I am the original owner of a 2004 Hyundai Sonata with 135,000 miles. When I brought the car to the dealer a few months ago to replace the timing chain (routine preventative maintenance), they informed me that the engine mounts are broken and quoted $1,400 to replace them. The car has been driving fine; I haven’t noticed anything wrong with the way it drives. I plan on keeping the car for only another year, at which point I may pass it on to my nephew who will being learning how to drive. Am I doing any damage to the car by driving around with broken engine mounts? Is it worth the $1,400 to replace the engine mounts? I don’t want to spend a lot of money on a car I don’t plan on keeping, but I don’t want to give my nephew a lemon.
$1400 to replace motor mounts seems like a lot of money to do a job like that.
If it indeed needs them replaced, have it done by an independent mechanic.
Do you indeed need them?
You can usually tell when a car needs motor mounts by opening the hood and watching how much the engine moves:
Put the car in gear (first drive, then reverse) but put your foot on the brake. It may take two people, one in the cabin and one standing next to the engine compartment to watch the engine. When you give it a little gas, the engine may twist some up on one side but it shouldn’t be inches. If it moves a lot, your motor mounts likely need replacing.
Could there be some misinterpretation over this timing chain job? I thought all Hyundais use belts, not chains, and one does not replace a chain anyway as preventive maintenance.
Are you sure chain is the operative word?
As to the mounts, if the car appears to be fine with no excessive engine movement, vibration, etc then I would question whether this car needs an engine mount, much less all of them, could be raised.
Details are unknolwn to me, but considering both of the above scenarios as presented the question of whether you’re being taken to the cleaners over unneeded repairs is a possibility.
Both the 2.4L 4-cyl and 2.7L 6-cyl have timing belts.
@bdclary, for $1400, you should get at least 3 opinions. If you don’t know other mechanics, ask everyone you know who they like. Eventually, a few will rise to the top. Check them out.
at which point I may pass it on to my nephew who will being learning how to drive
While engine mounts can last a long time in a degrading state, they can fail catastrophically under stress. This is not a situation you’d want to put a person just learning how to drive into. Teenagers will sooner or later be teenagers and be testing the limits. Then your neglected motor mounts may become your worst nightmare…
Strongly agree that you get a second opinion and quotes. Its hard to believe that the motor mounts are bad on an 04 with only 135k on it unless it had been in an accident. Although even a minor low speed accident that didn’t leave any visible damage can tear a motor mount, under the right conditions.