Could someone give me an idea as to what is involved with changing the motor mounts on a 1999 550? Thanks
A lot of broken knuckle skin and swearing !!! Kidding, remove frt sway bars, remove steering rack to coloum conection, lower steering rack, support and raise engine, remove motor mounts and replace. Make sure you get the mounts and bolts for a 575 (they have a fail safe plate on them) You have to get the steering rack out of the way to get access to the drivers side mount, passenger side is real easy to get at. Good luck.
I am having my motor mounts changed in the next day or two. Hopefully I can relay some info involved.
I stopped by Italy Service today to take a look at how the major was progressing. They had changed the motor mounts out and understand the passenger side was fairly easy. The driver side requires moving alot of stuff (steering rack, power steering lines, etc.) to get to it (app. 2-3 hours for the left side vs. an hour for the right). Good news the power steering fluid is nice and fresh . I also looked at the original mounts and saw where there was about an 1/16" to 1/8" depression in the rubber portion of the mounts. It was good to do during the major. Note, the new 575 fitting has the new stop plate w/rubber to prevent a total engine sag . From what I understand the new style mount is subject to degradation and will require replacement at some time. Good news is you can see the space between the base place and stop plate (esp. on the passenger side). This way periodically you can check the space to see if there is any sag.
Here is a photo of the old and new mounts (old left, new right). As you can see on the left bracket the engine sits right on the rubber and over time wears down the rubber. The new version on the right has a stop plate with two additional rubber pads on each side the limit the amount of engine drop in case of failure. As far as signs of sag you actually have to look under the car. There are a couple of posts on this site as to what to look for. But basically a sagging motor moves the oil pressure sender too close to the sway bar causing a potential to break the pressure sender. I can update this with a photo of the original mounts that were on mine. Image Unavailable, Please Login
thanks unfortunately...Ferrari decide to consider vehicles after 2000 for some improvements: 456 = NOT Image Unavailable, Please Login
You might want to look up Ferrari's Technical Service Bulletin (TSB-1041). A copy can be purchased from NHTSA.dot.gov. However you should be able to call Ferrari to see if they can produce you a copy. Make: FERRARI Model: 550 MARANELLO Year: 9999 Service Bulletin Number: 1041 NHTSA Item Number: 10001157 Summary Description: ENGINE SUPPORT RUBBER BUSHING. (FERRARI 456M GT/GTA) *JB
Just to clarify, does this mean that the later 575 mount part #184176 is the correct replacement for an early 456 that would normally be fitted with mount # 159423? If clearance is the only issue what about shimming the engine a few mm higher?
+1, and that would go for the 456 clarification too I don't see the part number of what the green arrow is pointing [circled in red too] is that the 575 upgraded mount? it isn't showing the part number Just had them replaced recently and FofSF is always upgrading the part so will need to look at the invoice to identify the part number. As for the rubber parts, they look identical, but probably are not unless diff. compound.
do you need to remove the exhaust manifold to replace the motor mounts, there isn't much room between the mount and manifold on pass side? TIA
Was there a running change on the motor mounts in the 456Ms or did they all get the old motor mounts? I haven't asked my mechanic specifically; he just said that my mounts were fine, not sagging, but I wonder because I've got almost 40,000 miles on the car. Would Ferrari have done the upgrade as part of a regular service if the owner had just said "do everything needed?" I have most of the service records but haven't yet gone through them and thought I'd ask here before looking.
Sorry to re-open what is a fairly talked about subject already, and I likely am not seeing the wood from the trees here, but I'm looking to get this done on my 550 (98 UK model) whilst it's in the shop. From the photo's though in this post I'm not 100% sure of how the new mounts are better than the old from a failure point of view. I can see that there is now obviously a new top metal plate on the new style 575 mount, with side rubber lugs to reduce movement/drop to bottom metal plate, so this does make sense that one plate simply drops onto the other, but there still looks to be 1/4" or so of drop available from the pictures. My confusion, and I suspect merely as I'm misinterpreting the pictures here, is that I can't see how a failure on the old style mounts would let the engine mount bracket itself (that bolts to the engine, and then sits on top of the engine mount,) how this would drop past the base metal plate on the old style engine mount should the mount sag? From the pictures there would seem to be only minimal gap for this to drop in a similar fashion to the newer style mounts. What am I missing please? To add to the confusion, it seemed that when I searched on Eurospares, they still list the 550 Maranello mounts as being the original style (and this also shows as available on 575M's as well, part no 169492 but also part no 168358), yet the Barchetta was the alternate 575 style part no 192022 which itself superceded an earlier part 187666 ??? Seems rather confusing if effectively the mounts work for 550 Maranello and Barchetta and 575???
Jon- Ricambi's online parts catalogs are a lot easier to read and decipher than the ones on Eurospare's site and the drawings are much higher resolution. There is only one motor mount in the Ferrari 550 parts catalog and that is this one: http://www.ricambiamerica.com/product_info.php?products_id=205114 There is also only one motor mount in the 575M parts catalog, and Ricambi's catalog matches my factory catalog, and that is this one: http://www.ricambiamerica.com/product_info.php?products_id=209900 All the pro wrenches say do not even think about it, swap them out. Taz Terry Phillips
Thanks Terry for the reply. The diagrams seem the same at both sites but there do seem to be less parts confusion at Ricambi, i.e. purely just 550 or 575 parts listed as you say. Don't mind changing them, in fact would rather as a preventative, but just trying to understand how a failure impacts on the original mount; post failure it looks like the engine support would then just strike the rectangular mount plate, thereby acheiving a similar result as the new style 575 plate on plate failure route (both would seem to offer a similar amount of failure travel). Also slightly weirded by the fact that Ferrari don't just supercede the 550 mount for the 575 one, if this is even a remotely known issue and the parts exist, why not simply suggest the newer 575 style part and just leave the older one for the lower torque and lighter 355 engines if still needed?? There are cynical answers to that I know, but just seems strange. Will have a closer look later on when I pop in on the car. Thanks again, Jon
