Cracked Housing for Lower Motor Mount

I have a 2003 Jetta with an ALH engine. It started making bad noises when I shifted gears and the turbo stopped working so I had no power. The part of the lower motor mount that connects to the transmission with 2 bolts. One of the bolt cracked the tapped hole in half and fell out somewhere on the road. I'm thinking the only way to fix it would be to replace the transmission housing. Currently I have 261k on it. Click on the link below to see the video.
Video of movement

Not sure how well it would work, or for how long, but you could put a nut and bolt through the rubber bushing and it will at least keep the trans stable. The black sheet metal piece will want to turn when the trans is under deceleration loads, but will straighten out again when it's loaded under acceleration. NOT the best repair though. I was thinking maybe even JB Weld, but the area would have to be perfectly clean for it to adhere properly, and it's so runny that I'm not sure it would work upside down.

The other/best option is to make a little 90-degree bracket that would go under the bell housing bolt directly above the mount, and then to the top of the mount with a nut and bolt through the rubber bushing.

-Rich

Nutsnbolts said:

make a little 90-degree bracket

Click to expand...

That's an interesting idea. I am a welder and plenty of angle iron laying around. I don't have much to lose by trying anyway. I'll have to see what other bolts are located close to the one that broke off. Perhaps I could redistribute the load to one or more of them. I know plenty of mechanics will cringe at the thought of it but unless they are ready to help fund a by-the-book repair, they will just have to cringe. The transmission is still intact and shifts properly so maybe this idea could work.

If it did work I would still need to fix the turbo. Somehow the excessive swinging created a leak somewhere downstream of the intake side of the turbo. I can hear it whistling when the engine is on and then when I shut it off, the whistling continues for a moment then fades to silence.

sounds like it might have cracked the oil feed line to the turbo when the engine shifted otu of normal position - it's a rigid line from the factory.

Rob Mayercik said:

sounds like it might have cracked the oil feed line to the turbo when the engine shifted otu of normal position - it's a rigid line from the factory.

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Hmm, wouldn't that cause a serious oil leak? Also how hard is that to replace?

It should cause a leak. Its also probably not broken as it only comes from the bottom of the filter housing. It’s not as hard to replace if you use a stainless steel braided line instead of the stock metal one. I’m assuming your having a boost leak, in which case check all intercooler piping coming off the turbo, which will get damaged by the broken motor mount. With any luck it just popped off.

Wow, this turned out great. I removed 3 m10 bolts from the bottom of the transmission. Then I carefully measured and cut slots and drilled 4 holes on some angle iron. I bought longer m10-1.5 bolts to replace the ones I removed and a hand-full of 3/8" washers. It fit perfectly on the first try. Then I used a 7/16" bolt to connect my bracket to the aluminum arm coming from the chassis. I pushed the bolt up from the bottom and threaded it to the nut on top. I had to cut some aluminum off the broken stud on the bottom of the transmission to make room for the nut. I also had to use many washers to position the bracket for mounting with both horizontal and vertical bolts to the transmission. The turbo leak went away after I installed the new bracket. I'm pretty sure this is better than new and I won't need to fix it again. For reference, the angle iron is 9.5 inches long https://drive.google.com/open?id=14gOJ7608hGhRljreAKlgJMnSwH_ipPCD

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1HshN2YaRYUJRMsovJKh0qROzRq_pzqra

Very nicely done!!!

Thanks Nutsnbolts for the inspiration and idea. I was all ready to sell it but now I'm back on the road for less than $50.