Okay, so I got a call from the dealership where my cars getting fixed, they have the car apart and supposedly, my motor mount is busted..... the one over the oil pan.... How in the name of Zues's butthole, could I have broken that mount!? and they say my gear oil leak is coming from my shift boot? Odd.... so now it's 720+ dollars..... don't think i'm gonna make it to cali now....

 

FC's tend to break motor mounts from time to time, all cars do as mileage stacks up. The passenger side motor mount is a cinch to change, I can probably do it in 20 minutes tops. You should be able to find a decent one somewhere, I think they are only $50 new at auto bone. You can also get a set of polyurethane ones off of Chris Sanders at Banzai Racing.

As far as the gear oil....Im not sure. If I were you I'd tell them to leave the car alone, and that your coming to get it. Changing the transmission oil, rear end oil and a motor mount is going to cost you maybe...$100 at most. The only thing your going to end up using is your time.

 

Yah I had a broken motor mount, passenger side, when I pulled my engine. No big deal because I was putting in solid mounts anyways.

720 bucks? This is why I don't go to the dealership for any work

 

^What he said...

Never have dealershits work on your car... Unless its free... Even then... They tend to do stupid things like no oil cap, or loose drain plug... (Happened to a few of my friends from dealershits here)


Do it your self man, trial and error if you dont know what your doing.

 

Yah that's another thing. Dealership mechanics, except for like mercedes, porsche, bmw, etc, are not the best mechanics in the world (this being a blanket statement, yes there are some that are good). My friend is in an autotech program right now that prepares you to be a dealership mechanic and I hear some interesting things about the people in his class. Like people that have never even picked up a tool before the class, or have no idea what a volt meter or a dmm is, or people that don't even know how to change oil. It's scary, especially when my friend is smarter than the teacher! The guy teaching this course constantly contradicts the book/manual for the class and gives out wrong information. Sure there are some programs that have good teachers or that prepare you well, but just from hearing things about this program (which is widely used in my area) makes me wonder how many competent mechanics there really are out there.

My .02 on the subject, which is why I do all my work myself now.

 

for the most part, I'm not a total boner when I work on stuff.... it's just that the whole cost of everything is overwhelming.... plus, with 28 deg out and snow, it's hard to do the work in my driveway, and I don't know anyone with a garage..... ahhhh the joys of the trailer park.... lol

 

the motor mount will break with simple use, if your car has much over 100k miles its probably got a broken motor mount.

the rubber boots under the shift boot also tear. the gear oil in the neck of the tranny around the bottom of the shifter will then splash up though the tears in the rubber boots letting you smell the sweet sweet fluid fumes.

new motor mount: ~50 bucks each
all new rubber shift boots: ~75 bucks (50 for one set and 25 for the other)

installation of motor mount with proper tools: moderately easy, 1/2 - 1 hour for both.
installation of rubber shift boots: extemely easy, 5 minutes.

 

my mount went out at 88k..... ooooo yeha buddy

 

That's retarded for such a simple repair.

I JUST got out of the garage after doing an oil pan replacement, and the mount was the easiest part of the whole thing, it just took a little bit of prying with a wrench to get it into place, and bolted it right on. You just have to be careful not to cross-thread your irons, and I found that it helps to losten the nut on the upper chunk of the mount (the part that actually bolts onto the pan), so then the whole assembly kinda slides a bit to help get it into place.

You can get new lower mount pieces from mazdatrix.com for $38 ea. side.

 

well i will defend some of the dealershit mechanics because i am one for Cadillac but i will admit that if you can't afford to buy a new car there you shouldn't bring your car to them for service, dealershits are quite pricey and i for one wouldn't pay $100/hour for me to work on my car...


you all have to remember that you are dealing with a service writer as well who sometimes interprets the mechanics writing into their own and sometimes is not very accurate as to the real problem with the vehicle but the cars usually do get fixed. though dealers are usually more knowlegdable on newer car lines not our old second gens.

 

like I said... I've got no problem doing the work, I'd prefer, I'm going to go to school to become a mechanic..... but when it's 28 degress outside and snowing, I don't really want to have to crawl through 4-8 inches of snow to change parts... especially when I have less then 6 inches of room to work with me under there.... ya know?