Check your side engine mounts….NOW!!
As a few of you know I have had a blown drivers side engine mount for a while now (waiting for SU to produce their latest batch of side mounts) , over the weekend I finally fitted the new mounts.
I have attached pics of the mounts, below is the driver side mount (I changed this one first, as this was the easiest, and the most critical if I didn't have time to do both), as you can see the brown fluid has leaked everywhere, the mount itself is structurally sound, the only issue is that the fluid pocket has failed, the fluids only purpose as I understand it is to reduce NVH levels.
Now for the bad part, here is a pic of my passenger side (gearbox) mount, the infamous recall mount that was causing engines to drop, you can see the rubber has nearly torn entirely around the mount, which could have pulled through and caused the engine to drop, let alone considering how much this thing must have been moving around in there.
Here is another pic showing the extent of the tear.
This mount is a bugger to access as it involves supporting the motor with a jack, removing the battery box and associated hardware to access / inspect the mount.
I would recommend that anyone who has an MPS with mods, or a good few k's, either check their mount, or have it checked at the next service, as a precautionary measure.
As a guide, I have most of the bolt on mods and a HT tune, the car has done ~75000 km, and most of my driving is in normal traffic, sure it gets the odd spirited drive, but Im not out there driving it hard every day.
The factory mounts are obviously grossly inadequate when a but more power is added to the equation, maybe even stock power levels will kill these mounts, I don't think anyone really checks them very often due to the amount of effort involved in accessing them.
I can't say whether this has been caused by any knock on effects from the failed driver side mount, but as mentioned earlier I doubt this would be the case as the rubber is intact, maybe all these tougher rear mounts we are all running around fitting are just transferring the force to the next point of weakness, being the transmission mount.
And for those who are going to ask, the new mounts are a bit rough and noisy (as is expected from new mounts), but after having driven another MPS with these fitted, I know they do settle down quite a lot. The car certainly feels a lot more connected, especially when the entire drivetrain isn't flopping around hopelessly, and there is a notable increase in gearbox noise, 2nd gear currently sounds like a dog box has been installed, but this will also settle down with the vibes, although it will still be louder than it was on the stock mounts.
Nearly all men can stand adversity. But if you want to test a man's character - give him power.
Abraham Lincoln