Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Is this a bad motor mount?

Lately my car has seemed a little strange under the hood. Feels a little floaty while cornering and I also feel like I have to baby the car off the line because things feel a little less rigid then they used to. It's at the point where something has to be done and I started by looking at the motor mounts. I noticed the engine side mount might be shot because the horizontal pin in the picture is not suspended in the rubber, rather it appears to be resting on the structure of the car. Also, the other side of the pin has no rubber end on it and I believe it was shredded off.
My question is, is the pin supposed to be suspended in the rubber mount? Sorry for the horrible picture.

look here

I just replaced mine for a similar reason. The metal pin should have a rubber bushing on both ends, and the pin/bushing should be approximately in the center of the slot. As the mount wears, the rubber becomes compressed, which lets the pin rest on the bottom of the slot, rather than in the middle. At least, that's what happened to mine. When the pin is resting on the bottom of the slot, you basically have metal to metal contact, with no capacity to absorb vibrations.

Hope this helps.

That was the EXACT answer I was looking for! Thanks. I guess it's motor mount time. I think I do them all.

I've now replaced all four of mine, and it made a world of difference in the "smoothness" of the car. I used to get a lot of engine vibration transmitted to the steering wheel, dash, floor board, etc. New mounts all around removed nearly all of the vibration. I think the motor mount you are referring to is the most expensive of the four, costing a little over $100 for the part alone. It took me about 30-45 minutes per mount to replace them, and I'm not a mechanic.

Thanks for the pointers Bently. I bought this car with only 20k on the odometer and I remember it was so smooth when i got it. By now (160,000) I know it doesn't feel the same but since i drive it every day it is hard to tell how bad it is. My dad confirmed that something must be up when he drove it a couple weeks ago (he hardly ever drives it so i guess he would remember what it used to feel like better than me). Then I had a look at the transmission side tonight and I see that the trans is resting on the crossmember! Ok so I ordered the SVT roll restrictors (front and rear) with the poly insert. Now I'm confused when looking at fordpartsonline.com for the other two mounts. I am not sure if an SVT one will fit on the tranny side or the engine side? Also, being that I am putting a post 98 roll restrictor on; I am not sure from reading through the forums if people are using the appropriate year for the other mounts? And finally, the naming convention used on the site is a little confusing. It lists

a: Left (Front), Manual Trans $95.33
b: Left (Rear), To Crossmember, Manual Trans $65.86
c: Left (Rear), To Fender Apron, Manual Trans $89.27
d: MOUNT, Contour, Mystique, Right $95.33

so which ones do I still need if I have orderd the SVT mounts from BAT? my guess is "c" and "d" and that i should stick to mounts applicable to a 95 for all but the SVT front roll restrictor?

Thanks so much. (hope this makes sense)

Yeah, the naming gets really confusing. If I'm reading it correctly, you're right, "c" and "d" are the ones you need. The picture you showed should be "d". "C" will help correct the transmission sitting on the crossmember. Mine was within 1/8 of an inch when I replaced it, and it now has probably 3/4 of an inch clearance.
I can't help with the SVT questions. I have a zetec mtx, and I replaced mine with the stock Ford mounts. I recall that there have been some previous discussions about using SVT roll restrictors on non-SVT cars.

Thanks so much, you have been a big help!

from the sho shop the mounts are priced

Front Reinforced Engine Mount - $79

Rear Engine Mount -49
Trans Mount, Front Reinforced Engine Mount, Rear Engine Mount

Rear Engine Mount - $49

Transmission Mount - $49


that totals $226 yet my AAMCO estimate for four mount replacement was $750.00. What is that extra $524.00 coming from. Does that mean that at an hourly service rate of 79 dollars that it will take six hours to complete this job

This info is from ford parts online
MOUNT, Contour, Mystique, Right - 2.5L 95-97 $188.29 $150.63
MOUNT, Contour, Mystique, Left (Front), Auto Trans - 2.5L 95-97 $071.38 $057.10
MOUNT, Contour, Mystique, Left (Rear), To Crossmember, Auto Trans - 2.5L 95-97 $092.87 $074.30
MOUNT, Contour, Mystique, Left (Rear), To Fender Apron, Auto Trans - 2.5L 95-00 $111.59 $089.27


SO am I to assume that the sho shop parts do not come with the actual beam structures that the mounts are connected to i.e.: the crossmember metal structure the fender apron metal structure. Are these parts the same or are these parts different? When changing mounts should the crossmembers and fender aprons be changed as well?