I drive a 2001 Saturn SL200 which was just rear-ended at 20 miles an hour by a Toyota Camry while I was stopped at an intersection. After repairs to the body, I got it back and it has a strong vibration and noise that wasn’t there before and it is sluggish when accelerating or going up inclines. The insurance company says this is because of a motor mount which wouldn’t have been caused by the rear-end collision, but I KNOW the noise, vibration and sluggish acceleration weren’t there before. Has anyone seen something like this before?
Motor mounts can definitely be affected by a rear end collision. I was rear ended at low speed by a truck, and the collision pushed the engine fan into the radiator; both had to be replaced. The insurance covered all repairts.
Any chance yours was a RWD vehicle? I think that’s an easier to comprehend situation because the driveline from the rear wheels forward to the engine is somewhat hard connected. In a FWD, it might not be as obvious because the engine is far removed from the point of collision. But at 20mph, that’s a fair amount of energy to absorb and the body can move forward faster than the heavy engine/trans assembly and stress the mounts. I could also believe that that much energy could shock the driveline with the brakes on and standing still.
Seems to me that engine mounts would be cheap in comparison to the body work and parts required for an impact at that speed. Newer cars can take a lot of abuse and look fine on the outside. Look under that flexible bumper and see the crumpled metal supports, dented gas tank etc…
Absolutely, your engine is mounted transversely so any sharp movement either from the front or the rear can rock the engine enough to break a motor mount, and both front and rear end collisions can cause this in FWD cars.
Do you know the motor mount is broken, your post is not clear on this. Did the insurance company do this diagnosis or are they just guessing. You could also have a pinched fuel line.