bad transmission mounts again!

[2003BlackSapphireSLE]

okay i know that these cars have a miserable design for trans mounts. i replaced the front, then shortly there after the front was bad again. i checked and found the rear was bad and was thinking that made the front go, so i replaced the front and the rear. now maybe, 10k miles later they're both bad again. to the point where the movement pulled the intake snorkel off of the airbox. what gives, its not like i drive this thing hard! any ideas?

[00Beast]

They suck from the factory. Go with a solid front mount, this won't happen again. Search for Hockey Puck Mount or Solid Front Mount using the search function at the top of the forum and you'll get the jist of it.

[2003BlackSapphireSLE]

okay i get the idea of the front mount out of hockey pucks. is it harsh or with vibration because of the solidness? also what about the rear mount? i dont think the solid idea will work for the rear?

[00Beast]

I have no vibrations or harshness w/ mine, it feels stock.

Rear you want to go with an OE replacement, and going solid on the front will ensure you never have to replace it again.

[golfyeti]

okay i get the idea of the front mount out of hockey pucks. is it harsh or with vibration because of the solidness?

This is the easiet mod I did to my car and love it. I initially felt some vibration in the gas peddle, not really too bad that I wouldn't have got used to it, especially since it made my car feel "badder" like a real race car.... lol

So I added some suspension bushings and no vibration. Just add one between your top washer and the bracket, and add one between the bolt head and the subframe.

[vogie01]

I would not say that it has bad vibration. It honestly reminds me of driving a Camaro or something similar. I only notice vibration under 1,800 rpm at highway speeds, and sometimes while driving in town. I will have to see when it does it on the low end. Otherwise, it puts a little more power to the wheels.

I have talked to many of my transmission friends about it, and they say it does put a lot of pressure on the torque converter, but it all really depends on how hard you drive it. I have yet to decided if I am going to put a regular mount back on. My GF does not like to drive it because in her opinion, "it is like driving an old Firebird". I am going to stick with it for now due to that reason.

[00Beast]

How does it put more strain on the TC? The engine and trans are solid mounted to each other. What's hard on the trans is when the mounts fail and the trans case splits in half, like what happened to one of haro's flips. Maybe he'll throw some pics or a link in here.

[2003BlackSapphireSLE]

okay so we all know what the rear mount looks like, and mine has failed again, is there any way to stiffen up the rear mount so it doesnt break again?

[myfirstbonnie]

What do mean it failed? I have not heard of any issues with these, it has always been the front. I could see the rear failing if the front is bad and driven for awhile putting strain on the rear.

What is the condition of the other mounts?

[01bonneSC]

I would only do a solid front mount. If you stiffen then engine too much its starts getting hard on the drivetrain..

[00Beast]

No one has made a solid mount for the rear.

[myfirstbonnie]

After seeing the design of the front mount and replacing it once with OEM that lasted a couple weeks, I went solid and never looked back again.

The only time the rear mount really sees a lot of torque is when in reverse. When accelerating, the motor is trying to roll over towards the passenger cabin. When it does this, all it is doing is compressing the rear mount.

So, unless you are doing A LOT of hard acceleration in reverse, it will only see a lot of compression.

[01bonneSC]

You DO want the engine to give but less than factory.

[2003BlackSapphireSLE]

What do mean it failed? I have not heard of any issues with these, it has always been the front. I could see the rear failing if the front is bad and driven for awhile putting strain on the rear.

What is the condition of the other mounts?

the front mount is shot again, the side mounts that is on the left and right sides of the car are ok, and the rear is bad again.

when i say the rear is bad, if you know what the rear mount looks like, the piece of metal that goes inside the rubber square part of the mount was once attached to the rubber at its sides. now its ripped off the sides and it just moves up and down in the square part, if that makes any sense? i know what im going after its just hard to explain. is this classified as bad or should i not worry about it?

[02ssei]

I replaced the rear mount on mine because it had the same issue. When off the car it was soft unlike the new one which was firm.

It. Was due to the front obviously being wore out for awhile. No telling What happened before I got the car. All these mounts work together. If one of them is bad it will affect the others, even if a little. But over long periods that will add up.

[2003BlackSapphireSLE]

well ive been gathering the parts to do the solid mount. im lookin forward to not have to replace the mounts anymore. and then im going to replace the rear mount again.

[2003BlackSapphireSLE]

well i did the solid front mount as described on here with the bushings between the frame and bracket and all, with a little twist of my own. I gotta say i love the results, all you guys are spot on! thanks for the ideas and pics.