Calling car mechanics

Rob Keeble

Member
Messages
12,633
Location
GTA Ontario Canada
Yeah i know we woodworkers but sometimes one has to get some grease on your hands.

Yesterday got my sons handed down from other son car and pushed it into the garage to get to work on it.

Older son had this car taken away from him by me cause he dont know how to look after anything so now he walks or catches bus.

So first up was inspection and one of the things i found was an engine mounting that was wrecked. I never heard of this before but the rubber in the mounting was mashed out. There are several other mountings so the motor is still in place but this had me wondering what cause it.

Can anyone shed a light on why an engine mounting rubber would get wrecked.

I think this might be a hangover from the wrecking of the previous engine by the older son. (that is a story i would rather not go into it gets my blood boiling). Suffice to say the engine was replaced by a second hand unit at the mechanics shop. I did not get into inspecting it all at the time for various reasons but now i am concerned about what caused this one to fail.

Its not a solid type its kinda webbed where the others are mostly solid or if webbed very little space through them. Here is a picture of the correct unit the one on the car has no rubber webs anymore.
honda civic left lower engine mount.jpg

This is a 97 Honda Civic. I dont believe the mount has failed due to rubber aging and perrishing. My thoughts are some form of abuse has taken place.

Can anyone throw any light on this for me. I am starting to think of hauling the whole engine out and giving it a complete going over. Younger son definitely needs the experience, i just dont have the time or patience to teach this generation. If they think X box is more important then let them pay is my mantra. They better be planning on getting good paying jobs or they gonna be walking a lot from what i see.:D:rofl:
 
Those rubber mounts do fail from time to time. Generally because of a lot of torque (squealing the tires). I know this because I put a 350 Chevy in an AMC Javelin AMX and eventually had to put a chain on the one side (motor torques in one direction) so under hard duress the chain took over instead of ripping the motor mount out!:eek::rolleyes: It could also have been abused when taking the old engine out and putting in another so don't get to hard on son yet. A motor mount isn't reason to pull the whole engine and spend the money going through it. Also if son isn't interested, chances are it won't get done or done correctly and one bearing in backwards will cause disaster. The rubber dampens the vibrations, I would look on ebay or for a junkyard and buy a used one. If you have a junkyard that allows you to take off parts, that is the place to start, practice on their car so when you get home you know how to do the procedure without denting the fenders of your auto!!
 
So is this a manual transmission? Did the engine shake? Did it have any vibration when driving? Vibration would be the #1 reason outside of deterioration & stress (hard shifting, racing, etc). I've never owned a honda or driven one, so really can't say for sure, but those would apply to most engines. That mount does look pretty weak compared to most I've ever owned.

I used to have the same attitude with my kids. Though they protested and hated the experience at the time. In hind sight I've notice that the things I took the time to make them do the work, those are the things they learned and have stuck with them. My son has no problem trying to work on a car now. Does his best to fix something before giving up. Same with my daughter, on other things, never made her turn wrenches.:)
 
Last edited:
Thanks Darren and Jonathan. This is an automatic. My thoughts are its a hang over of the previous engine being wrecked. (piston through the side wall. (Thats what happens if you dont put oil in an engine right!) :mad::bang:

Well his pocket felt the full brunt of the negligence.

The new driver has seen the bad and we will see in time if he needs to learn the same lessons or is gonna learn from observing what happens when you aint prepared to listen or look after your stuff.

In hindsite it was all my fault. I should have made oldest son buy the car himself. Thats where my weakness and softness went wrong. I dont think we make life easy for the kids when they get things too easy.

My reasoning at the time was related to our climate. I did not want him in a vehicle that could break down on a bad day in winter on a deserted road. But i should probably rather have taken him out on a deserted road on a reallyt cold day and and dropped him off for a hour and had him wise up to what he faces if it happens. This guy is one who only learns by experiencing it. :(

He managed to take a little ole ladys car that was like new and well put it through the wringer. Was the last thing he got from me. Human nature easy come easy go.

John i think your point on scrap yard is excellent. Thats what i used to do when i bought my first junker. I know of exactly the place to go. ;):thumb:

It will be a field trip and i will be the supervisor he can get under the car and remove it.:rofl::rofl:
 
Be careful getting under. When you take that mount out, I would prefer to be over the engine if at all possible so it doesn't land in his lap. With my girls, every Saturday before or after chores, we checked oil, brake fluid, radiator level, visual on tires as well as lights (on my bus it is called a "precheck" and I do it daily, back up to a wall when it is light out and can see lights working or non working, in the winter it is easy as it is dark out when I go to leave! So make a set time when you know the vehicle is cold (as in not just ran so oil level is correct) and you help each other do vehicle checks. Don't forget spare tire inflation as well as the four tires (good reason to run a compressor in your drive by your Nneighbor !!!!:thumb:). Wipers, it doesn't have to take a long time, just creating a habit. Like whenever the girls went to use a tractor or lawn mower, hydraulic fluid, trans fluid, oil, water and fuel were to be checked and corrected if wrong or left for dad if didn't understand. Good time to learn how to correctly jack up a car and change a tire. Teach them about blocking or crowns of roads and unstable ground for jacks. Quality time, like Darren stated, it isn't fun when doing it, but boy years later it is time remembered, respected and when it saves the household money, it is embraced!
 
I also think that kids should buy their own cars. I made this mistake twice. First, I bought my daughter a car so she could do her student teaching. I bought a new Corolla (end of year). She was supposed to pay for half but I finally paid for it all. She still has it 12 years later but it is only barely running. Same story for my son. He sort of thought that since I bought it for him I was responsible for the upkeep.

Now, they are both married and have children. Have bought their own cars with their own money. Boy, is there a world of difference. Well maintained, clean and they won't let me drive either car. I am stuck with my daughter's old Corolla when I visit Hawaii. Let them buy their own cars. They will take much better care of them. Pride of ownership really only applies if you have some skin in the game.
 
There traditionally are some cars that fail (poor design) more then others. But in this case, since you said your son bore the expense of putting in the new motor, I (as someone whose busted knuckles) wonder if it came apart when the old motor was pulled, and your son said, just put it back in that way.

Do you know who put in the motor? I would go talk to them, as I would be interested to know if they told him it was bad, and he didn't want to do it, or they found something else, that was on the way out (like the transmission from abuse) and he told them he just needed it to run for a bit longer (throw just enough at it to drive).
 
Top