So when I take off or slow down, I get a noticeable creaking noise from the engine bay. How long can I drive with this because I heard it’s a pricey job to do? Will the engine let me know before something gets worse or can I expect something bad to happen out of the blue? Just bought the car and I wanna make sure I can drive for a while.
A motor mount will give no warning and could result in a catastrophic accident so get some estimates and make sure that is your problem.
It’s definitely a motor mount because when I switch from park to reverse with the hood open, the engine bay moves around significantly.
A worn motor mount puts stress on other components under the hood.
These include radiator hoses, exhaust components, etc…
The creaking noise may very well be exhaust components moving trying to compensate for the excess movement of the engine.
Tester
I presume you mean the engine moves relative to the bay. There’s some movement to be expected even w/a new mount. But if you are sure the movement is excessive, then it needs to be replaced. Problems that could happen in the meantime? hmmm …
- throttle could be difficult to control
- transmission could be difficult to get into and out of gear
- engine could fall out under the car as you are driving
Would you say this is really bad considering I only drive 2k miles a year? I don’t ever stomp the pedal or breaks. If this is something that needs immediate attention how much does it usually cost to replace one?
Scotty killer has a video of him replacing a mount. He shows in that very video of the engine moving, mine does about the same. So is this something that can cause damage suddenly? I don’t go too far nor take the highway.
Enter your information here.
And it’ll give you some idea of the repair cost.
Tester
Thanks, I literally used this like 20 minutes ago. A couple shops near me charge around 80-100 dollars at cheapest. I just don’t know if that includes parts. Hm I think I’ll call Tomorrow.
You don’t post the model year, so I can’t look it up. But for an Optima with the 2.4 L engine, there’s four separate mounts. Each takes a little over a half hour to replace, and cost between $150 and $350 each.
Yes. If the mount is actually bad, it should be replaced asap. A comprise is to have it inspected by a shop. With some luck, the shop may tell you it isn’t urgent at this time. If just one mount needs to be replaced, you might get lucky and end up with a parts cost of $150 and labor of $75, for a total of $225, not overly expensive.
Don’t bother calling tomorrow!
It’s Labor Day.
Tester
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Ha! You’re right . I also forgot to mention that repair pal doesn’t have “engine mount” repair replacement estimate, instead it’s “trans mount” replacement. Would you say these should be relatively the same cost?
The expensive mount on the Optima is the side mount. I’m not sure if they’d call that a transmission mount or an engine mount. The mount where the rear of the transmission meets up w/the body is probably one of the less expensive.
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Without knowing just which mount or mounts are bad all you can get are guesses that might not even be close .
You didn;t tell us what year your Amanti is but they had 3 motor mounts and a transmission mount. The only way to find out a price is to call shops and ask. It would be much cheaper if you could do it yourself but I would not suggest it for your first car repair.
It sounds like you want a timetable on how long before the mounts give way. I don’t know if a pro could do that looking at your car, but certainly no one can do it over the internet.
2004 amanti