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Thread: M60 Engine Mounts

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Kernersville, NC
    Posts
    186

    Default M60 Engine Mounts

    M60 Engine Mounts

    Every DIY’er who owns a V8 E34 has heard the horror stories, the hour-and-a-half to get one nut loose off of these mounts; losing sockets and extensions because the were not taped together. It is a job that demands patience. If you have some, and I suppose one must when you own one of these beasts, it can be done completely in less than two hours.

    I purchased new transmission & engine mounts from AutohausAZ.com. Ordered on Tuesday and received on Friday. I paid extra for 3 day shipping because I wanted to do this job this weekend. These mounts are stamped “Made in Germany”. I assume this is both true, and a good thing.

    Procedure:

    1) Jack up the front of the car and place on jack stands; or drive it up on ramps. I use ramps because they provide me more room to work and I feel safer. Make sure that the engine is cold, as you will be working near the exhaust manifolds.
    2) You might want to pre-treat the fasteners with WD-40. I did not, as they were not rusty or corroded looking.
    3) Remove the splash shield
    4) If you have heat shields, remove those, too. (I don’t have them).
    5) Gather the following tools:
    a. 17mm socket
    b. 13mm socket
    c. At least 24” of extensions in varying sizes, including a 3” one
    d. U-Joint/Swivel
    e. Breaker Bar
    f. Duct or electrical tape
    g. Floor jack
    h. One or two pieces of 2x4 lumber, at least 12” long
    6) Loosen the top nut on the passenger side mount (17mm). It is clearly visible from the top.
    7) Loosen the top nut on the driver side mount. I had read a couple of earlier experiences on this, fishing around from the top, removing the brake fluid reservoir. I tried fishing, but no bites. I didn’t want to fool with removing the reservoir. After trying a few other things, I did this and it worked great:
    a. Tape the 17mm socket to the U-Joint
    b. Tape the U-Joint to the 3” extension
    c. With this assembly in hand and underneath the car, reach around behind the engine mount and slip the socket onto the nut. You cannot go in from the front because of the P/S & oil lines.
    d. Important: Keep the 3” extension at a 45 degree angle, pointing up and aligned with the light from above (assumes working in daylight or a well-lit garage).
    e. Crawl out from under the car and peer down to where the mount should be. You should be seeing the square end of the extension sticking up between the P/S hoses. If you don’t see it, go back underneath and fiddle with it until you can see it from up top.
    f. Guide the remaining extensions down to the one on the mount. Take your time and you can hit it on the first or second try.
    g. Wrench it loose, but not all the way off. It might fall out of the socket and become lost in a black hole. (Ask me how I know this!)
    h. Back under the car, remove the nut with your fingers.
    8) Wrench off the remaining 13mm & 17mm nuts from the bottoms of both of the mounts.
    9) Note the orientation of the 17mm stud, the pin, & the 13mm stud. There are more holes in the cross member than there are studs on your mounts.
    10) Start jacking up the engine. I put two 2x4 pieces, lengthwise, under the oil pan, right behind the bolts. A nice, flat area with the support of the engine block right above it.
    11) For me, again, the passenger side was a breeze. A few cranks on the jack and the engine was up and the mount removed. I had to raise the engine higher to get the driver side off.
    12) My mounts were trashed – the driver side in two pieces. No wonder my drive shaft center bearing was wasted (replaced last week). They were compressed about 3/4 of an inch.
    13) Install the driver side first. Put the mount in place and carefully align it with the holes. You will have to experiment with the height of the engine somewhat so that you can get it into place.
    14) Lower the engine just a little bit, then put in the passenger side mount. Remember the orientation!
    15) Now, lower the engine SLOWLY, adjusting the mounts so that the studs align with the holes.
    16) With the engine now resting solely on its new mounts, it’s time to put the nuts back on. Being a glutton for punishment, I started with the driver side:
    a. Reach around behind the mount, just as you did with the socket assembly and put the washer back on the stud
    b. Do the same with the nut. Take your time, because if you drop it, it will be next to impossible to get it out without lifting the engine again (Ask me how I know this, too!)
    c. Spin it down finger tight, then put the socket assembly back on just like you did to get the nut off
    d. Bentley’s does not provide torque specifications for M60 mounts that I could find, so I just cranked it down hard with a breaker bar.
    17) Reinstall the two underside nuts.
    18) Again, passenger side goes on easy, reverse of removal.
    19) Reattach the splash & heat shields. Drive off ramps.

    My 540i now feels smoother on acceleration, and the idle feels better in traffic; it would get a kind of “buzzing” at traffic lights. I am still having some vibration at 20 & 35 MPH, though it is much less, and will be doing the trans mounts tomorrow to finish the job. New center bearing, trans and engine mounts. Fortunately, my flex disc is still holding up.
    '95 540iA ~212k

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Wichita, KS
    Posts
    678

    Default

    Nice write up. Doing my front end this weekend I noticed my mounts looked pretty rough, and was wondering how bad of a job it was. Add another item to the to-do list.
    Matt J.

    '95 540/6- Jim C. chip, Bilsteins, B&B, For Sale!
    -Sold
    www.wichitabmw.com

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Maryland, Virginia, D.C.
    Posts
    705

    Default

    It took my stealership 1 day to do that. And the guy was crying like a baby. But the ride is helped tremendously, as you've said.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Kernersville, NC
    Posts
    186

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    Thanks for the complements!

    I was dreading it, to be honest, because of other postings I had read. Even the Indy that I occasionally take it to told me that it was not a DIY job for the faint of heart. But with the right tools and some patience, it ain't so bad.

    Good luck with yours, whipped
    '95 540iA ~212k

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    1,839

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    its nice when there is some procedure in the Bentley... and its like a single line like "unscrew this and remove this part"... and it takes about 3 hours to do.

    my car was pretty much unchanged in 12 years and as such (driven through minnesota in the winter) had bolts that required an axe to get off.

    I literally had to hit the wrench with an axe as hard as i could for an hour to get the left dogbone bolt loose.

    the right one came off in 20s, imagine that!

    SO BEWARE DIYers, even after using WD40 and penetrating oils of all kinds for a week on a single part, massive amounts of force may be required to get the damn thing loose!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Wichita, KS
    Posts
    678

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    What, you mean you don't have the rust inhibiting power steering fluid leak? Everything on my left side comes off easy!
    Matt J.

    '95 540/6- Jim C. chip, Bilsteins, B&B, For Sale!
    -Sold
    www.wichitabmw.com

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    central coast nsw au
    Posts
    1,221

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    do a search. It looks like u did it the hard way my friend but good for u. there is no need to go from the top. its easier if u go from underneath. I did a write up on this a year ago with pics. forget about going form the top, i had read this idea before doing mine and after having a look at the options before doing it who ever wrote the doing it from the top idea had obviously never done it before on the M60. I have personally done a heap of work on my car myself and I am not a mechanic. I can understand when u look at some of the published advice that u might think its the way to go but after having done it form underneath i can tell u its the way to do it. if any of you guys want pics or want to know how it was done just pm me. if you want to do it the other way thats fine im not here to tell you what to do but ive been there before on the M60!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Kernersville, NC
    Posts
    186

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by mattyb
    do a search. It looks like u did it the hard way my friend but good for u. there is no need to go from the top. its easier if u go from underneath. I did a write up on this a year ago with pics. forget about going form the top, i had read this idea before doing mine and after having a look at the options before doing it who ever wrote the doing it from the top idea had obviously never done it before on the M60. I have personally done a heap of work on my car myself and I am not a mechanic. I can understand when u look at some of the published advice that u might think its the way to go but after having done it form underneath i can tell u its the way to do it. if any of you guys want pics or want to know how it was done just pm me. if you want to do it the other way thats fine im not here to tell you what to do but ive been there before on the M60!
    I searched but did not find your post on this procedure. But in the end, it looks like we both did it from underneath. I wish I had seen yours before, would have saved me at least half an hour

    A question for you: Did you also do your trans mounts, and if you did, did your driveshaft go out of center? Mine did, and now I have a new vibration. I am confident that it is off-center. So, did you have to re-center yours, and if so, how'd you resolve it?
    '95 540iA ~212k

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    central coast nsw au
    Posts
    1,221

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    It might have been lost in the crash we had, but it seems you did a good job regardless so good on you. I did my tranny mounts a few months before that. I had a vibration but it was the centre bearing. I changed it and the flex disc/guibo after the mounts as I was trying to eliminate all the possibilities as I went along over a few months. Do you have a twitching noise at low speed only? The cenre bearing is not too hard and you may as well have a look at the flex disc while your at it. If you need any help or advice with this dont hesitate to pm me ill give you all the help u need.

    I found that when I did the tranny mounts there are two brackets that come of the sides and grab the exhaust if im not wrong. When i lowered the car i did see that they were pushed/ jammed back a bit. so iwent under the car with it being jacked up and loosened the brackets and allowed them to return to their naturaaly inclined position by seeing that the rubbers were not streesed forward or backward. hope this helps.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Kernersville, NC
    Posts
    186

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    Quote Originally Posted by mattyb
    It might have been lost in the crash we had, but it seems you did a good job regardless so good on you. I did my tranny mounts a few months before that. I had a vibration but it was the centre bearing. I changed it and the flex disc/guibo after the mounts as I was trying to eliminate all the possibilities as I went along over a few months. Do you have a twitching noise at low speed only? The cenre bearing is not too hard and you may as well have a look at the flex disc while your at it. If you need any help or advice with this dont hesitate to pm me ill give you all the help u need.

    I found that when I did the tranny mounts there are two brackets that come of the sides and grab the exhaust if im not wrong. When i lowered the car i did see that they were pushed/ jammed back a bit. so iwent under the car with it being jacked up and loosened the brackets and allowed them to return to their naturaaly inclined position by seeing that the rubbers were not streesed forward or backward. hope this helps.
    I did the center bearing last weekend, but not the flex disc, as it is still in pretty good shape. It was broken just like Jon K's was. I had the twitching low speed noise like you mention prior to replacing it. What I have now, since doing the engine/trans mounts is more of a thunking sound that was not there prior to doing those mounts. This occurs around 35-40, depending on how much throttle I am giving it. But the twitching at 20 mph & 35 mph is gone.

    What I will do is go under again and make sure that it is not banging into those exhause hangers that you are speaking of, and measure the distance the drive shaft is from each side of the tunnel.
    '95 540iA ~212k

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