Shortly after I started routinely driving my new 2000 Passat, it was making a horrid, unnerving thumping sound. At first I thought it was a CV axle but after putting it on my best friend’s hydraulic lift the axles appeared to be fine. I then had it inspected by a VW mechanic and was told that the front (snub mount) and two side motor mounts were bad. I had him change the front one after reading that it involved removing the front bumper and radiator support. I decided to do the other two myself.
I began by searching for a reasonable price for the mounts since the mechanic was going to charge me $310 parts and labor. Most places wanted over $100 each. I finally found a place (am-autoparts) where I could get both for under $100. It turns out the place I purchased them from I had purchased a heated mirror for my dad’s Ford F-350 which he has been pleased with even after two years. The motor mounts arrived three days later.
To begin, I raised the car. I supported the engine using a screw jack. I used a block of wood to protect the aluminum oil pan. Next, I removed the sway bar from the frame. I left the end links attached and just swung the bar down out of the way. The sway bar is held by four nuts with 13mm hex.
Next I removed the driver’s side mounting tab from the sub frame. This is a triangular aluminum part held to he sub frame by three long bolts with 18mm heads. One bolt is longer than the others so keep up with where it goes. Removing these bolts allowed the subframe to separate slightly from the car body due to the way I had the car jacked up. But not so much that the bolts could not be put back. I just felt it was better to do only one side at a time.
With the mount out of the way, there was just enough room to reach the top mounting bolt of the mount with a stubby 13mm wrench. It took a lot of patience to get the nut off the top as there was limited space to turn the nut and the locking compound kept it form spinning with just fingers.
With the mount off the engine it was obvious that the rubber was broken allowing the engine to lift under load. I placed the new mount in position taking care to align the locating tabs in the slot of the mounting surface. It was tedious to get the nut run down far enough to get the tabs to stay in place so it could be worked with just one hand.
Once the upper nut was tight, I placed the lower bracket in place stating the longest bolt first. I made sure all three bots were started and the lower stud of the mount was centered before tightening them down.
I then moved to the passenger side. Again I dropped the aluminum mount and made room to access the top of the motor mount. There seems to be slightly more room to reach in on this side. But it still took many shorts turns of the wrench to get the nut off. I installed the new mount the same as before. I then replaced the aluminum mounting bracket.
When I swung the sway bar back into position, it did not want to line up at first. It took some pushing and shoving before the brackets slipped back over the mounting studs. Once it was in position, I tightened the four nuts and was done.
The motor feels much more connected to the car now. Acceleration is smoother and the shifting has improved.