Pootie Tang
Member
I replaced the underside and driver's side motor mounts last night. It was not a difficult job. I will be replacing the passenger side one next chance I get.
One a scale from 1 to 5, five being most difficult, my opinion is the underside mount is a 1 and the passenger mount is a 4 due to the rear side bolt.
Here's my notes:
1. Air tools help but are not required.
2. The underside mount was torn. I suspect this one is the one that is normally replaced. The driver's side one is much more beefy and I think really had a lot more life in it. Probably not a regular service item. My guess is you will not need to do this one.
3. The underside mount is very easy (at least on the FWD). You do not need a jack to hold the engine up. The mount is held in with three bolts. (It's really a torque mount, not an engine mount)
4. The driver side mount is a mild PITA. It's easy to gain access, you need to remove the intake stuff (filter box, and filter box mount), battery and tray, the transmission cable (two bracket bolts at back and a clip at the selector arm end), and some wiring straps. Even with all that stuff removed, the mount to the chassis has a bolt near the firewall that is the PITA. A straight 14mm box end (not an angled head) is perfect. Mine had a typical angle on the head but I got it to work. You will need a hammer to break to bolt loose by hitting the wrench. Once the bolts are loose they come out with your fingers. One more tip. You need to remove the main bolt (the long, horizontal one running front to back, connecting the engine bracket through the mount), then the engine bracket to gain access to that rear bolt.
5. For the driver's side mount, before you begin to remove the mount, you must 1st raise the front driver's side of the car to get it off the front suspension spring. THEN you need to support the engine/trans under the mount point (there is an obvious place for this). You then need to raise the engine/trans to relieve the weight on the mount.* Once you do this, the engine bracket comes right off. Pay attention to the which holes the alignment collars go back on (left and front bolts) of the engine bracket. Remove the three bolts/nuts and the link bolt and the engine/trans bracket lifts right out and gives you the best access to the mount bolts to the frame.
6. It's hard to torque the bolts. Most I just made pretty tight, but the underside bolts are: 70 ft-lbs and the driver side are: 70 ft-lbs for the big ones, and I used 40 ft-lbs for the chassis bolts (14mm head). I'm not sure what the spec is but 40 seemed just right. You also need to tighten the engine bracket bolts in the correct order (driver side mount). Looking from the front bumper in, it's left, then front, back. The alignment collars go under the left and front bolts. The rear does not get one.
*You MUST unload the front driver's side wheel. This unloads the coil suspension spring. The reason is that if you try to lift the engine and the car is sitting on all four wheels, the suspension will follow the engine up since it is the main weight on the front end. You will end up lifting the car with the engine until the spring travel limits out. You do not want to do this.
Third Mount
So I did the third mount (side mount). This one had lost all of its hydraulic fluid (brown "flow" staining below the mount on the chassis) and it had torn internally. This is the passenger side one. Very easy. Same thing goes for taking the load off the front suspension on that side and supporting the engine. One thing though, my original mount had a threaded hole at the top that connected a black metal bracket to the engine. My new dealer sourced, OEM Mazda mount didn't have this hole threaded so I could not install the top bracket. Not sure if it needs it. I didn't find any TSB's on the topic. I am planning on threading the hole and reinstalling the bracket but again, none of the new mount photos I can find online (a lot), have the threaded hole. I suspect it is an assembly item and not needed afterwards. But any comments appreciated.
I drilled and tapped the hole and reinstalled the bracket. 11/32 drill and a M10-1.25 tap and I was in business. Very easy. Still don't know if I need it. Oh well.
One a scale from 1 to 5, five being most difficult, my opinion is the underside mount is a 1 and the passenger mount is a 4 due to the rear side bolt.
Here's my notes:
1. Air tools help but are not required.
2. The underside mount was torn. I suspect this one is the one that is normally replaced. The driver's side one is much more beefy and I think really had a lot more life in it. Probably not a regular service item. My guess is you will not need to do this one.
3. The underside mount is very easy (at least on the FWD). You do not need a jack to hold the engine up. The mount is held in with three bolts. (It's really a torque mount, not an engine mount)
4. The driver side mount is a mild PITA. It's easy to gain access, you need to remove the intake stuff (filter box, and filter box mount), battery and tray, the transmission cable (two bracket bolts at back and a clip at the selector arm end), and some wiring straps. Even with all that stuff removed, the mount to the chassis has a bolt near the firewall that is the PITA. A straight 14mm box end (not an angled head) is perfect. Mine had a typical angle on the head but I got it to work. You will need a hammer to break to bolt loose by hitting the wrench. Once the bolts are loose they come out with your fingers. One more tip. You need to remove the main bolt (the long, horizontal one running front to back, connecting the engine bracket through the mount), then the engine bracket to gain access to that rear bolt.
5. For the driver's side mount, before you begin to remove the mount, you must 1st raise the front driver's side of the car to get it off the front suspension spring. THEN you need to support the engine/trans under the mount point (there is an obvious place for this). You then need to raise the engine/trans to relieve the weight on the mount.* Once you do this, the engine bracket comes right off. Pay attention to the which holes the alignment collars go back on (left and front bolts) of the engine bracket. Remove the three bolts/nuts and the link bolt and the engine/trans bracket lifts right out and gives you the best access to the mount bolts to the frame.
6. It's hard to torque the bolts. Most I just made pretty tight, but the underside bolts are: 70 ft-lbs and the driver side are: 70 ft-lbs for the big ones, and I used 40 ft-lbs for the chassis bolts (14mm head). I'm not sure what the spec is but 40 seemed just right. You also need to tighten the engine bracket bolts in the correct order (driver side mount). Looking from the front bumper in, it's left, then front, back. The alignment collars go under the left and front bolts. The rear does not get one.
*You MUST unload the front driver's side wheel. This unloads the coil suspension spring. The reason is that if you try to lift the engine and the car is sitting on all four wheels, the suspension will follow the engine up since it is the main weight on the front end. You will end up lifting the car with the engine until the spring travel limits out. You do not want to do this.
Third Mount
So I did the third mount (side mount). This one had lost all of its hydraulic fluid (brown "flow" staining below the mount on the chassis) and it had torn internally. This is the passenger side one. Very easy. Same thing goes for taking the load off the front suspension on that side and supporting the engine. One thing though, my original mount had a threaded hole at the top that connected a black metal bracket to the engine. My new dealer sourced, OEM Mazda mount didn't have this hole threaded so I could not install the top bracket. Not sure if it needs it. I didn't find any TSB's on the topic. I am planning on threading the hole and reinstalling the bracket but again, none of the new mount photos I can find online (a lot), have the threaded hole. I suspect it is an assembly item and not needed afterwards. But any comments appreciated.
I drilled and tapped the hole and reinstalled the bracket. 11/32 drill and a M10-1.25 tap and I was in business. Very easy. Still don't know if I need it. Oh well.
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