87NATTY

Good day, all. Thought I'd share this experience with the group. Had a "shake" at idle, most pronounced during first couple minutes of driving. Hard to describe, but the engine seemed to idle smooth, though the chassis would vibrate while stopped at stoplights. Through a few searches on this wonderful forum, I had determined it was a bad engine mount, trans. mount, or perhaps all three. Starting with the cheapest and easiest one first, I knocked out the trans. side yesterday. As soon as I started the car and put it in gear, I knew it had made a difference. While I still have a faint "shake" just a little bit at certain times, it made a huge difference in controlling vibration at idle, and (this may seem weird, but) it actually seems to accelerate more smoothly than it did before.

I'd encourage anyone who has this problem to roll up their sleeves and give it a shot before letting the dealership do it. Very easy, and I have $66.61 (Corteco oem replacement mount from eBay) in this job and less than 1 hour of my time, if you have access to a lift, it would be even easier, but I do not.

2011WhiteE350

Now you mentioned it, i've started to notice the shaking at idle. It begins in the center console and spread to passenger's side seat.
I will try to replace the transmission mount to see if that helps.
Thanks.

87NATTY

Absolutely! Can't speak for the E350, but I can't imagine it would be extremely different. The way I looked at it, my car has a little over 80k miles, so even if the trans. mount wasn't bad yet, it didn't have much time left before it would have failed. Having a normal wear item replaced before it fails isn't the worst thing in the world, and in my case, it took care of a problem I noticed while test driving the car before I bought it, 6 weeks ago.

2011WhiteE350

I found one on Ebay for $62.49 for E350 4matic.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Corteco-800...UAAOSwNEBa5FqG
Thanks

atraudes

I actually just did mine this weekend but to no avail. The old one was obviously shot anyway so it wasn't a waste of time or money but it looks like engine mounts will be in my future at some point. The shake may have been improved in some situations but not nearly enough. It was pretty funny to see how much higher the transmission sat on the new one vs. the old one.

ghlkal

Nice work.

How many miles on your E550?

87NATTY

Bummer. But, I kind of had the same mentality, that having a new trans. mount wouldn't be a bad thing, even if it was not the primary cause of the vibration.

87NATTY

Thank you. Right at 82k miles now, thus I'm sure the engine mounts are on their way out as well. For now, the idle is so much more smooth that I'll probably leave it alone until anything drastic changes.

S-Prihadi

I suggest you also change your engine mounts. They actually more "abused" than transmission mount.

87NATTY

There's a good chance that job is in the near future.

2011WhiteE350

If you do it, don't forget to DIY instruction. That will helps us out a lot.

87NATTY

Sure will!

nc211

Mounts are as sensitive to age as they are mileage, in fact probably moreso. That rubber can only go through so many hot/cold/wet/dry cycles holding up all of that weight before it just naturally starts to compress on its own. I learned this from my previous two Lexus sedans (LS and GS). At around 5/6 years, things start to feel a bit looser than before. My E350 is now 5 years old with 41k miles, and can tell the transmission mount is a little looser than before. Our Toyota Highlander is 6 years old with 105k miles, and it too has a weakening trans mount now.

mellonc

I was just told that my transmission mount needs to be replaced. My car has 75K miles now. So interesting cuz my service adviser said that my car idled funky but the tachometer was steady. I told her it's diesel but she said that doesn't seem like it. Anyways, I think it's a good catch as I was complaining that my car was idling a bit rougher than before even for a diesel....

93srvman

Nice E/T Streets!

cetialpha5

Well the mount is pretty simple, usually only about $65 and pretty easy to change out, my indy did it in 20 minutes. Could also be motor mounts too. Not sure how hard it is on the diesels, but it's a bit involved for the 4matic gas versions.

87NATTY

Lol, good eye. Drag setup for my Buick.

93srvman

I had a set of ET Drags when I used to have mine. Do you still get it out much?

87NATTY

Probably not as often as I should, but we still do local cruise nights and stuff. Just had one last weekend, in fact.

93srvman

Looking clean! The copper/bronze IM pipe is a nice touch. I was down to less than a tank a gas used a season, and that's when it was time to move on.

87NATTY

Thank you. I definitely drive it more than that, lol. I did the valve covers, both intercooler pipes, and the upper intake plenum in burnt copper VHT coating. I thought it would add a nice touch, and it's a break from the normal polished stuff most people go with.

93srvman

Absolutely, that does look nice!

Samirmehmeti

Well done! For sure you saved a lot by doing it yourself.

Could anyone help me in finding out the torque values for these bolts?

I replaced my felxdiscs and to have better access on the gearbox side, I decided to remove this bracket that was tightenet with 4 E12 bolts. Unfortunately I tightened too much and broke one. Now I need to get a new one from the dealer.

Any idea if these bolts can even be reused?

Thank you!

JettaRed

iTrader: (1)

Wow! Very lucky to have gotten the broken part out.

You should get a copy of the WIS and EPC off of eBay for under $30 so you have access to procedures and torque specs.