Sanac

I changed my motor mounts, tranny mount, and sway bars over the weekend and wanted to share some picture In case some else was wanting to do the same. I got the job quoted from my local lexus dealership for 600 bucks to change just the motor mounts.

Right side of rack&pinnion

Left side of rack&pinnion

Leftside with mount coming out

slightly lifting the engine from the oil pan

old vs new mount

dont forget this tab when swapping!!

Right side view of position of engine mount


Small 17mm I used to get to the top of motor mount bolts




I couldn't find much technical info on how to do this besides stuff from TIS

I found a post by

williamb82

In this thread : https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...placement.html

I was guessing the mounts for my car are about the same and went with it. I was trying the easiest method first.


I will copy and paste what Williamb82 said,

"I did my engine mounts, Front sway bar bushings, and front end links 4+ weeks ago. I did not remove the engine, or remove the steering shaft from the rack and pinion. Started about 9:30ish AM and finished by 4 PM same day, including breaks and stopping for an hour or more to clean up, make and eat lunch etc... I did not rush at all and did everything by myself with no assistance from anyone.

My car still had a rattle noise at lower speeds after replacing the control arms and brake pad springs, though those did remove some of the noises I was hearing. I also had a very loud thud when flooring it from low speed, and stopped at stop lights sometimes got a crazy vibration in the car, mostly in the dash and steering wheel, mainly when the engine was cold. This pointed to motor mounts obviously and I knew they would need changed thanks to the valve cover gasket leaks that went uncorrected by previous owners due ot the high pressure fuel pumps being mounted to them. I fixed all of those issues months ago.

I bought aftermarket mounts on ebay. $140 shipped for the pair.

I jacked the front up and put it on stands.

Removed all of the lower covers.

Unbolted the 2 motor mount nuts from the underside of the front cross member.

Unbolted the bolts holding the front of the cross member to the bumper support area. They are small. 2 nuts and bolts going through horizontally on each side. A lil tricky to see if you do not know they are there.

Put a transmission scissor jack under the oil pan, and a piece of a 4x4 on top of the jack.

I removed the end links.

I removed the sway bar.

I removed the bolts holding the rack and pinion to the cross member and unplugged the electrical connectors. I did NOT remove the bolt holding it to the steering shaft.

I jacked the engine up as high as it would go without damaging the oil pan.

I removed the 4 large bolts holding the sub frame to the car, and let it drop as far as possible.

I started on the driver side as that is the usual bad mount on rwd cars. I used a flex head ratchet wrench and removed the 10mm bolts holding the metal heat shield to the exhaust manifold.

I used a combination of ratchets, 14mm sockets, ratchet wrenches and swivels etc.. to remove the 6 bolts holding the motor mount bracket to the block

Once unbolted, I turned it so that the top nut for the motor mount holding it to the bracket was facing the rear of the car so I could unbolt it with my 1/2in ratchet.

I pulled the motor mount bracket out.

I then had to "force" the motor mount between the steering shaft and the block. This is why the rack was unbolted, so that it could be pushed to the driver side for max clearance, and would not throw the steering wheel alignment off.

The mount was shot, as I figured, and the source of the remaining rattle I had, and the "Thunk" under hard acceleration. It looks fine when looking at the car on the lift, but the stud coming out of the top moves freely up and down and all around, while the fluid inside of the mount has splashed/poured out.

I slid the new mount in between the block and steering shaft. I had to force it a bit, but not enough to worry about damaging anything.

I slid the bracket in and arranged it so the stud was threw it, with the nut started and facing the rear of the car so I could tighten the nut.

I put the bracket back in place and reinstalled all of the bolts.

I put the heat shield back on.

I moved to the passenger side and unbolted the heat shield, but it would not slid out like the drivers side did, but would move out of the way to allow better access to the motor mount bracket bolts.

Used the same tools in similar methods to remove the six 14mm bolts holding he bracket to the block.

Rotated it so the nut for the top of the mount was facing the rear of the car so I could remove it with a 1/2in ratchet.

Pulled the mount and bracket out. This mount was not as bad. it moved around all over just shaking he mount, so was nearly ripped apart itself.

I installed the new mount and bracket into he location and rotated so the top nut was to the rear so I could tighten it.

I bolted the bracket back to the block.

I bolted the heat shield back to the exhaust manifold.

I put another jack under the cross member and jacked it up into place. I started the 4 bolts, and moved it to make sure the washers on the bolts fit in the same exact spot as before and tightened them. This took some moving back and forth since I was on my back under the car and not on a lift. Removed the jack I used to lift it.

I put the 4 nuts bolts on the very front of the cross member.

I reinstalled the rack and pinion and reconnected the electrical connectors.

I installed the front sway bar with new Poly bushings

I installed the new grease-able end links that I greased before installing.

Lowered the jack holding the engine slowly and made sure the studs are in the cross member and reinstalled the nuts.

Reinstalled all of the lower covers.

Jacked the car up and removed the jack stands and dropped it back to the ground.


I now have no more rattles at low speeds, and there is no more vibrations at all when stopped at traffic lights, even when cold. I will try to post pics or vids of the "bad" mounts to show that they look 100% perfect until they are removed. No cracks in the outer portions at all."

But its slightly easier on the gs460!
I didn't remove any Heatshields or the motor mount brackets.
Although on the right side I did have to bend the heat shield a little in to reach the bolt on top of the mount. I dont hear any rattling noise yet so I guessing it fine.

After changing these mounts the car feels amazing. I have 127k miles on it. The car feels much more planted and I had a bad vibration in the cold mornings. Thats when I knew I had to change them asap. I remember when I unbolted the bottom end of the mounts a little black liquid came out so they've been shot.

Hopefully this helps someone, I'm one that likes a lot of pictures&videos to feel somewhat confident . When I bought this at 99k miles I made the purchase with plans on replacing all the suspension components and to try and get any/all performance upgrades I can. So as I replace parts I learn more about cars and how to fix them

CowBoE

Nice work!

What is the year, model, and mileage on the car?
Also, what symptoms led you to change them?

Thanks

3gsdan

THanks for sharing, I was quoted many hours from a local mechanic on this job