motor mounts and struts on 95 Camry

I am back with more problems… :banghead:

1. How do I replace the motor mounts?
Assuming, one at the time and supporting under the engine, so it does not drop down and do me more work that I was asking for. If support, where? Any suggestions?
2. Is there any way I can replace my own struts? The cheapest place I found ($440 over the phone…) was the shop that “tried” flushing my power steering and said that one quart is all they use!
Do I have to replace the upper strut mounts with the struts, if not how do I determine if they are good or not?


Thanks for all your suggestions,

hey, motor mounts, support the motor with a jack,
1 bolt, 17mm on top, 3 lower 14 mm bolts on bottom, two on top one underneath, sneak mount out and sneak new one in , not too bad , jack it under the oil pan, use a piece of wood so not too damage pan,
struts, too save money , you can take struts out yourself, better off , taking struts too shop and have swap over, most of money is labor too remove, can do it yourself, but can be tricky,
front or rear struts,
usually do not have to replace upper mounts, sometimes bearings go in mounts , but most of the time ok, usually if leaking , want to replace boots, bumpers, and lower cushions, most rubber accessories, taking out the struts is pretty self explanatory, three small nuts on top, not the center one, two large nuts and bolts through hub,

Well, I finally got to replace the front mount that was not too bad, forgot to replace the top mounting bolt… but the rear mount would not budge. May be/most likely, I am just doing it wrong. From the top, I could not get to it with the universal joint and a swivel extension. From the bottom I just couldn’t get the bolt loose with the wrench. Any tricks to do that?
Thanks for your help,

nmikmik

Well, I finally got to replace the front mount that was not too bad, forgot to replace the top mounting bolt… but the rear mount would not budge. May be/most likely, I am just doing it wrong. From the top, I could not get to it with the universal joint and a swivel extension. From the bottom I just couldn’t get the bolt loose with the wrench. Any tricks to do that?
Thanks for your help,

nmikmik Are you sure that the back mount is bad. Usually the Two front mounts go out. The bottom one and the top one(usually called the dogbone mount) located on the passenger side. On the strut issue are you sure they are bad? Are your tires chopped? My 95 has 169K on it and the struts are still good. Goodyear tried to sell me a set and after I questioned them about how good the tires were wearing they backed off the issue very fast, of course this was the same place that told me I needed to change the timing belt on my 92 P.U. after 218K miles. I told them if they could find the timing belt I would give them the truck. Damn thing has a timing chain!! That shut them up as well.

No I am not 100% sure if I need that rear mount. The problem is that even after replacing both front and dog-bone mounts, it vibrates, actually shakes, at 55 – 65 mpr like crazy!
As soon as I let go of the gas, shaking stops, hence assuming it’s not the tire balance, bent axels, warped rotors (it would of pulsate the break pedal during breaking) or CV joints.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

nmikmik

Just did the rear mount (the pain one) yesterday, still same vibration :banghead: now it's in the shop, for alignment and balance (just called me the balancing machine is broke, so the balance is not going to be done today) if these two things won't fix it, then I really don't know what to do. Will let you know how it goes.

Thanks,

nmikmik

I finally got my car back from the shop that balanced my tires and did the alignment. Vibration is still there, same as before at ~ 50mph to ~75, then it all blend in… Mechanic sez “you probably lost one of the weights on the halfshaft or your tranny is bad". Took it to the transm .shop, they say, one of my rear breaks dragging(i did the breaks last week), but shafts and trany is fine?! I think before spending any money on other parts I’ll change tires, one of the weights after the balancing looked very big, may be it also out of round and nobody checks for that during the balancing of course… Tires are a year old but I think prev. owner had them replaced one at the time & had problems with them.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated,

nmikmik

nmikmik,

Do you have a friend or relative with another Camry with the same tire and wheel size. If so, try swapping out the wheels and tires temporarily with that other car, one at a time, and then take it for a ride after each tire is swapped out to see if the vibration goes away. Conversely, if the problem goes away after swapping out a particular tire and wheel, then take the other car for a ride with your car's tire and wheel on it and see if that car now has the vibration. You may only need to replace 1 or 2 tires to solve the problem. (It is best to have tires of equal tread wear on the same axles.) I have seen problems like this develop if tires have not been rotated for a long time, and then they are finally rotated. This is especially true on front wheel drive cars. The tires on the rear have a tendency to bounce, since most of the weight is on the front tires. This bouncing may cause noticible cupping of the tires over time. Then when the rear tires are finally rotated to the front, the cupping causes a pronounced vibration that wasn't apparent when they were on the rear.

Good luck with solving the problem.

Mike

Hey, thanks a lot Mike!

I was just thinking about swapping my Mazda MPV tires with the Camry and see how it goes, but never had the time to look at the size lol.
I will let you know how it goes as soon as I am out of the rat race…

hey, motor mounts, support the motor with a jack,
1 bolt, 17mm on top, 3 lower 14 mm bolts on bottom, two on top one underneath, sneak mount out and sneak new one in , not too bad , jack it under the oil pan, use a piece of wood so not too damage pan,
struts, too save money , you can take struts out yourself, better off , taking struts too shop and have swap over, most of money is labor too remove, can do it yourself, but can be tricky,
front or rear struts,
usually do not have to replace upper mounts, sometimes bearings go in mounts , but most of the time ok, usually if leaking , want to replace boots, bumpers, and lower cushions, most rubber accessories, taking out the struts is pretty self explanatory, three small nuts on top, not the center one, two large nuts and bolts through hub,

What kind of tool to use to get off the bolts? any special tools? The space is so small that I can't get them off with the regular socket wrench.

Any idea?

Thanks a lot!

Are you sure you’re looking at the right bolts? I’ve taken mine out just with the deep socket and a short extension. You do have to take at least a portion of the front skirt off though. Oh yea, and jack up the car a little so you can get under it comfortably & don’t forget the jack stand, never leave it just on the jack!.



nmimik

two things could be causing the vibration: frame damage or a bext axle.

Another thing could be a bent wheel. If you have steel wheels, one could be bent and cause the vibration. It happened to me.

Finally my problem is resolved after a few month and $500.00 … I just couldn’t keep it to myself. After replacing both axles, one of which had a bad CV joint and the other one bent & replacing both front struts the vibration is GONE! I a m pretty sure it was the bent axle causing the vibration but I guess I will never find out, nor do I want to.
Thanks again for all of your suggestions and help!

Well, I finally got to replace the front mount that was not too bad, forgot to replace the top mounting bolt… but the rear mount would not budge. May be/most likely, I am just doing it wrong. From the top, I could not get to it with the universal joint and a swivel extension. From the bottom I just couldn’t get the bolt loose with the wrench. Any tricks to do that?
Thanks for your help,

nmikmik
I've a 92 camry 4 auto with vibration during acceleration.
Replaced dog bone and front motor mount...cut vib. in half.
Replaced tire (needed then anyway) cut vib. in half again.
But it still has vib. would like to replace rear motor mount.
How, my manual didn't cover it.
I can loosen the motor mount nuts but when I jack the eng. I don't get enough space to remove the old mount?
What am I missing?
Thanks
Peter1

peter1 - As I said in response to your other post on exactly the same subject:

In addition to the FR mount and dogbone, there are two other mounts. There is a RR mount around the same place as the FR mount, only on the side next to the firewall, and there is also a LH mount, under the transmission. Maybe you have to loosen the other mount.

the rear mount is not a problem for you unless your tranny rattles. Since you've already replaced 2 mounts, try replacing the drive side axle and that should eliminate all your vibration.

does drive side = drivers side?
Thanks
Peter1

yes, driveside equals driver side

After 1 hour of trying to get the top bolt on the rear motor mount I used a 17mm Crow Foot wrench from the top with 2 extensions to get down past the manifold. It took 5 seconds to loosen nit once I went to Sears to buy the wremch.

Well, I finally got to replace the front mount that was not too bad, forgot to replace the top mounting bolt… but the rear mount would not budge. May be/most likely, I am just doing it wrong. From the top, I could not get to it with the universal joint and a swivel extension. From the bottom I just couldn’t get the bolt loose with the wrench. Any tricks to do that?
Thanks for your help,

nmikmik

hey, motor mounts, support the motor with a jack,
1 bolt, 17mm on top, 3 lower 14 mm bolts on bottom, two on top one underneath, sneak mount out and sneak new one in , not too bad , jack it under the oil pan, use a piece of wood so not too damage pan,
struts, too save money , you can take struts out yourself, better off , taking struts too shop and have swap over, most of money is labor too remove, can do it yourself, but can be tricky,
front or rear struts,
usually do not have to replace upper mounts, sometimes bearings go in mounts , but most of the time ok, usually if leaking , want to replace boots, bumpers, and lower cushions, most rubber accessories, taking out the struts is pretty self explanatory, three small nuts on top, not the center one, two large nuts and bolts through hub,

Hello Fred:
Thank you for the details on the change out to the front mount of the 95 Camry. I had no problem following your directions. As a novice like myself, I was not sure why they included a double stud on the top of the new motor mount, but I figured out that they wanted me to use this to insure that I had the mount positoined before I locked down the bottom bolts. I let the engine down slowly on the motor mount and the roll pin popped into place, then I unscrewed the double chaser stud and inserted the top bolt. Only problem I had was that the bolt that mounted from the bottom seemed to strip at the last turn of the wrench, so I think that I did not have it started correctly, but the other two bolts are holding it just fine. Maybe I should have let the engine down completely and firmed up the two top bolts before trying to position the bottom one..... Oh well....

Again.. thanks for your details
Jenny