Failed Motor Mount?
 

I had a funny rattle passenger side under/around the dash. Went away after a few days.
I noticed today a stain in my parking stall at work. Tonigh I smelled something hot so I took a look under the hood again and found this:



Warranty time.

I have seen so many of these, but yours looks definitely the nastiest. It will be VERY difficult to get that off the paint. Good luck!

I replaced one that bad for a customer.... and used GOOF OFF to remove the oil. DON"T USE GOOF OFF ! be careful what solvents you use... the paint isnt coated in the engine bay and it will come off.

Any way to tell if you have a blown motor mount other then seeing the black oily residue?

From talking with the Tech's at the dealer I gather there are two kinds of MINI. Those that have had that motor mount replaced & those that are going to. A very common issue.

Mine went bad & I had no idea until I noticed the oil leaking out of it. It was replaced under warranty & it still felt the same. For me the oil was the only clue there was a problem.

I believe that style of hydraulic mount is only on 05-08 R50, R52 & R53 MINI's.

And can be found here: http://www.germanautoparts.com/beta/...E2/145/5048301

Don't use Simple Green either... or even Windex... :sad:

I had a very faint knock/pop on the passenger side whenever I put on the gas or let off the gas.


I have the same stain...and its on the plastic too. I wondered if that was where it came from. I have no idea how to get it off.

Sorry, slightly off-topic, but why did they change the mount? I have a september '03 build and have the 'old' mount, but my sister has the new "leaky" variety.

somewhere in 2004 for the 05 model year i think.

Why, not when. Thanks!

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Got the old solid rubber/metal style, and still solid as a rock.

:eek2:

blargh. just went into the garage and saw the same freakin mess this morning.

going in for service on Monday to get it replaced

My thoughts exactly. So, why the heck did they change it? Especially considering that the oil-filled variety would, I'd guess, cost more.
Or is it in fact much cheaper; hence the switch over. :confused:

Well, it does fail often, whereas the solid rubber ones don't seem to have any posts concerning failures at all... get what they pay for?

Oddly enough, I believe the old mount is actually cheaper... to bad they aren't intechangable... or they may be if you replace the entire bracket assembly.

I think the "reason" may have been two-fold.

First, the newer mount assembly has fewer parts, and therefore may have been less time-consuming to make and/or install - and we all know "time = money" in manufacturing.

Second, testing may have proved the newer mount to be better at absorbing engine vibrations as we know they made many changes to the R50/52 cars over the run trying to "soften" the car for the masses.

Or maybe I'm totally wrong... who knows... :confused:

well mine has failed on my early 02 mcs and its ripped all the way around. I saw one this weekend that was starting to rip on an 02 also. from the dealer they are around $120 but i found a shop that will giv one to me for $89. Install will be next week and its pretty straight forward. a little of topic, but i put the Irland solid inserts in last weekend and im not sure i like the way my car rattles. since i hav a fidanza lightweight flywheel, the car almost stall during idle with the ac on. the combo between those mounts and the flywheel=harsh running ac. its a hard pill to swallow in the az desert where its no cooler than 95 even at night

I think the real reason was to loose that shoelace holding the mount together :lol:

More background and lots of positively gooey pics (and this is only a tiny sample of the documented history):

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ht=motor+mount

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ht=motor+mount

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ht=motor+mount

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ht=motor+mount

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ht=motor+mount

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ht=motor+mount

The motor mount replacement on the '05-'06 might as well be part of the regular maintenance schedule...failure every 10 to 25K miles is almost a guarantee. :nod:

I'm on my second passenger side mount -- and a stain I've never been able to fully remove.

motor mount
 

I did replace my too>:thumbsup: it was under 30,000 miles but the car was not under warranty any more. it expire a month or so before. so i did it my self. you will need a special tool ($5.00 at pepboys) once i know I had it all, It only took me 15 minutes to do. dealer charges 2 hours of labor plus the part. now i think the other side need to be change. I just did the shocks. one was bad for sure the other was not bad but change it any ways.

the noise still there I am yet to find it. :confused: i have to fine out where is that noise coming from. :mad::mad:

There is no 'other side' for those types of mounts.

Also, denatured alchohol is the solvent to use to get rid of the stain, takes it right off with a little soaking.

there is one under the fuse box by the driver side.

Mine failed at ~70k on my 2003 Cooper S. It is not solid; it is indeed oil filled. You won't really notice it's failure like the metal ones, as the failure point is often the top of the unit (the metal ones seem to fatigue at the bottom). When I jacked up the passenger side to remove mine, the unit de-compressed by some 2 inches, and I was able to see a massive tear in the unit for the first time.

- Matt

+1 on an '06 Cooper with 70k. Any hint on the "special tool"?

Thx