700
Reply-To:     Neil N <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Neil N <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Got motor mounts to take care of on my '88
Comments: To: Jack Botts <johnnyjewel43@hotmail.com>
In-Reply-To:  <BAY172-W49B5C9DE7076DD1AE61378AD820@phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

I had a thunk at start up and only at startup. It didn't always happen
but then it became consistent. The engine was also a bit "jumpy". The
passenger side mount looked kinda worn and appeared to separate when I
levered on engine. I figured it was done.
Removed the carrier, and yes, that mount was done. It fell apart in my hand.
At least one other showed cracks when I bent it and my guess is they
were all likely as
old as the one that failed so I replaced all 4.

I found that by removing the belts and coolant pump pulley (I was also replacing
the high pressure oil switch) and loosening the dipstick from bracket,
I had good access
to the top bolt at each mount. A wobble extension was useful here.
Getting the last lower bolt to line up was tricky. A combination of
bottle jacking the engine around, joggling engine by tail pipe,
leaving the top mount bolts slightly loose, and uttering a stream of
horrid cusses, helped. I also put a tool in other end of hole and
lined things up better. I used a little persuasion to get the last
bolt in. I'm not proud of this. (it did no damage)

I'm pretty sure the mounts I put in are Meyle. Upon startup, I
immediately noticed cab noise and vibration at idle. Like about 30%
more than before. I'm not impressed with this. This is my first time
doing the job so maybe there's a tweak I can do to alleviate stress
somewhere in mount system? This might reduce vibration/noise at idle?
But.... you get what you pay for? These were not expensive mounts.
In hindsight, were there a better offering, I would have gladly installed those
given the amount of work involved (much of that a learning curve)

Neil.




On 7/23/15, Jack Botts <johnnyjewel43@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Neil,Tell me about your motor mounts. Problem? Symptom of problem? Plan of
> attack?I started getting a new "whack" when I start the engine. Like
> something was hitting that hadn't before.