What about the other two bolts? If only the center one was loose then the
mount was still somewhat secure. These bolts need to be the proper type
along with hardened washers. P.C. 10.9 and properly torqued. Loose hardware
is almost always the result of miss application or wrong installation.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Alistair Bell
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 9:57 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: again with "exhaust rattle"

I mentioned a month or two back that I had an annoying rattle in the van
under certain engine load conditions. Happened on David B's visit, so it is
his fault :) I thought I had it licked when I tweaked an exhaust pipe with a
large pry bar. But it came back, tweak again, and then it came back.
So today I took off the muffler, dropped the skid bars, and removed the
engine mount carrier. I found a loose bolt, the centre one of the three that
holds the cast aluminium carrier to the engine. I think this was the problem
all along, the loose bolt allowed the bottom of the carrier to vibrate, or
knock, against the engine case.

It is surprising how much crud and dirt gathers on the cast aluminium mount.
Not surprising is how much of that crud gets on your face.

alistair