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Pinched a wire or harness, how screwed am I?

R

Roofus

New member
As the title states I got my poly engine mount in the mail today. Despite watching a video a few months ago I completely jumped the gun and forgot to disconnect lines and wires.

Realized this after hearing a loud pop from the front and driver side raising the engine. Checked everything and didn't see any broken wires, just plastic retaining clips.

Got it all back together and upon firing it up everything shorts out as soon as I get to acc. Lights and radio turn on and off, as do dash and cel lights.

Speakers buzz and the doors lock and unlock.

This also immediately drains the battery, but it only takes 3-5 minutes to charge from 0 to 9 volts.

Any ideas where to start looking?
 


Just chased every last wire, harness and can't find anything amiss. The only two I can't get a good look at in the dark is the harness that goes through the firewall and one that goes back behind the driver fender well.

I'll get looking at those tomorrow and see what's up.
 
dont know what that pop could have been other then the threaded parts of the mount coming out the holes.

ive never unhooked a thing other then both dog bone mounts to change lower mounts.

as far as your gremlin, im at a loss too. no idea what went wrong there.
 
I'm stumped. No way the harness could have gotten pinched without me knowing.

The loud pop concerned me because it came from the driver side (trans area) opposite the mount I replaced.
 
if you left the dog bones bolted up it could have been them popping. they tend to bind up some when you lift one side up.
 


Turns out in my hurry to get everything done before nightfall I didn't tighten the battery terminals down enough.

Everythings good now, liking the poly mount. No visible engine vibrations at idle, slight vibration in steering wheel at 2-3k rpms.

Feels like the car responds quicker along with more aggressive downshifts and quicker upshifts
 
its not faster, you now feel it shift cause its solid and not shot lol

bat cables, easy fix.

now when you do the tranny mount, make sure you unbolt the dog bones. aka no popping sounds lol
 
I'll be sure to remember that next time. The odd part is my old mount left a puddle under the car, yet on removal it was all sealed tight. Only issue was a small hole between the two upper mount studs and the metal rod sitting above it was bent like the engine tried to curl the mount.
 
theres a U shape to the mount under the bar. you're mount was not as bad as the one that came in my car lol

they are fluid filled so thats what leaked out likely.

motormount2.jpg
 
Scotty that mount looked like the one that came in our Venture when we bought it. It actually went through 2 because motor was leaking oil on to the mount causing it to break down prematurely.
 


i had the same issue, oil leak killed that one and the next one, then i made solid mounts and coated the out side to keep the oil off it. and that worked. still running them mounts for the last 2 years with the new engine. this one has no leaks of course tho lol
 
I did my mounts recently and didn't disconnect any wires. The ABS wire on the passenger side was the only wire I could see that might cause an issue, but it was just long enough to get the job done.

I can confirm that leaving the dog bones connected can cause popping noises. I left the opposite side on to help keep the engine from sliding out of alignment. Worked fine for the trans side, but I had to take it off for the engine mount simply because it was just barely too low to pull the mount out. Ended up prying the crap out of it to get that side to line back up, but the trans side just dropped right in.
 
I heard the pop after disconnecting the dog bones, most likely the PS line breaking free from the plastic retaining clip.

And yeah the engine mount was a *****. Took me about 4 hours, most time chewed up on getting the mount out and putting the new one in.

The only detailed video I could find included the poster saying to get a 15mm 1/4 inch drive socket to get at the upper nuts near the front cover/balancer. Largest I could find was 14mm 1/4 inch drive. Even a thin profile 3/8 inch ratchet was too big.

Ended up removing the bracket and mount as one piece then separating them. Worked well until reassembly. The poly mount is much wider at the top than the stock rubber mount which left me no room to get the rear most bracket bolt back in. After about 90 minutes fighting with it I just tossed the last bolt aside and lowered it down. The other 2 bolts hold it in place perfectly.
 
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I tried sockets and wrenches. The motor mount bracket on my series III looks different from the series II in the video. The area under the balancer isn't open, the metal wraps around the side (front) just enough to obstruct the rachet.

Good news is I found some 15mm 1/4 drives online, so I'll order it and get the last bolt in when I do a suspension overhaul later.

FedEx dropped by with 4 big ass boxes today. Felt like a kid in a candy store
 


The "pop" sound that you heard was likely the connector hose between your airbox and throttle body. Just did my motor mounts and that same thing happened when I lifted the engine. Check it out, see if anything around the airbox is lose.
 
I've got the wizaired and disconnected the elbow at the stsrt. The popping noise was a metal line that runs along the cross member behind the radiator breaking loose from the plastic retaining clip.
 
Roofus said:
I tried sockets and wrenches. The motor mount bracket on my series III looks different from the series II in the video. The area under the balancer isn't open, the metal wraps around the side (front) just enough to obstruct the rachet.

Good news is I found some 15mm 1/4 drives online, so I'll order it and get the last bolt in when I do a suspension overhaul later.

FedEx dropped by with 4 big ass boxes today. Felt like a kid in a candy store
Click to expand...

Series 3 is the worlds easiest motor mount. Once you put a block of wood on jack under the structural oil pan (aka you aren't denting it like an S2). Unbolt the two 15's under the subframe for the mount. Lift up a little to take the pressure off the mount and unbolt the other three bolts into the oil pan. Out comes the mount and bracket. Swap mount, reverse steps.
 
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