DIY 986 Motor Mount Replacement
 

I havn't been active at all here in the past, but hopefully that changes now that I am starting to fix my up Boxster. Besides basic maintenance, this is the second repair I've done myself (first was a water pump last year) and since I had some time, I decided to make a guide. Sorry if I go too in depth, this is my first guide, just trying to be thorough.

The car - '97 Boxster 2.5L / 150k Miles - Completely Stock
The Repair - Replacing front motor mount
Time it took me - 3 hours by myself
Difficulty - Easy (in my opinion)
Tools Needed - mm Wrench/Sockets, Jack/Jack stands, a vice came in handy
Part # used - 987-375-023-04


The background - About a year ago (long time to wait, I know) I noticed vibrations getting worse and worse, and eventually a loud grinding type noise whenever I made a left turn. I thought it was my bearings, and was about driving to my shop to replace them when my clutch goes out... Long story short, got the clutch replaced, and put the car up for the rest of the fall/winter, while I read up on the problem, figured it out and got the parts. Yesterday I got it in my shop and replaced the mount. Here is my step by step guide for replacing it.

First thing that I did was put it up on the lift, removed the one skid plate I have (long story, ran over a dead deer, I'll tell the story later if anyone is interested haha), then supported the engine with a jack + 2x8 (would of used a transmission jack if I had one).

http://i2.lulzimg.com/921b8ddb6c.jpg

There were 4 nuts on the carrier, and 3 bolts on the mount to take out (side by side pictures)

http://i2.lulzimg.com/06ceaae893.jpg

Middle View of carrier/mount
http://i2.lulzimg.com/62ae3cbd26.jpg

I'm doing this from memory, but I believe all 7 were 15mm. The nuts on the carrier were easy to get out, but once I went to take out the bolts from the mount, I realized I had to drop the engine down an inch or so (just for the two bolts on the bottom, the 3rd bolt on the top left of the mount just needs to be loosened)

http://i2.lulzimg.com/fcd69b14ff.jpg

After trying and failing, I eventually had to remove one of the radiator hoses to get the whole assembly out.

http://i2.lulzimg.com/460e29eaac.jpg

Once the hose was removed, the assembly came right out, you can see the rubber sticking out on the right side from this angle, looks bad right?

http://i2.lulzimg.com/a7e84e2172.jpg

Take out the 2 bolts holding the mount to the carrier (15mm again I believe), I used a vice to hold it since it was pretty tight. This is when I realized just how bad it really was

http://i2.lulzimg.com/3d7293cc2a.jpg

A close up, you can see how bad it was wearing on the rubber

http://i2.lulzimg.com/d43b393932.jpg

New mount attached to carrier

http://i2.lulzimg.com/1725a16f41.jpg

Install was pretty easy, just put the assembly in, and finger tighten the mount bolts, jack the engine back up, finger tighten the carrier nuts, torque the mount bolts, torque the carrier nuts, then re-attach the radiator hose.

http://i2.lulzimg.com/95b30910f2.jpg

All in all, it was a pretty easy install, the part that was most time consuming was draining/refilling/bleeding the coolant. After I was all done, took it for a drive, and it felt great.

There was still some vibration, but that's due to needing a front-end alignment which is getting done this coming week.

Thanks, looks and sounds simple.

Did you find it necessary to remove the coolant hose? Has anybody done this repair without doing that? Just purchased my new MM and so I am doing it next week.

I still have not done this. Is it possible to do this without removing the coolant hoses?

You can do it without removing the coolant hoses. It takes a little finesse to get out & back in but I made it happen.

Hi, I replaced the motor mount on my 97 today and the improvement when shifting is really noticeable.

Obviously water under the bridge for you, but for folks reading this subsequently: If you're doing the motor mount and your water pump is more than a few years old, these are great projects to do in tandem. Doing each involves steps that helps make room for accomplishing the other.

Franco, did you have the common 3000rpm engine vibration before the swap? How about after??

No I did not have the 3000 rpm vibration,what convinced me to replace the motor mount was judder when taking off in first gear and gears only engaging at the end of clutch peddle travel, after replacing the mount clutch engages at half travel and shifting precision is 100% better than before.

The old mount was completely torn, if I new about the mount a few years back would have done both pump and mount simultaneously .

Thanks so much. I will get on mine as soon as I can. Just have to find the time. Probably a few good hours wouldn't you say?

Silentfrosty,

What's up with the host for where you linked your pictures to? Appears that host has been kinda shady lately and uses a worm to make your browsers redirect to 109.163.230.114, which is in Romania.

MalwareBytes Anti-Malware: 109.163.230.114 Moscow Moscow City Russian Federation IP Tracer and IP Tracker and other DNS Tools.

The only thing i would add is make sure to torque the studs going into the body to 48 ft-lbs. If you don't you risk pulling them out when you bolt the mount on, then you will be in a world if ********************.