The clunk from the rear broken engine mount??

VWinVT

81 aircooled. I have been dealing with a a clunk from the rear of the van for some time now. I first suspected CV's. They are brand new and the clunk remains. The moist ache bar to frame attachments are solid. I have tried to make the motor move with a pry bar, but have had little luck seeing anything worthy of the clunk I hear.
The 4 motor mounts from the moustache bar to the motor, is there a way to replace them without removing the whole motor? I am hoping that there is as I planned to remove this motor and replace it with a water cooler....not put this old lump back in (not quite saved up for a Subi swap yet. Sad

_________________
1981 Westfalia with a 2001 Cabrio ABA

Small wheel turns by the firing rod,
Big wheel turns by the grace of God.
Every time that wheel turns 'round,
You're bound to cover just a little more ground.

SCM · Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 2:49 pm Post subject:

You might want to check your CV bolts. They can loosen up after a couple hundred miles after you first install new CVs. My clunk was due to having more than a few CV bolts fall out after a pro mechanic dropped the trans to due a seal replacement.
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'91 Westfalia GL Automatic (GTA "Turbo" Rebuild w/Peloquin) and 2.3L GoWesty Engine

MayorMcCheese · Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 2:53 pm Post subject:

When does it clunk?

VWinVT · Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 3:12 pm Post subject:

I checked and re-torqued the CV bolts 100 miles after installed. The clunk has never changed from the old cv's to the new ones.

The clunk occurs in very specific situations. From a stop and the shift to reverse and if there is a heavy load...it will clunk. OR. After I back out of garage (no load no clunk in reverse) and shift into first and drive to end of driveway...if I take my foot off the gas too abruptly I get a clunk.

Those are the only 2 situations it will clunk. Once it clunks, it will not clunk again unless I stop and shift to reverse etc....
_________________
1981 Westfalia with a 2001 Cabrio ABA

Small wheel turns by the firing rod,
Big wheel turns by the grace of God.
Every time that wheel turns 'round,
You're bound to cover just a little more ground.

dhaavers · Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 3:40 pm Post subject:

Check your tranny nose mount...???
_________________
86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

VWinVT · Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 3:42 pm Post subject:

I did check the tranny nose mount and it is torqued properly and I can only just get it to wiggle slightly In the rubber bushing, so it too appears good.
_________________
1981 Westfalia with a 2001 Cabrio ABA

Small wheel turns by the firing rod,
Big wheel turns by the grace of God.
Every time that wheel turns 'round,
You're bound to cover just a little more ground.

MayorMcCheese · Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 4:55 pm Post subject:

Does the exhaust contact the body at any extreme? I've seen that happen at the cat flange.

VWinVT · Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 5:06 pm Post subject:

VWinVT · Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 6:30 pm Post subject:

If all else checks out....does the motor need to drop in order to repair/replace the engine mounts?
_________________
1981 Westfalia with a 2001 Cabrio ABA

Small wheel turns by the firing rod,
Big wheel turns by the grace of God.
Every time that wheel turns 'round,
You're bound to cover just a little more ground.

CanStan · Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 7:41 pm Post subject:

Put a jack under the engine to hold it up, and the mustache bar can be removed to swap the rubber mounts.

VWinVT · Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 3:21 am Post subject:

VWinVT · Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 4:55 am Post subject:

gave it a quick glance before I got in and drove to work, and my exhaust (81 California aircooled) seems to pose a formidable obstacle to simply removing the moustache bar to swap/check the rubber motor mounts. Any thoughts?
_________________
1981 Westfalia with a 2001 Cabrio ABA

Small wheel turns by the firing rod,
Big wheel turns by the grace of God.
Every time that wheel turns 'round,
You're bound to cover just a little more ground.

Terry Kay · Banned Joined: June 22, 2003 Posts: 13331

When there is a formidable obstacle in the way, it has to be removed prior to getting to what you want to work on.

It's usually the best way to get the job done.
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T.K.

dart330 · Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 8:18 am Post subject:

Has anyone talked to Powerflex about making engine mounts out of polyurethane to match the transmission mount? I'd rather do this job once and not worry about it again.
http://powerflexusa.com/vanagon1980-1992.aspx

atomatom · Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 9:43 am Post subject:

i replaced the lower two mount on my 84 recently. by luck, i was also replacing the exhaust, so the muffler had to come off anyway. (truth be told, i had the mounts for ages, but hadn't tackled it because of the exhaust).

the other obstacle is the heat shield, at least on my year, which takes a bit of bending and wiggling to remove - i suppose you might be able to do it with the tin in place; i considered removing the bracket between the engine and moustache bar instead (then removing the whole lot), but decided to remove the tin instead.

after that, i used my winch to hold the engine from above, with added jack/blocks below, removed the moustache (btw, in case you don't know it is directional, has an arrow pointing to the front of the van), replaced the mounts, and back on, boom done.
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84 Vanagon Westy, 1.9L, California raised but defected to Canada.

Vanagon Nut · Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 11:57 am Post subject:

My '88 2.1 had a consistent clunk on start up. (exhaust hitting body I think)
At least one motor mount had failed.
I found a 1/4" socket useful for getting at one upper nut at a mount and the 3/8" "wobble" extension for the other upper nuts. Don't know if this applies to the air cooled engine. I left the muffler, heat shield, inner bracket at engine in place. IIRC, I removed a belt or two and coolant pump pulley but that obviously won't apply to your engine.

As a then newb to boxer motor mount replacement, prying engine away from the support bar didn't really show my untrained eye if a mount was failing; I could see movement but for all I knew it couldn've been a normal amount of movement. With new mounts, I can see how much tighter things are; there's not nearly the same amount of movement.

re: poly mounts. I noticed that with the (Meyle??) mounts, engine noise and vibration is now more apparent. This gets better as the bus warms up but wouldn't poly transmit more noise and vibration?

Neil.
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1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

greggearhead · Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 6:30 am Post subject:

With my recent engine install, I developed a slight clunk just when getting underway in 1st. Looked at all the usually suspects - nothing.

Then, I checked the mustache bar bolts to the body. They weren't 'loose', but took a good 1/2 turn to get tight again. That was it. Easy and simple to check.
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1972 Porsche 911E
1973 VW 412
1984 VW Doka
1991 Vanagon Syncro Westy

Period Lights, VW & Porsche wheels and Recaro/Scheel Seats for sale

https://www.facebook.com/greggearhead

http://greggearhead.com/soco-swap---september-vw-swap-meet.html

dart330 · Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 8:39 am Post subject:

zippyslug31 · Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 1:00 pm Post subject:

I've had a similar clunk when accelerating/shifting... basically when the drive train has a sudden change in load.
I'll have to give some of the ideas in this thread a look, but to me I always figured it involved the mounting point for the rear shocks... just sorta seemed like a sound they would make in my situation.
_________________
previous:
'80 westy
current:
'90 syncro westy 2.5L subi, triple knob, 16" wheels.
'84 sunroof van, 2.1L motor.


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