dhallford

Original on Left. New on right. Approx 3/4 in gap difference.

I'm the proud owner of an 88 S4 automatic. For the past several months I've had a "clunk" in the rear end when going over even some of the smaller pot holes in our lovely roads. It was getting to the point where I'd get a clunk over just rough roads. I checked every connection on the rear suspension and found nothing loose. I replaced the shocks back in the spring and felt they were still good. After a little internet research, I decided I must have bad transmission mounts. Not really sure how to check them while they are installed in the car. I ordered a set from Roger, he said I could return them if I didn't use them. The mounts are a couple hundred a piece.

Yesterday I spent a lovely afternoon under the 928. After a couple hours I discovered I did in fact have a couple of collapsed transmission mounts. Not overly difficult to replace. The driver's side is much easier to access than the passenger's side. I had to remove the muffler on the passenger's side. It took me a total of about three hours to replace them. A good wrench can easily do it in two.

I went for the infamous "test drive"last night. What a difference! Almost like a different car. No clunks and not vibrations through the car. I believe my transmission was resting on the cross member. The car was soooo smooth! Worth ever minute I spent replacing the mounts.

If this is on your to-do list, I suggest moving it up a bit. You'll be very happy with the results.

StratfordShark

dr bob

For those playing along at home, you can see the difference in new vs. collapsed mounts in the first post above. Each mount sits on a perch on the rear crossmember, with a bolt through that top eye laterally into the side of the transmission. Stick a finger uip there and you can feel if there's room for your finger. Kinda like motor mounts in the front, where you try and stuff a finger in between the safety hooks.

The mounts had collapsed on my car but the transmission wasn't hitting the bottom of the crossmember underneath. It was sitting low enough to affect the foam block that seals the area around the shift lever in the tunnel. I played with adding some rubber spacers to restore the transmission height again. That lifted the transmission fine but transmitted a lot of new gear noises to the tub. New mounts solved the problem. The new ones should last another 25 years or so as the originals did, pushing their expected end-of-life past the expected end of mine.

Ninespub

I thought the transmission mounts were NLA?

Mrmerlin

Roger has them in stock

StratfordShark

Wisconsin Joe

No, they are available. Just make sure you are sitting down, and not taking a drink out of a glass when you read the price.

DeWolf

Wasn't there someone on here who 're-rubbered' his own?

dr bob

There has been some discussion. The last diy example had the whole top section filled with 60A urethane. My limited experimenting showed that a solid block there transmits too much gearbox noise for my taste. I know that Mark A. has investigated having them rebuilt, in a manner similar to getting control arms and other pieces remanufactured to original spec, but that hasn't come to fruition. The mounts are currently available new but they aren't cheap. Most 928-specific parts aren't cheap in my limited experience.

Randy V

I wouldn't call 40 years 'limited experience'.

The Forgotten On

But 928 parts used to be cheaper.... I joke with Mark A sometimes where Porsche is going to add the 1 to their price, in the front or the back.

4 years ago GTS calipers were $331 each, now $1331 each. 2 years ago air intake tubes were $50, now they're $150....

It all adds up quickly, but some sellers are nice enough to honor the original MSRP of the item they are selling when Porsche updates their pricing.