VehiGAZ

Not as bad as I was anxiously expecting, actually. I have the will and the tools to make a winter project of this, but no I've got no garage or lift. And fortunately, money is easier for me to find these days than time.

Interestingly, they refused to install the solid Anchor mounts - they insisted they will not last as long as the OEM mounts. Hmm... kinda throws another log on the fire of this thread, don't it?

I would prefer to use OEM parts whenever possible, but was balking at the $400 price tag, but the shop found them for 20% less, so what the hell - keep it real.

oz928s4

Mrmerlin - "So if your oil pans is level with the bottom of the crossmember with the mounts you have you should be good to go".
Do you have a picture or diagram to illustrate.

Mrmerlin

sorry no picture, but generally speaking when the mounts go bad IE sag the oil pan will be lower than the bottom cover on the crossmember its easy to check, stick you head under the front of the car and look at the pan VS crossmember, if you want to do a closer inspection try sticking your finger between the pan and the crossmember once the mounts crush there is little room to fit your finger tween the parts

oz928s4

I will take a look...I am of the opinion if they are gone that I will go to the solid mounts to be honest. IMO there is less that can go wrong and once done they are done. Thank you

Peter

VehiGAZ

My tranny mounts are apparently shot too, so they want to do them all at the same time, as well as the steering rack bushings, the oil pan gasket, and an oil change - just a tick over $2k of work.

Ugh... I decided to have them do the intake R&R and ISV replacement instead (for about the same money) - not having a steady idle and stalling when the A/C is on is far more annoying than vibrations in the chassis.

Fresh mounts all around next year!

Landseer

It adds up quickly.

Its also a dirty job on jackstands, and needs to be done in a garage, especially where you live.

Wish we were nearby could help you with it.

Which reminds me, JADZ 928 should be about ready for some help on his S4 about now....

Mrmerlin

I am not buying the factory mounts lasting longer than the solids, if you bought the soilids for about 80.00 the rest of the 400.00 could be spent on rack bushes, PS lines, resivour, pan gasket. It sounds to me like the shops wanting to make money rather than take care of a customer.
The solid mounts will last longer than the factory filled units and you wont be able to tell the difference except when the HYDro units fail

VehiGAZ

Maybe - but this Porsche shop (Dan Jacobs in Oxford, CT, aka Hairrry Dog Garage) doesn't have that kind of reputation. The mechanic who works on 928s there is a regular lurkeer on this board (he is no doubt reading this thread), owns (or owned?) his own 928, tracks a 928, and is a PCA DE instructor. They told me he put the solid mounts on his own car and they failed after a couple of years, so he doesn't recommend them. So there's a bunch of info to offset the speculation offered.

The thing is, I have an excellent-condition, low-mileage 1989 GT, and it's worth a couple of hundred dollars to me to "keep it real" by using EOM parts whenever possible - I don't want to end up with a Frankenshark for the sake of saving a few dollars.

dr bob

I know there was an informal 'survey' a whil;e back, asking users of non-Porsche mounts to share data on lifespan. Might by appropriate to update the data periodically. Part of the discussion from the OEM/Porsche mounts side of the discussion is to define what a failed mount is. I know we use the finger-in-the-hooks test, perhaps that needs to be a bit more definitive. Like how much room is max for a mount to be considered good.

I tested/measured mine immediately following installation, using a straightedge along the top of the intake to the crossbar. It was almost exactly a straight line top of manifold to top of bar. Saves some of the crawling. The aftermarket mounts are reputed to be slightly shorter, to the point where some have recommended adding spacer washers to make up the difference. Point is that all MM installs need a baseline measurement, so that you can easily determine over time what the deterioration is.

mj1pate

For what its worth, I did intake and breather hose(s) refresh last year, removing, sand blasting and repainting. The injectors were refurbished with hoses and other bits replaced. That job involved a lot of time but was relatively easy and constituted why I am involved in this kind of hobby. By comparison, the MM/OPG/Steering Rack job was filthy, labor intensive and involved much hard pulling, pushing and straining. The garage floor was 1/8" of grime when all was finished. I went through a box of nitrile gloves.

Even with new injectors; 2k for a top end job is a lot of dough IMO. If possible, work like top end work is a great candidate for a few Saturdays with Porsche-philes. But I know without tools and workspace, that it has to be farmed out. Regardless, I'm sure that you'll enjoy the improvement in driveability when all is done.

SeanR

How does a solid mount fail? I know exactly how a hydralic ones does, but a solid? For some reason I am doubting that. Unless the mount was bathed in something to make the actual rubber melt away from the mounting points, I don't see it happening.

Mrmerlin

Sean the only thing i could think is that the mounts were flawed from the start maybe the rubber that was used wasnt cured properly and thus crumbled.
I have installed about 14 sets of the aftermarket mounts and from the cars that i have seen after installation none have any signs of failure or sagging. Both of my cars have them one with 12000 miles and 4 years still look like new.
DrBob I do agree with that idea of taking measuments .
I do also install 2 flat washers under the mounts to add a bit of height, and there is still the problem of fitting the steering rack to the Xmember as sometimes the rack lines will be very close, unless the stud is cut off to almost 1 to 2 threads after the nut is on.
There doesnt seem to be any repeatability on fittments, some racks clear and other are close and others hit the stud.

With a straight edge (on a S4 or later)the manifold should line up with the cross brace on top or you can check the underside to see if the pan is flush or slightly above level with the oil pan

VehiGAZ

$2300 gets me the intake R&R (including a new ISV, all new hoses, new intake gaskets, and flowing the injectors), plus a radiator flush/check and new coolant, plus an oil change. Plus 6% tax. It ain't cheap, but it's fair for that amount of work being done, and it will do much to improve the driveability of the car.

I really wanted to do the intake R&R myself over a winter, but without a lit, secure garage to work in, it ain't gonna happen. Maybe next year we'll be in a new house with a nice oversized garage I can put a lift in, and I can do my own motor & tranny mount job then...

Jadz928

That is true. After reading this thread, I realized I need rack bushings. So I'm not ready. I already have the MM's from Roger.

I'm on the fence about OPG because it was done recently, though with OEM cork.

Regarding part alternatives... as long as they're functional, reliable, cost effective to OEM parts. The older these cars get, and as Porsche parts continue becoming NLA, sometimes necessity outweighs fundementals.

For the record, Chewy's OEM hyd MM's are 6 years old and 30K miles. So I guess that means they're about shot.

123

Wasn't there a problem with at least some of the new Porsche mounts a while back? I know a couple of people put in new genuine Porsche hydraulic mounts and had them fail in less than a year.