Danger! Motor mount failure

[V10 ACR]

tAll,
If you race at all, or if your car has more than 10,000 miles, you need to check your motor mounts ASAP. I had my car up on a lift and saw what looked like damage from a tranny that was shifting. I decided to change out the motor and tranny mounts just to have more heavy duty connections to the frame. When we took off the mounts, they were obviously deformed and had totally come apart. The safety was the only thing holding them together. With the new parts from Woodhouse the car is much tighter and more responsive. I drove at a viper days on a track I had been on before and cut 8 seconds off my time. On the 1/8 mile drags my time dropped by 0.2 secs.

It is hard to see if the mounts are shot by visual inspection, so this can easily be missed.

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Right mount deformed

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Left mount with visible split

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Static, they dont look so bad

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When you pick them up, they just fall apart

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Only the safety was keeping the motor from spinning off the frame

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New mounts from Woodhouse used to replace the old ones. Much tighter. Much more vibration noticable for the first 200 miles or so with the new mounts. Still more than the old ones, but it is obvious why. Don't take a chance, swap out your mounts or at least have them inspected.

 

[REDSLED]

Good post.

 

[02 Graphite GTS]

Thanks for the info.
How difficult were they to change out?

 

[1TONY1]

So mine with 70,000 should be replaced ??

 

[Mopar Steve]

I am surprised these are not the safety type mounts. The better mounts have steel flaps inside the rubber that lock overtop each other to limmit travel in the event the mount separates.

 

[V10 ACR]

They were easy to replace, I had the local viper savy mechanic do it. It took a while because the bolts from the factory were put on before the headers. The mounting bolts are long, so it took a bit of squiriming to get them off. Putting them back on was much easier since the monting bolts can be put through the mounts from the opposite side as well. If you have new bolts, you can just take the old ones half way out, cut them and then take out the rest. This will save time and aggravation.

 

[Bolt]

Thank you for the heads up.

What year and make car are these broken ones off?

Bolt

 

[V10 ACR]

These mounts were from my 2000 GTS ACR with 36,*** miles. 8 plus track days and maybe 150 passes in 1/4 or 1/8 mile drags.

 

[RTED]

Just received my replacement mounts from Chuck Tator (Tators Dodge). Chuck, as usual is extemely helpful and his service is second to none. Thanks for the heads up on the mounts....good insurance for these high tourque montster engines!

 

[Purdue_Boiler_Viper]

Any idea what caused the failure? I've never seen one of these up close. Looks like some type of rubber for dampening. Did the rubber become brittle?

 

[GTSnake]

It seems that certain years are prone to these motor mount failures but other years are not. I've noticed that it seems like around 2000 model year this is more common but early GenII's don't have this problem. I still have my original ones with over 25,000 miles and doesn't seem to be an issue.

Someone at DCX engineering probably made an engineering cost reduction and changed the rubber material. It saved a few bucks but now we're seeing all the failures.

 

[2001 GTS]

Replaced mine not long ago...and not only was the rubber broke...but the safetys on the driver's side were bent about 40 degrees..lol

 

[VIPER GTSR 91]

Thanks for posting this. Woodhouse has these for $249.00. I just called them to order a set for my 99. They informed me though that the street/race set will give considerable more vibration than oem as they are stiffer. Not sure if I want that or not. For the install, he said the car must be on a lift and the motor jacked up slightly to take the weight off the mounts to remove. Now trying to find someone qualified in my area (North Houston) to do the labor.

 

[V10 ACR]

I put on the street mounts from Woodhouse. Yes, there is a bit more vibration. I really noticed it at first. But it goes down after about 200 miles. Now I don't notice it. At our last viper get together I mentioned it to a few folks. All the cars with less than 3,000 miles (2000, 2001 and 2002) that I sat in when started had the same level or close as I have now (1,000 miles after install). I also did the billet transmission brace and the poly tranny mount at the same time, so I may have a bit more. The other thing I noticed was a change in the exhaust note. With everything stiffened up the sound is being transmitted through the cabin a bit differently. Overall a great improvement.

 

[VIPER GTSR 91]

I put on the street mounts from Woodhouse. Yes, there is a bit more vibration. I really noticed it at first. But it goes down after about 200 miles. Now I don't notice it. At our last viper get together I mentioned it to a few folks. All the cars with less than 3,000 miles (2000, 2001 and 2002) that I sat in when started had the same level or close as I have now (1,000 miles after install). I also did the billet transmission brace and the poly tranny mount at the same time, so I may have a bit more. The other thing I noticed was a change in the exhaust note. With everything stiffened up the sound is being transmitted through the cabin a bit differently. Overall a great improvement.

Thanks for the feed back. I also ordered the tranny mount ( only 30.00 ) I will let you know what the old ones look like- 10,200 miles. A lot of road race miles included in there.

 

[V10 ACR]

Take some pictures if you can, I would like to see what they look like.

 

[TexasPettey]

I replaced mine with the Woodhouse street/track poly mounts about 3 months ago. Definately a good idea, as my stock mounts were cracked all the way around. There are a couple of new vibrations that weren't there, but it isn't bad to drive. One nice thing is that the rattle/shake on the shifter is gone.

I took it on a 2hr trip out to the track this weekend for the first time. I hardly even noticed the rattle from the mounts. On the track, everything was nice and solid. I'm definately sold on these for my Gen1. I may even buy an extra set in case they aren't making them any more when I need to replace again.

 

[BADMOFO]

Just ordered mine today from Woodhouse. I hope they are not pain to change.

 

[-FROG-]

LOL! A.R.T. replaced mine about a month ago and they fell apart upon removal as well. 70,000 mines on my car. I was wondering why my shifter kept kicking over so hard to the right in 1st and 2nd.....? I also had a poly tranny mount installed too. Yes, I noticed a difference but haven't been to the track with the new mounts yet.

.2 seconds off in the 1/8 you say? hmmmm........ I wonder what it would cut down in the 1/4?

By the way.... A.R.T. http://www.americanracingtech.com/ charged me about $100.00 or so, to swap them out, so it was WELL WORTH letting them do it in my openion.

 

[thebigsnake]

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[ROGUE]

Should have replaced them with a mount that is nothing more than a chunk of aluminum with some threaded holes in it.

They really don't vibrate as bad as you think they will in the viper.

 

[viperdude118]

Thanks for posting this. Woodhouse has these for $249.00. I just called them to order a set for my 99. They informed me though that the street/race set will give considerable more vibration than oem as they are stiffer. Not sure if I want that or not. For the install, he said the car must be on a lift and the motor jacked up slightly to take the weight off the mounts to remove. Now trying to find someone qualified in my area (North Houston) to do the labor.

Does the car really need to be on a lift to do this? Or does just require that you can get a jack underneath the engine to support it?

 

[KepRght]

Does the car really need to be on a lift to do this? Or does just require that you can get a jack underneath the engine to support it?

jack stands on the frame with a second person on a floor jack lifting up on the motor will work. not recommended if you aren't totally comfortable with jacks & stands. don't get squished.

thanks for the post, good info. i have these in a box waiting to be installed.

 

[-FROG-]

Probably want to losen the tranny mount as well, to allow the motor to raise up high enough to swap mounts, otherwise, I would think the tranny mount will hold the motor down somewhat. Might as well replace the tranny mount as well while you're down there with a poly.

$20.95 from Summit Racing:
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=ENS%2D3%2D1108G&N=700+115&autoview=sku

 

[RTED]

All this talk about failing motor mounts convinced me to replace mine today. As it turns out, it was good that I did. The divers side mount was cracked and about to split from front to back. Rubber was very distorted as well. Only 26k on the car. I guess the combination of the heat under the hood, age and the tourque takes its toll on the mounts. Thanks to all of you for the heads up!

 

[GR8_ASP]

My 2003 failed the drivers mount last year. Additional torque may help as well. Same part as Gen I/II.

 

[-FROG-]

It was my drivers side mount on mine too, back when I had mine replaced. Here are a few signs of needing your mounts replaced:

1. Shifter kicks over to the right in 1st when getting on it, a little in second too.
2. foam padding on the bottom side of the hood, may have some wear on the drivers side, where the motor is kicking up and rubbing on the padding. (mine did where my throttle body cable came up over my intake)
3. With the hood open, revving motor while watching the motor, the motor will tend to lift on the drivers side.

Oh, also I noticed I was hitting 4th gear accurately after new mounts. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why I had such a problem hitting 4th in fast shifts....? Now I know why.

 

[VIPER GTSR 91]

Got the car back today from Tomball Dodge here in Houston where they did some great work. The old ones were actually ok but glad I upgraded the mounts. No noticeable vibration except in the transmission shift from a start.

 

[Early93Viper]

I decided that I am going to change out the Mounts before my next track day. (I already had new ones sitting around) Thanks for the heads up!

 

[V10SpeedLuvr]

Just a warning to those who didn't see my previous post. If you do replace your mounts, BE SURE that your intake tubes arent pulled off when jacking the motor up. I had mine replaced by a dealership and the tubes popped off from the throttle bodies when the tech jacked the motor up and he never noticed. I drove around with disconnected intake tubes for a couple hundred miles . I had to change the oil to try to drain out any crap that got sucked up. The dealership refunded the labor total to offset the cost of me having to change the oil. An oil analysis test revealed no damage was done, but still, double check your tubes when you get done!