Replaced my motor mounts this morning … and into the afternoon. I, thankfully, had no frozen bolts and five of the six came out easily with a cheap Harbor Freight metric Allen socket and a 3/8 inch universal joint socket adapter. The sixth hex bolt was a bit harder.

Just to clarify, my vehicle is a 1983 240D with a 4 speed stick (W123.123 powered by an OM616.912), and it does NOT have an engine mounted shock absorber.

The old passenger side mount fared the best of the two, once removed it was simply compressed to approximately ˝ it’s original size, the driver’s side mount had literally disintegrated, what was left of the rubber were small chards of greasy sponge. The heat shield was also badly bent.

I soaked the mounts the night before in copious amounts of spray on 3-IN-ONE High-Performance Penetrant, and used high pressure air to clean away the debris from the Allen heads. Had it been summer time, I would have power washed the area – Just to cold to get wet this time of year. After disconnecting the throttle linkage, I positioned a 4 ton bottle jack under the oil pan and cushioned the pan with a 2x8. The passenger side mount came out readily after lifting the engine about 2 inches. It was replaced quickly. I did not remove the fan shroud; the blades came close, but never actually touched the shroud. Unfortunately, the driver’s side mount required MUCH more effort.

When I lifted the engine, it lifted considerably more on the passenger side. I thought by sliding the bottle jack to the driver’s side of the oil pan, this might fix the issue. It did not. I found that the remnants of the Anti-Vibration T-Mount that sits on the engine cross member was impeding the lift. I had bought a new T-Mount, and once the old one was removed, the engine lifted away from the damaged motor mount. The hex nut on the fender side of the mount was easily removed. The center large hex bolt came out with a distinct “pop”, an omen for what awaited. The hex bolt on the engine side of the mount could only be removed from below the car working blind and upside down. I was not able to clear all the debris from this hex head, but took the removal slowly, and did not strip the head. I sandwiched the bent heat shield between two pieces of scrap wood and used a vise to press it back into shape.

On re-installation of the driver’s side mount, I had a significant alignment issue. It finally took a choreographed lowering of the engine while prying on it with a big crow bar. After installing the new Anti-Vibration T-Mount, the job was done. I started at 10:00 AM and finished at 3:00 PM, no breaks.

Now for the lessons learned:

· Order the correct number of mounts the FIRST time … I ordered only one engine mount, it was finely crafted in the Fatherland but had to buy a cheap non-OEM P.O.S. from Napa. I’ll post pics, clear difference in quality.

· Soaking the bolts in a penetrant was well worth the slight effort.

· A good power washing would have simplified things.

· A very stubby 5mm hex socket would have simplified removal of the inside driver’s side hex head.

· Remove the anti-vibration t-mount FIRST!

The car now drives much more smoothly, with a whole lot less vibration and noise. I still have a low idle “stutter”, but am feeding the old 616 some “Diesel Purge” tomorrow.

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