On 12/29/04 8:36 PM, "Robert Fisher" <refisher@MCHSI.COM> wrote:

> When I bought my van it had three broken motor mounts. Oddly enough, it
> didn't seem to be affecting it much, but when I bought the full set to
> replace them, the guy that owns the import repair/parts place I use told me
> that just about every Vgon he'd worked on had at least two broken mounts
> (the driver's side, IIRC). This guy is a VW specialist and owner from way
> back. It was his theory that the mounts were typically under-designed and
> that the torque of the flat four was too much for them over time. I've kept
> an eye out for some sign of this since I've been on the list and haven't
> seen much mention of it. For that matter, they're pretty well buried down
> there and if broken mounts don't have any more effect in general than they
> did on mine, that might explain it. My point is, anyway, that if this is as
> common as my guy thinks it is, it would make it just that much more
> dangerous to lift the van by the engine, risking a sudden collapse.
> 
> As for myself, I wouldn't lift any vehicle by any mounts, or anything else
> that wasn't part of the frame or so well attached to it as to make no
> difference. My exception to this, I guess would be jacking from under the
> wheel arms, which are of course designed to support at least part of the
> weight of the vehicle.

On my vanagon I started to pick up a vibration right before I was getting
ready to do my engine swap.  When I pulled that engine I found two broken
engine mounts.  On the 83 I use for parts the previous owner reported heavy
vibration at a low idle.  It also had two broken mounts.  The fact that the
vanagon aircooled engine sits straight down on its mounts can make it hard
to tell you have bad mounts unless you watch the engine when starting.  Then
it is usually real obvious.  Jack up the motor and I would say the odds are
real good of finding out how bad your mounts are.

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jimt
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Remember that sanity is optional.
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