2016 SR5 Engine Mount

Good evening fellow Tacoma drivers.

On my way home today, I was sitting at a stop light when I noticed a fierce vibration emanating from the engine of my 2016 SR5 Tacoma. She had never done this before so I knew instantly something was awry. Praying for a misfire of some sort (I knew it wasn't, my plugs are only a year old I compulsively switch them out every 75,000 miles), I shifted into park to see if the vibrations would cease. To my horror, they did. When I arrived home I popped the hood to see that my engine was tilted I'd say a good 15 degrees towards the passenger side. I got my wife to sit in the driver's seat and throttle it and boy I tell you what that engine twisted another 20 degrees towards the passenger side.

I hung my head low....

I then called my buddy to convince me that I was insane.... but upon seeing the position of the engine on a video call, he told me what I already knew.

Being ever thorough, I then drove her to a mechanic down the street. He knew as soon as he saw the position of the engine and felt the vibration.

My Passenger side engine mount has COMPLETELY failed.

Problem is, I can't find much literature on this repair for the 2016 and later models. The mechanic looked it up and it's 9.8 man-hours in the book. I physically can't make this repair because i have nothing to hoist the engine with.

Has anyone else had this problem with the newer tacos? I drive pretty conservatively though the roads around my house are pretty crappy so maybe I hit a bad bump? I feel as though Toyota put a crap part in. The Tacoma is only 90k miles so she's a bit young for such an issue.

Just on labor alone I'm probably looking at $1000-1500 for this job.

Any insight would be appreciated.

 

Don't need an engine hoist, a floor jack under the engine can do the job. I see you changed your plugs, what other wrenching experience do you have?

 

There has not been much said around here about failing motor mounts. Although even with the best made stuff in the world, things just fail.

I'm not a fan of them, but there is a thread around here about solid motor mounts. I'm only mentioning this because, most folks have said that while they are a pain to swap, it doesn't sound like a $1,000 job. I would think that a realistic price is a lot less than that.

 

Would you be able to post some pics of the failed mount?

 

Outside of not having a hoist, I don't think I'm physically capable of doing the job. I have a bad back.

 

lemme go snap some real quick

 

ah, that would be it. Like I said you don't need a hoist just a floor jack. I would agree with tonered, 1000 bucks is steep. I can't see this job taking 4 hours let alone 9.8, but if you aren't in a condition to do it your self you really can't do anything about what the "book time" is.

 

Alright here's a straight on view of the motor and then the mount. Can't really see what's going on because I can't get underneath it (Bad back)

 

I'm going out on a limb here, but I would guess that the 2.7l would be even easier than the V6 engine.

 

Oh thats an i4? I think a mount change is really easy on them due to the extra space. No way i would pay 1k for it.

 

I don't have the 4 but pretty sure its supposed to be tilted like that. Ignore the circled part I stole this pic from here for comparison.

 

I was thinking the same thing. And You guys see it too I'm not crazy about it tilting about 15 degrees right?

 

I would not put it past a mechanic for confirmation bias.
What else would cause a vibration at idle that goes away when shifted to other gears? Vacuum leak?

 

I think that 15deg is more than it is, but I do think that it is skewed right. I don't believe that mount mounts would allow 15deg of motion.

 

Yes. Going from an unloaded to a loaded engine in gear can certainly change the feel. That said, the engine should rock, but not excessively. You should be able to compare the amount of space in the mounts. They should be relatively equal. Also, I believe that most mounts are fluid filled these days. So, you should see wetness on the suspected failed side?

 

Well I just got under there painstakingly. No visible wetness it all. My buddy came over and now we are thinking maybe we were wrong about it. We popped it in reverse and revved it up and threw it in drive and the vibration went away completely. Drove it up to 70 and it came back. I'm thinking there's a transmission problem. He said something about some obscure torque converter problems that chevies have from time to time. I'm going to get the transmission fluid changed ASAP because I can't recall if I've ever had that done...
He said something about some hydraulic solenoid in automatic transmissions that closes as your approaching a stop that acts in the same way as a shifting your manual to neutral at a stop. I'm just typing gibberish at this point because I know nothing of transmissions.
Anyways it's a mystery. I have no idea why the vibrations would be so intermittent. It's quite possible I'm just an idiot and everything is fine.

 

Don't want to second-guess your mechanic, but since you came here for advice: Perhaps one more pic of the engine, this time with some throttle, would give some insight on whether the rocking you observed is excessive. Even better would be a video of throttle on/throttle off.

 

Interesting. Sorry for the trouble.

There has been reports of vibes from the ATs, but it is usually pretty subtle.

 

He's probably talking about torque converter shutter. It'll feel like driving over rumble stripes in the road.

I think your best bet is taking it to a compitnent mechanic to get it diagnosed.