OM 617 Motor Mount center bolt won't thread back into place

[lyricsboy]

This evening winmutt came over and helped me out. He always seems to have the solution that will fix the problem in such a way that it might never work again, but darn if it won't work now! With the help of a 3-pound blacksmith's hammer, he got that bolt started and probably cross-threaded the hell out of it, but it's sure in there nice and tight.

The first few threads in the arm seemed to be stripped out, but once we made it past that it wasn't so bad. Pity the fool who has to deal with that 20 years from now

Hopefully I won't find myself rattling that loose, but in that event, I'll just have to pick up a new arm at the yard, and all should be well. Thanks again for everyone's advice.

[lietuviai]

I don't think mounts last 20 years on these cars. I've read around this forum that its more like 5 years.

[bolzano]

Would a helicoil work if the threads were stripped out?

[winmutt]

The lower portion of the arm was stripped maybe about 1/2" in, probably at the last replacement. I think it would be easier to get a new used arm than anything else. I whhhhhacked it in (cornholio!) pretty good and tightened until the 3/8 socket he had started slipping. I am fairly certain it isnt going anywhere. It might be a good idea to get a new arm now and keep it around JIC.

[tangofox007]

Originally Posted by winmutt

The lower portion of the arm was stripped maybe about 1/2" in, probably at the last replacement.

I suspect that the erroneous torque value specified in the Haynes manual is responsible for more than a few stripped engine supports.

[lyricsboy]

As a final (let's hope so anyway) note, I was tonight able to get everything back together and happy. I had to undo winmutt's center bolt magic and jack the engine way back up in order to get the inner mount bolt threaded correctly. This required some wiggling of the mount itself to line up the holes for that bolt, and once I finally got that in place, I was able to re-thread the center bolt with no trouble at all. This pleases me, as I suspect maybe the threads weren't stripped so badly after all.

After zipping the ol' gal back up, driving around the block is like a dream. I had to stop myself from just keeping on into the night.

Next up: oil pan gasket, new engine shocks, new (boneyard) exhaust accordion downpipe.

[stayalert]

engine mount glitch 1985 300D

my experience from a coupla years ago....Cheers!