Facelift (NA) drivers side engine mount replacement

As is commonly known the facelift mounts don't seem to age as well as the older type and my new NA aero had the classic vibration when stopped but still in drive (largely disappears if put into park). There was also quite a bit of vibration being felt first thing in the mornings at 70 ish on the motorway that improved as the car warmed up.

I got a pair of used mounts and looked at the gap between the base triangle and bottom of the mount (see pic one, ok used one on the right tired one on the left) and then with some feeler gauges I checked the drivers side mount for clearance, there was barely any (as seen in the photo).

Now the reason I'm doing this thread is that the mount (on an NA) can be changed without any subframe dropping or major engine manipulation which was a plus to me and perhaps others? I did however end up needing my engine hoist but careful use of a jack and bits and bobs MAY mean you can do without this....but I had a hoist so used it.

First thing you need to clear out the complete airbox/intake, basically everything plastic, and just leaving the throttle body (which I pop a rubber glove over). Then you need to remove the exhaust shield by removing the 4 nuts. NB be careful and patient here, these nuts have sometimes been on forever and need plenty of penetrating fluid and backwards and forwards tweaking to avoid shearing them. Sometimes your nut will seize and the whole stud will come out, not the end of the world just take care of shearing either.

I then supported the sump/engine with a block of wood and jacked up to it very lightly (don't go lifting the car!), I also added a wedge of wood under the engine where there is a solid cross member (see pic 2 for both these). At this stage I was trying to complete the task without my engine hoist which was around a neighbour’s and these were my efforts to stop the driver’s side of the engine dropping when I removed the mount and bracket in one piece (they worker to a point!).

As you look down at the mount there is 17mm nut on the top, it’s a little awkward to get at but a breaker bar pointed towards the suspension strut and push down into the airbox gap will loosen this I did this a couple of turns NB thinking about it now this may not be necessary and could be done off the car provided you can brace the mount sufficiently. Now underneath the car you need to find the 19mm lower engine mount nut which you can just completely remove.

I then focused on the 4 mounts bolts. 2 are straight forward to access/undo, top left and bottom right (as you look in from the side), bottom left is ok, there is just room for a slim socket (thinking back I think if I used a shallow socket and extension instead of a deep one then I'd have found this even easier as the deep socket just contacted on the exhaust manifold and made it a little harder to locate and turn)

The top right is the hardest and a direct route to it with a socket is not possible (pic 3 on the right). I have a 14mm slightly offset spanner that I put on it horizontally pointing to the rear of the car. Then with a length of wood I used a hammer blow to shock the bolt loose. NB these 4 bolts all were fairly tight however they are finger tight after ½ to one full turn of cracking.

So if you remove these 4 bolts the whole bracket and mount can be twisted and pulled out complete. Caution the engine will drop a little, mine did (5mm) even with the jack and wedges and if those mount bolts get tight especially the last 1 or 2 then it may point to downward pressure from the engine. If you have a hoist, unlike me, I’d get it rigged up and under tension before the final bracket removal.

The 17mm top nut now needs completely removing and the mount may need persuasion to leave the bracket (hence mallet in pic 1!) new one can be located and the 17mm nut reattached (I think again I made this harder by not tightening this fully off the car).

With the new mount attached to the bracket it can be put back in place with the mount located into the top of the subframe. This is where you’ll find out the engine has dropped, mine was only 5mm but there is no way you’ll get the 4 bracket bolts restarted until the engine is raised. I used the hoist and some rope through both manifolds to lift that side of the engine up enough to get the bolts level to their holes. It’s then a relatively simple job of tightening these 4 up and then remembering to get back under and pop the bottom mount nut back on.

Refit all the airbox gubbins, fire her up, put her into drive and hope the vibration is gone. It should certainly be less but if still there then off to check the passenger side and or gearbox mount (thankfully mine seems ok from the initial test drive but passenger side change and write up could follow as I suspect its original and must be past its best)

Hrm, the guy at the exhaust shop said my exhaust looked fine which is making me think it isn't the exhaust. Sounds like it may be the mounts, how much would these cost to replace roughly? And is there a way I can tell 100 percent its the mounts before replacing them? I'm guessing a mechanic would have to lift the whole engine and gearbox out to replace them?

I did this on sunday to my 1999 Auto TT. Get a set of good used pre-facelift mounts, the facelift one's are shite!

You don't have to remove the engine, it will be even easier on an N/A than a TT. You will have to remove the oil filter housing from under the intake manifold to get to all the bolts, but thats just one big 24mm bolt, and maybe part of the intake manifold itself (Not sure mine's a TT).

You will be able to get to all the bolts on the exhaust side on from underneath/ in the engine bay.

Worst case scenario remove the exhaust manifold which is easy as you can go straight onto all the bolts with a ratchet!

Your mechanic will simply need to lift the engine up so the weight is off the mounts, after undoing the nuts that hold them to the subframe ofc!

Here is a comparison of facelift(first pic) to pre-facelift, the facelifts are half the size of the pre-facelifts! Changing mine transformed the car, now it's smooth and lovely. :DPics courtesy of Mr DavidP!

Facelift

Pre-Facelift

Shagged mounts like yours above, my engine was virtually solid mounted to the subframe!

And is there a way I can tell 100 percent its the mounts before replacing them?

If you are very careful (ie large bit of wood etc to spread the load and don't go lifting the car up just gently try and take some of the engines weight off the mounts) you can jack up under the sump and the vibration should lessen.

Or if you look at the pics above you can get some feeler gauges and try and see what gap if any you have between the base triangle piece and the cylindrical main body of the mount.