You can pretty much guarantee one thing, and that is I am either at the auto shop or home working on a new project. In this case, I was at the auto shop, getting a Cadillac Deville inspected. When the technician came to speak to me about the vehicle, he said that one of my motor mounts was terrible and needed to be replaced. After looking at the motor mount myself, a question
came to mind, and that is How can I tell if my motor mounts are bad? I didn’t say this question out loud, but I told the mechanic I would get it fixed and raced home to research my problem, and here is what I found out.
A motor mount is bad when your engine shakes when shifting gears, pulls to the left while driving, or fails a visual inspection. A motor mount should not have any cracked rubber and have no movement of the mount in the rubber.
There should be slight play with the motor mounts but not freely moving. Let’s look deeper into this though, and I know at the end of this article, you will better understand engine mounts and their importance to your vehicle.
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What do the motor mounts do for my vehicle?
Motor mounts are very straight forward in their role with your vehicle. They prevent any excessive movement of the engine and transmission. The motor mounts are made of rubber so they can isolate any vibrations and movement from your engine and transmission from the rest of the vehicle.
There are three engine mounts to your car, and each one is equally important as the others.
That is why when you change a motor mount; you are usually changing them all at the same time. Unfortunately, people forget they even have motor mounts, so they never change them when they break.
That is because people do not know what motor mounts are and where they are. There is no set time or mileage that the manufacturer has started when to change the motor mounts.
Motor mounts do last on average for 7 – 10 years so this is usually when someone will change their motor mounts or their vehicle.
Where would I take my vehicle if it needed new motor mounts?
Motor mounts can be changed either at an auto repair shop or at home. When it comes to this repair, you will need a floor jack with a piece of wood on top. I only say with a piece of wood because your floor jack is metal and the engine is metal.
The piece of wood you use will add some softness in between the two metal pieces. You don’t want any damage happening to the engine. On average, auto repair shops are going to charge $300 – $600 per motor mount.
This repair does not take any special tools, but it can be difficult if you do not have someone to help you.
The second set of eyes will be handy for this repair. You need to watch your hands while doing this repair.
Pinch spots are everywhere when doing this repair, so make sure you communicate with the person helping you, and you do not get your hand crushed.
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Why would my motor mounts break in my vehicle?
Motor mounts are just like every other part you have on your vehicle. Even if you are taking great care of that part over the process of time, normal wear and tear will happen to that part that will cause it to break one day.
Motor mounts are that particular part that will randomly break one day 
due to their build of being made of mostly rubber.
Rubber in hot and cold weather climates can cause cracks and tears under constant pressure. Also, the movement and vibrations from the engine and transmission lessen the life of this rubber mount. The part itself is very cheap, and you can find a brand new motor mount for sale online for $20.
When it comes to this repair; the only thing that picks the price of the fix is the labor that the auto repair shop charges for their services. So if you were comfortable with doing this repair yourself, you would save a considerable amount of money.
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Is there something I can do to prevent my motor mounts from breaking in the future?
There is the option of upgrading your motor mounts to the performance motor mount upgrade. This option will change the material that your motor mounts are made with from rubber to polyurethane.
Even though the polyurethane option will increase your motor mounts life span, but they do have disadvantages as well.
Those disadvantages are increased road-noise, increased vibrations, and a higher cost. Remember they are made with polyurethane and not rubber.
Rubber has more give with the motor mount, letting the engine have a little play because rubber is more of a spring material so it will comfort the driver from the noise and vibrations of the engine and transmission.
The only other option we have is a solid mount, and I am sure you can guess what the disadvantage to those are. If you guessed even more increased vibration and road noise, you are correct.
With no play in the material itself, all the vibration and road noise that your motor mounts would comfort you from are now gone, and you get to hear and feel it all.
In the case that you stay with the stock motor mounts then sadly there isn’t between the climate that the vehicle is in and time itself. The motor mounts will break down over time due to their rubber build.
Now, this does not mean if you are going through motor mounts before the 7-10 year lifespan is up that this is normal because that is not normal. You need to see why your motor mounts are failing early.
But the answer is due to the vibration and movement of the engine and transmission. Your motor mounts will fail in the future.
It is up to you to know before that time how are you going to replace them, are you going to do it yourself or take your vehicle somewhere to get fixed. Either way, you pick to make sure you follow the repair instructions and above all, be safe.
Thank you for checking out my article! I hope you enjoyed it and you found it helpful to your problem. Thank you again, and I hope you enjoy my next piece!
