Thread: Pinched a wire or harness, how screwed am I?

As the title states I got my poly engine mount in the mail today. Despite watching a video a few months ago I completely jumped the gun and forgot to disconnect lines and wires.

Realized this after hearing a loud pop from the front and driver side raising the engine. Checked everything and didn't see any broken wires, just plastic retaining clips.

Got it all back together and upon firing it up everything shorts out as soon as I get to acc. Lights and radio turn on and off, as do dash and cel lights.

Speakers buzz and the doors lock and unlock.

This also immediately drains the battery, but it only takes 3-5 minutes to charge from 0 to 9 volts.

Any ideas where to start looking?

Just chased every last wire, harness and can't find anything amiss. The only two I can't get a good look at in the dark is the harness that goes through the firewall and one that goes back behind the driver fender well.

I'll get looking at those tomorrow and see what's up.

I'm stumped. No way the harness could have gotten pinched without me knowing.

The loud pop concerned me because it came from the driver side (trans area) opposite the mount I replaced.

Turns out in my hurry to get everything done before nightfall I didn't tighten the battery terminals down enough.

Everythings good now, liking the poly mount. No visible engine vibrations at idle, slight vibration in steering wheel at 2-3k rpms.

Feels like the car responds quicker along with more aggressive downshifts and quicker upshifts

I'll be sure to remember that next time. The odd part is my old mount left a puddle under the car, yet on removal it was all sealed tight. Only issue was a small hole between the two upper mount studs and the metal rod sitting above it was bent like the engine tried to curl the mount.

I did my mounts recently and didn't disconnect any wires. The ABS wire on the passenger side was the only wire I could see that might cause an issue, but it was just long enough to get the job done.

I can confirm that leaving the dog bones connected can cause popping noises. I left the opposite side on to help keep the engine from sliding out of alignment. Worked fine for the trans side, but I had to take it off for the engine mount simply because it was just barely too low to pull the mount out. Ended up prying the crap out of it to get that side to line back up, but the trans side just dropped right in.

I tried sockets and wrenches. The motor mount bracket on my series III looks different from the series II in the video. The area under the balancer isn't open, the metal wraps around the side (front) just enough to obstruct the rachet.

Good news is I found some 15mm 1/4 drives online, so I'll order it and get the last bolt in when I do a suspension overhaul later.

FedEx dropped by with 4 big ass boxes today. Felt like a kid in a candy store

The "pop" sound that you heard was likely the connector hose between your airbox and throttle body. Just did my motor mounts and that same thing happened when I lifted the engine. Check it out, see if anything around the airbox is lose.

I've got the wizaired and disconnected the elbow at the stsrt. The popping noise was a metal line that runs along the cross member behind the radiator breaking loose from the plastic retaining clip.

Ahh. Ok. Good thing you were able to identify it. Nobody likes a loud, mystery, popping sound.

Originally Posted by Roofus

I tried sockets and wrenches. The motor mount bracket on my series III looks different from the series II in the video. The area under the balancer isn't open, the metal wraps around the side (front) just enough to obstruct the rachet.

Good news is I found some 15mm 1/4 drives online, so I'll order it and get the last bolt in when I do a suspension overhaul later.

FedEx dropped by with 4 big ass boxes today. Felt like a kid in a candy store

Series 3 is the worlds easiest motor mount. Once you put a block of wood on jack under the structural oil pan (aka you aren't denting it like an S2). Unbolt the two 15's under the subframe for the mount. Lift up a little to take the pressure off the mount and unbolt the other three bolts into the oil pan. Out comes the mount and bracket. Swap mount, reverse steps.