I just saw a post about the passenger side motor mount shearing, and the resulting catastrophic failure due to oil leaking out of the damaged oil filter.

anyway, i was thinking that, instead of having the broken mount result in a hole torn in the oil filter, a safety catch could be rigged up inside the engine compartment. This would keep the engine from resting on the oil filter, but also still vibrate like hell so you would know something was wrong.

I haven't had a chance to go look under the hood lately, so does anyone have any ideas of how to make this happen?

I saw that post. The mount did not shear it slowly collapsed over time. Son saw oil light come, put in oil, saw light come again, kept driving, blew engine. That incident was self inflicted due to lack and maintenance and lack of common sense, basic knowledge of cars or a little of both (with all due respect to son).

A 240 engine mount does not typically fail all at once, it slowly deteriorates. Mounts are easily inspected from time to time.
--
David Hunter

It would be a lot of trouble to design and build the safety catch. New motor mounts are only about $6 US each for the 240 series. Just install new motor mounts and forget about it.
--
john

A easy way to give yourself some peace of mine would be to install N/O (normally pen) limit switches. Install them at each mount location and install a idiot
light in the car. If the engine sinks and hits one the light comes on you know you have a problem. Seems like the periodic check is the best idea but HEY you never
know. the mount may look solid but fail a mile down the road...
--
vw bus site w/ Volvo section - http://www.geocities.com/vw_bus_74/index.html

A smart man once told me it's tough to make things foolproof because fools are so ingenious.

Not that I'm against clever backup plans, but I prefer the discipline of a 15-minute poke/prod/general look-see under the hood every month or two. Most Bricksters who've been here a bit know that the engine mounts are prone to failing... just like knowing to check the flame trap.

As another wise man once said, however, shit happens.

Preventative maintennance IS the way to go, of course- on the other hand, isn't it still perfectly possible for a brand new part (whatever it may be) to suddenly fail?

Certainly possible. Older kid was trying to learn how to drive a stick shift in my '88. Came up to a red light on a slight incline... was doing fine until a state trooper pulled up right behind him. Kid got rattled, and when he launched, the car did a severe "bunny hop" for about 20 feet... breaking BOTH motor mounts.

But in the long run - it's all about risk. You reduce, not eliminate, your risk of parts failing at inopportune times by looking for trouble before it arises. Which of course highlights the educational value of the Brickboard. I was clueless about FP relays until I found the BB - and I've fixed 2 before they died.

I have found they need replacing every 60,000 miles.
--
85 245 M46 191K, 92 245 A70 118K

Check out turbobricks.com. There was a post, with photos, of a rather neat shield around the mount so as to prevent oil saturation of the motor mount.

Prevention is always a good way to go.

Al

Why not fix the oil leak?
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85 245 M46 191K, 92 245 A70 118K

> Why not just fix the oil leak?
.
It's probably not so much a matter of oil leaks as it is of oil
getting all over the place when the filter is removed during an
oil change. Annoying design - the filter should either be
vertical or mounted in a canister on top of the engine like the
ones in newer VWs.
.
Some suggestions which I'm not sure will actually work:
(a) use poly. front engine mounts if they are available and live
with the extra harshness
(b) get a length of steel pipe with an ID slightly just larger than
the rubber cylinder. Make it slightly shorter than the cylinder.
When installing the new mount, put two steel plates in - one on
top, one on the bottom. The engine will be prevented from dropping
by the length of pipe. A few drops of epoxy should hold the pipe
in place on the rubber when things are working normally and prevent
it from touching the plates and generating obnoxious noises. The
problem with this idea is that the pipe length will mostly hide the
mount, so it will be difficult to ascertain its condition.
.
-b.