Bugger! 8mm Allen bolt on bottom of Passenger side mount seems stripped. not the head. the threads. I'm figruing I'll reinstall the 6mm bolt on the top that I had already removed and try to apply some lift to the engine while removing the 8mm bolt....hoping to coax it out....If that doesn't work seems all reove the 4 boilts to the block to remove the whole hanger wit the mount....The offending bolt stating to come out normally and then it just stared turning more or less freely....

Anyone "been there done that"? Any idead suggestions?

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Rob M
Norwich, VT USA
1980 240D Euro delivery 4 speed manual silver/blue
~160K miles

You need to be able to provide independant pressure to the bolt in the direction you need it to move... which the threads usually do...
You can JB Weld another bolt into that Allen leaving some distance between the top of the Allen and the bottom of the bolt you JBWeld in....and make a metal puller from wire to apply the pressure with while you turn the bolt... or if you can get to the other side and apply even a little pressure it should move to a place where the threads will again apply the movement.

Agrred, thanks for the thoughts...I'm thinking applying pressure via lifting the engine will help. I had vise grips on the head to turn and pull but could turn enough to get the threads to do their thing....

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Rob M
Norwich, VT USA
1980 240D Euro delivery 4 speed manual silver/blue
~160K miles

Got the bolt out by gently raising the engine against it. Unfortunatley the bolt is not stripped the engine hanger is. Next I will remove the engine hanger to determine if it can be rehabbed or replaced......Somewhere in the cars past someone provided a bandaid to what was obviosly a problem that pre-dated my ownewrship....Note the stack of washers on the bolt.....An apoparnet atempt to slavage the engine hanger.

Anyone have any thoughts on rehabbing or cheap replacement?

Also my mounts didn't have any heat shield. The rubber was oil soaked and spongy and coming appart...ready for renewal = understatement.

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Rob M
Norwich, VT USA
1980 240D Euro delivery 4 speed manual silver/blue
~160K miles

yeah, I would helicoil it. Also, you can make shields out of thin sheet metal if you can't get them used, they are nothing special. As bad as your mount looks, don't feel bad, they can get a lot worse than that!

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'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

Thanks Pete,

I've never used a helicoil but am vaguely familiar with them and that was one of my thoughts.

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Rob M
Norwich, VT USA
1980 240D Euro delivery 4 speed manual silver/blue
~160K miles

Engine hanger removed for rehab. I'm going to drill tap and use an insert to repair this hnager. The thread in the aluminum casting are buggered and the bolt wobbled sufficiently in the mount to make sure that the threads weren't just damaged but were well buggered. The bolt shown in the lower right of the photo is what I found during dissassembly....Too long a bolt had ben used and there were a stack of washers used to accomodate this. Unfortunately a few more washers would have been need to properly accomodate the too long bolt. I think the bolt was tunred a few turns past bottoming out and the caused or cintributed to the thread biggarizatio in the aluminum casting.

I could of course just replace the hanger ($340) but for ~$140 I will be purchasing a nice set of metric taps and dies and an insert and use this opportunity to learn to use them.

A simpler quicker fix would be to drill and tap the hole and use a bigger bolt....This would probably also require drilling out the hole in the motor mount alittle bit and using a bigger bolt. I am trying to avoid introducing off standard fasteners so am confortable with this approach.

A hanger is prolly availbale at a junk yard bt then I would be spending time I don't really have and also still would be without taps and dies....Thnaks for listening.....

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Rob M
Norwich, VT USA
1980 240D Euro delivery 4 speed manual silver/blue
~160K miles

The last time I had to do this I bought a Helicoil kit at an auto parts store. It included the proper drill bit, a tap, several inserts, and the tool used to spin the insert into the tapped hole. It's not necessary to buy an entire tap and die set for this particular job.

The threads were probably damaged when the bolt was over-torqued. Use a torque wrench when you reinstall the mount. I have over-tightened my share of fasteners when I have gotten in too much of a hurry.

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1985 300SD, 203,000 miles, dark blue

Lil Sarah says: "Poor old Grandma Blue Car...She's sad."

Agreed RAYg....I could get by this hurdle with a helicoil kit for alot cheaper. I'm using the opportunity to invest in the metric tap and die set so I can clean threads on all sorts of (metric anyway) fasteners as I go through this car. TRue ntrue reharding the torque wrench as well....I use a torque wrench for things like this.

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Rob M
Norwich, VT USA
1980 240D Euro delivery 4 speed manual silver/blue
~160K miles

I think I would consider getting out the sawzall, a replacement mount arm should be cheap at the wrecking yard if ones handy.

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

I think the "eat shields" are more about keeping oil and fuel off of them than keeping the eat away......DO make a set.....I replaced my mounts on my W116 2 years ago....the drives side is failing already.....do to fuel leaks I previously had. Something else on my list of things to do this summer.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

When I replaced my mounts recently, one of the thru-bolts started to "give" as I approached the specified torque. So my guess is that your problem is not an uncommon one. Plus that bolt is not difficult to cross thread if the engine shifts a bit. A helicoil should fix you up.

Enticing to be certain but then I'd need a cordless sawzall or generator, as my sawzall is a corded variety...I also don't have time to spend in big chunks like that....I figure I, my friends and my heirs will have a lifetime of use for the taps and dies after I finish this jobbie...

But the arm actually comes off with some jacking and wrenching with hand tools...

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Rob M
Norwich, VT USA
1980 240D Euro delivery 4 speed manual silver/blue
~160K miles

If you need one, I've got arms from both turbo and non turbo 617 models whose engines have since passed away

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1980 500SE/AMG Euro
1981 500SEL Euro
1982 380SEL
1983 300TD
1983 500SEC/AMG Euro
1984 500SEC
1984 300TD Euro
1986 190E 2.3-16
1986 190E 2.3
1987 300D
1997 C36 AMG
2003 C320T 4matic

past: 1969 280SE 4.5 | 1978 240D | 1978 300D | 1981 300SD | 1981 300SD | 1982 300CD | 1983 300CD | 1983 300SD | 1983 380SEC | 1984 300D | 1984 300D | 1984 300TD | 1984 500SEL | 1984 300SD | 1985 300D | 1986 300E | 1986 560SEL | 1986 560SEL/Carat | 1987 560SEC | 1991 300D 2.5 | 2006 R350

That motor mount doesn't look GREAT but atleast it hadn't ripped apart yet or completely collapsed. I have the heat/spill/oil/fuel/crap sheild on the drivers side mount only (the other side was missing?) and its nice if your primer pump leaks but other than that...my mounts are dry and look like my tires...rubbery, happy, and maybe a little dusty. I can vouch for helicoils..the tap/die/drill bits drawer in my dad's too box (its a rather large one 12 feet long by 5 feet tall) also shares its home with the heilicoil kits. Some of the metric ones aren't terribly cheap however they pay off in the long run.

If you do get a tap/die set...make sure you get one of quality as the cheapo ones will give you nothing but BIG problems (ie..taps snapped off in big important steel things that you need to put bolts in)

If you aren't familar with how to properly tap, ask one of our more skillful (older )members for a good explanation of how not to ruin taps or the tapped material