Changing Motor mounts on 2008 Honda Civic

[Tucson Five-O]

As the title says, I need to change the motor mounts on my 2008 Honda Civic. I'm not impressed with how quickly they went out. The car only has 26,000 miles on it.

I'm wondering how difficult a DIY job this will be and what pitfalls I need to be aware of.

I imagine I'll need to brace the engine with a floor jack from below in order to relieve the stress on the engine mounts which look like a two or three-piece unit.

Anything else I need to be aware of before I attempt this? I'm going to do this myself as I think it seems to be a relatively straight forward job.

Thanks,
Gary

 

[Brule]

That's way too soon...my '03 mounts went out after 200K miles only due to me stressing and bending them while taking off the transmission to replace the clutch. Not sure if your engine mounts the same as mine [the 2.0] but there are basically four [combined with the transmission mounts]. I put a board between the jack and the oil pan so as to not crush the pan. I also had to loosen the next closest mount in order to get the room needed to take out and replace the bad one. Each one has it's own problems so let us know which engine you have and which mounts are to be replaced and someone else can give you more specific advice.

 

[mclasser]

I'm not sure if your Civic has this but some of the mounts on my Accord have vacuum line connectors that need to be disconnected. Not a big deal but they're there. Depending on how much clearance you have, you may/may not have to put the car up on jack stands first so a floor jack w/wood block can slide under the oil pan. Honda oil pans aren't the strongest so make sure the block spans the entire pan as to safely even out the load. Also, don't jack up the engine until the step where you need to align the bolt holes on the new mounts. The pan will of course hold the weight as soon as the old mount comes off but you basically want to minimize excessively jacking up the pan.

 

[MarkM66]

What make you think they're bad?

My '01 has 275k miles on the originals.

 

[hypervish]

Originally Posted By: MarkM66
What make you think they're bad?

My '01 has 275k miles on the originals.

+1, how did you make that conclusion?

 

[rationull]

Assuming this does actually need to be done, one piece of advice is to make sure to buy good quality parts and compare them for fitment with what's in there right now as best you can before taking anything apart.

I recently helped a friend swap the big passenger side mount on a late model Mazda and he had cheaped out a bit (IMO) and gotten a misc parts store mount. The original mount was a two piece thing (different design than the Civic but same kind of thing) and the replacement came with just one piece, requiring you to disassemble the stock mount and re-use an aluminum bracket. Nothing wrong with that except it didn't seem designed for easy disassembly, and putting it together with the new part was a little sketchy too. To boot, the new part didn't fit quite right and we ended up having to go to a different store (which was luckily still open) and get another one (different brand) which happened to work. All this while the jack was under the car holding up the engine.

It's possible that loosening other mounts could've fixed the fitment issue but why deal with that if you don't have to?

I would generally say order an OEM one (knowing they don't all go out in 26k miles!) or at least a high quality aftermarket one that fits well and swaps right in in place of the original.

 

[mrgrim]

Just curious — wouldn't applying excess force to the oil pan warp the seal (or gasket)? I'd almost be tempted to buy an engine support bar and use a floor jack as a secondary support.

 

[edwardh1]

or make your own support "bar" I made one for a vw rabbit from 2x6 on edge 2 of then with a turnbuckle on the 2 beams

 

[Tucson Five-O]

Guys,

I do agree that it seems much too soon for this to happen.

My ex actually has the car in Phoenix and indicates that it makes some horrific noise and vibration when she puts the transmission in reverse.

I haven't actually examined it myself. I will before I buy the parts. It shouldn't be difficult to confirm, watching the mounts while the car is put into reverse and drive.

Or I may ask her to run it by an independent shop up there and have them take a quick look at it, to confirm it as well.

She says it does not do it while putting into drive. I of course kidded her and said to keep it parked on the street and never use reverse.

Gary

 

[cptbarkey]

you need to rethink your strategy. mounts going out on such a low mileage car could happen on say, a 15 year old or 20 year old vehicle. your situation is unlikely unless it has a salvage or been in a nasty wreck.

 

[rationull]

IIRC the passenger side top mount on this car is hydraulic. I'm not sure how much it would take to accidentally damage it by puncturing the rubber section but maybe having her or someone else check for leaks or take a picture would be helpful? That's one possibility for an early failure.

I agree that it seems unlikely the smaller, simpler mounts would fail without some trauma.

 

[Tucson Five-O]

cptbarkey,

Logically you should be right. The ex insists she's Googled the symptoms and found many people complaining about their Civic engine mounts going out prematurely, so we'll see.

I think I'll have her run it in to the local Honda dealer and see what they say. It does seem odd.

I'm going to be up there on Sunday and I'll take a look and post back with my findings.

Thanks again,
Gary

 

[rationull]

FYI: http://www.8thcivic.com/forums/diy-honda-civic-engine/300998-r18-motor-mount-diy.html


The black plastic "dogbone" indicates the car in this DIY is an automatic, should be the same as the one in question here.

Near the very bottom of image 3 note the vertical space between the aluminum bracket and the black rubber "tongue". On a bad mount sometimes that space will be gone or very small. I think there are more pics up on 8thcivic of that situation but a cursory look just now did not point them out.

 

[Tucson Five-O]

rationull,

Thanks for the tip on checking the vacuum feed to the hydraulic portion of the mount. I was aware of that. It could be a lot of things.

Gary

 

[Tucson Five-O]

rationull,

I appreciate the link to the 8civic posting. I guess the OEM mount is hydraulic filled, but I didn't see any vacuum attachment. Maybe those are for the Accord hydraulic mounts?

Reading through it entirely I realize that if I need to replace the mount(s), should they really be bad, I better use the OEM hydraulic or I will never hear the end of it. Lol

Gary

 

[rationull]

Originally Posted By: Tucson Five-O
rationull,

I appreciate the link to the 8civic posting. I guess the OEM mount is hydraulic filled, but I didn't see any vacuum attachment. Maybe those are for the Accord hydraulic mounts?

Reading through it entirely I realize that if I need to replace the mount(s), should they really be bad, I better use the OEM hydraulic or I will never hear the end of it. Lol

Gary



No vacuum lines, just liquid filled hydraulic. The previous poster who mentioned the vacuum lines (wasn't me) did mention that was on an Accord IIRC.

It's possible there are better mounts out there than OEM. I would just buy OEM over the cheapest parts store mounts, personally. Less likely to have fitment or quality problems, seems to me.

It probably depends on the vehicle, too. Not sure about the Civic but I was appalled at what was offered for the Mazda3 when working w/ my friend.

 

[artificialist]

Go to Honda first, they might replace them at a low price to keep up their image... Or at least they did that years ago.

I have not seen a good engine mount from any auto parts store. They are all good for 1 year. If the factory mounts are weak on your car, you are stuck with weak parts. Some performance parts companies might make a tough replacement mount, but don't count on it.

 

[Doog]

Originally Posted By: cptbarkey
you need to rethink your strategy. mounts going out on such a low mileage car could happen on say, a 15 year old or 20 year old vehicle. your situation is unlikely unless it has a salvage or been in a nasty wreck.


That was my thought..or some backyard mechanic did a number on them.

 

[Doog]

Originally Posted By: Tucson Five-O

I think I'll have her run it in to the local Honda dealer and see what they say. It does seem odd.


That's what I would do rather than try to diagnose it over the phone. She may have just blown the transmission.