C5 2.2 engine mountings

[Peter.N.]

I noticed a strange vibration on the steering yesterday, particularly at tickover, a careful examination revealed that the engine is sitting about half in inch low on the offside and the drive shaft is touching the subframe. The bottom mounting looks OK, the centre is slightly low but only by about a quarter of an inch which I would have considered normal compression, even if it was in the middle the clearance would be tight - any suggestions?

Thanks

Peter

[Peter.N.]

I gather by the plethera of replies that nobody has had this problem, I have just bought a 2.0 Hdi today so I have something to check it against - most odd.

Peter

[jgra1]

doesn't sound right Peter.. mainly the 'driveshaft touching' bit..
I was about to say, if you want 2.0 HDi pics i can help .......

Get a jack under her sump carefully and see what gives.. I haven't had time to look at the Hdi mountings at all

[SaabC5]

First time i've seen any mention of C5 engine mounting problems, there's enough common problems as it is!

[Peter.N.]

I have just compared it with the other one and the mounting bracket is about an inch to low, I am now going to jack the engine up to hopefully discover why.

Peter

[RichardW]

2.0 and 2.2 appear to use the same mounting, apart from the rubber bit screwed into the wing (althought it looks very similar on service.citroen!). Somethings definitely broken on yours by the sound of it!

[Peter.N.]

This is the bottom mounting, I have got it apart, it pivots on a bolt with an 'L' shaped extension to the rear, it looks as though this should bear on the inside of the recess into which it is fitted but its to short, allowing the front end to drop, it seems that there is another part to it which has fallen out, I am about to experiment with various packing pieces. I think this may have happened when I clouted and broke the sump a few weeks ago.

Peter

[RichardW]

The bottom mount doesn't affect the height of the engine, just prevents fore/aft rotation. If the RHS is lower, then investigation of the RH mount also needed.... That must have been some whack you gave it! Does the engine run OK after its oil starvation episode???

[Peter.N.]

Hi Richard

Its definitly the bottom mount, I compared it with the other car and its sitting about an inch lower. The bracket which is 'L' shaped, pivots on a bolt, the inner end of the 'L' section presses against the inside top of a cavity in the subframe and needs a metal insert to stop it from rotating upwards. I think whatever the space filler was probably fell out when I smashed the sump. I tried a large nut in the space which suitably raises the mounting and engine but I can't get it to stay there. The experimenting goes on.

Peter

[RichardW]

Fair enough....

There's nothing separate shown on either the mount or the subframe on serice.citroen, so you have bent or broken the subframe - might need to weld something back in?

[Peter.N.]

There is definitly a seperate forked bracket which is bolted to the subframe, I have unbolted and removed it, I am still trying to find a way of maintaining it in its correct position, I could weld it to the subframe but it must be removeable for some reason, I wonder if it is to facilitate replacing the mounting.

Peter

[RichardW]

Sorry, not made myself clear - I wasn't implying that the bracket should be welded to the subframe, rather that you may have broken a bit off the subframe, and you may need to weld this to get it back right again - or weld something to the back of the bracket to stop the over rotation.

[Peter.N.]

That's possible I suppose, the strange thing is that the problem arose a couple of weeks or so after I hit the sump, could be that the bolt was suffuciently tight to hold the bracket in position and its gradually slipped down. I suppose the obvious thing to do it to put the other one on the ramp and check that - only just occured to me

Peter

[Peter.N.]

I thought I would briefly ressurect this thread as I have now found the problem. Firstly apologies to RichardW for my thickness, of course the engine doesn't rest on the bottom mounting - I've been running XMs for 15 years so should know wish I could put it down to a senior moment but my moments seem to be joining together Anyway, my engine was sitting on the bottom mount/stabilizer because two of the bolts in the top mounting had snapped off no doubt precipitated by whacking the sump on a rock.

I think the problem was waiting to happen as it appears someone in the past had bodged refitting the bracket to the engine as one bolt had been broken for sometime and another had the thread partially stripped, the hole was full of muck so it was only sitting on two bolts.

I now have a problem, the mounting is bolted to a bracket on the engine/head, I either have to take this off and try and get the broken bolts out or I need to replace it which would be easier if I could get one, does anyone have a scrap engine I don't know if it would be the same on a 2.0 if so that might make it easier to find one.

Peter

[Peter.N.]

For anyone who is interested I managed to fix my damaged mounting bracket. I had to remove half the engine to get it out but having done so I could see that one broken bolt was easy to get at as it protruded through the bottom, so it was just a matter of unscrewing it with some grips, the other one wasn't so easy, it had broken off below the surface and the other end was blind, I tried tapping it round with a hammer and punch with no success, what did work though was to find a nut that would just fit into the recess and weld it on through the hole in the middle, the first time I could feel it move but it broke off, by the third time eureka!

The one with the stripped thread I managed to work a bolt into with plenty of oil and restore what was left of the thread. I think the problem had originally been cause by someone using the wrong bolts which were to long and reached the bottom of the hole before they were tight - all I have to do now is put it all back together, I wondered if i ought to change the cambelt as I had to remove the covers but it looks fine.

Peter