Thread: Broken Tranny/Motor Mount(s)??? Please help...

"97 GP GT, stock, 155K, 3.8L. I have replaced the front hubs and axles within the last 3 weeks. Am on the 3rd hub on the drivers side (replaced yesterday) and STILL the trac, abs, and tire press. lights have come back on. No play issues with either of the rear hubs. I've noticed that now, in the last week or so, when I pull into the driveway, stop, put it into reverse and give it a little gas that it makes a click/clack sound as if it were an axle going bad. When experimenting with putting it in R then D and vice versa, it's making a slight clunking sound, so I'm thinking that it's either the tranny or motor mounts...? The car makes a roaring noise coming from the front end from about 15 mph to 50 or 60mph. Sounds like a "wheel bearing going bad" kind of roaring. When going straight down the road, at 40 mph, I turned the steering wheel to the right and left and have noticed that the noise is more pronounced when turning to the left. Is something loose (mount/s) that may be putting more pressure on components on the passenger side when turning the wheel slightly to the left? I'm about at wit's end with this problem! I'm planning to take it somewhere they can scan it and see what tranny codes it may have, same with the abs codes. Any suggestions as to where to take it? Looking to get anyone's input as to what it may be before I pay for these tests...thank you! Nancy

I would take it to the dealership since your local autoparts will not be able to read out ABS codes in most cases. Also, if your motor/tranny mounts are bad you will notice a clunking but it shouldnt make all the noises that your describing. I would still check both axles again. As far as your ABS light, check the wires that are going to your hubs. I know that many times the wires will get sheered through causing the light to come on even though the hubs are fine. When you had the hubs replaced did you go with quality products or just cheap auto parts store generic brands? The cheaper ones made in China do have a tendency to not last very long.

You do kinda need the abs codes to know where to concentrate your effort. Could be something as small as a bad pigtail connection or backed out pin in a connector. All the little things that you can spend a lot of time lookign for.

I did originally buy cheaper hubs from rockauto and did return them within 2 weeks time because they were bad almost from the start. The 2nd d/s was Timken and the one just replaced yesterday (d/s) is Timken. I'm taking it to a shop I trust this afternoon to have them take it for a test drive, read the ABS codes and see what's going on with the hubs/axles/mounts. As much as I hate the idea of paying for diagnostics, I realize that sometimes it's got to be done to pinpoint specific problems. Will come back on later and tell what I found out...and hopefully to report that whatever was broke got fixed!

Well, put on another hub on the P/S and going to have the motor and tranny mounts installed tomorrow. Motor mount is torn/trashed and the tranny mount isn't far behind. Axles checked out good. I've always thought that there had to be play when you shake the wheel to mean the hub's bad (besides the lights), but that wasn't the case here. You learn something new everyday. Annoying orange dash lights are now off and that's a blessing in itself...lol. $38 to diagnose and that goes toward the repairs, so not too shabby. Thanks for your help...Nancy

I have a guy that helps me out on repairs that I don't choose to do myself and no, he didn't use a torque wrench. He did take a 6' breaker bar to it to tighten it, but I agree that that might be the reason for the hub going bad. Everything is done now, torqued up to specs, 4 wheel alignment, tires rebalanced and rotated, motor and tranny mounts put on, o2 sensor's in, and NO LIGHTS!!! One more project and that's a small leak in the exhaust, probably the downpipe, but at least there's 3 paydays in April!

Time to get rid of the worst section of the exhaust in these cars...pick up some MPG's and way better performance with a tad bit of sound difference...ZZPerformance sells a catted 3" downpipe you can buy to replace the factory one when you replace the DP and catback gaskets. Gets rid of that tiny DP and awful U-Bend as well. Bolts right up to the manifold and to the catback just like factory.

That's what I had in mind getting whenever the old one took a dive. I think I'll be looking in to it today! They do have the hole for the o2 sensor right?

Sure do.

Bolt in and go...everything is all done right...I had one...but I sold it for headers a few years ago.

Gotcha...thanks!