dewd

should i unplug both of the electric motor mounts?

whats the consequence if any for unplugging them?

Feldman

iTrader: (1)

why do you want to unplug them?

If you unplug them they will always be stiff which results in a little more vibration at idle other than that you arent really causing any problems

dewd

would it be a bad rumble at idle or is it barely noticeable?

is it as bad as if a coil has gone bad or something? (for exzmple)

would i feel it alot in the steering wheel?

reason why is because i hear if they go bad and leak i can ruin my ecu and other things...im not looking to pay more costly repairs if i can just shut them off and save me the headache, you know?

sascuderi

My understanding is that before they complelety go and short the ECU they make a run run electric motor sound when the car is turned off. Our Murano did it recently and I had the bad mount unpluged. Car seems to run the same, but only one (the bad one) of the two electric mounts was unpluged.

I am just as concerned as you are with my 2000 I30. My plan is to unplug them at the first sign of them running after the car is turned off.

IF you unplug both of yours now, let us know if you notice increased vibration.

Feldman

iTrader: (1)

it really shouldnt be much different especially if your car is running like it should. Most cars just have traditional motor mounts and there isnt too much vibration in them.

I haven't heard of them shorting the ECU when they go bad though. Do you have a link on that?

VQP0WER

Maybe you should disconnect the battery cables so you don't start up the car with serviceable mounts, JUST IN CASE they go bad and fry your ECU.

che_beaver

The vibration is not even noticeable. I have had mine unplugged for ~6 months and there is no discernable difference at idle or speed.

There is no reason to disconnect them before they fail. It is pretty easy to tell when they do go bad (buzzing/whirring sound after you turn off the car) and even if you don't fix it right away nothing bad happens. Mine buzzed for ~2 months before I decided to unplug them.

I have also heard it can fry the ECU because of a short, but I have never met anyone whom this actually happened to.

Kaane

My Ecu just shorted out because of the motor mounts and my replacement ecu shorted out as well because I didn't know it was the motor mounts.

So yes, they can fry your ecu and on top of it my mounts didn't make any noise at all, so they can go bad without buzzing.

NISMOALT

yes my friend has fried his and i figured im already in need of replacing my iac and replaced my 6 coils this month (busy month for the max) im thinking id play it safe now and unplg them....even if there good if. if theres a possibility it can turn into a bad situation i figure ill just unplug them now. they seem pretty useless to me since my side ones are brand spankin new and are not electrical and i figure my sides would go bad before my under and engine mount. seems they dont serve a purpose good enough to take the risk and keep them plugged in anyway.. so..just wanted you guys input



yea i heard theyd make a wierd noise before shutdown of the engine aswell, if they were going bad.
but you know..these maxima/altimas scare me since they are all so diffrent in symptoms sometimes even though they might even be the same exact make/model/year when something breaks/wears or busts they all do it diffrently so it may not even make a sound for me. i dont wanna waste my time with guessing games when that happends, if ever, with the motor mounts...i find it to be preventetive maintnance work. it just makes sense to take them off after what ive heard.



car seems fine but yea i even searched osmewher and seen a post of someone mentioning the same thing as a friend of mines..ie mount > ecu = costly

but hey if they wont make much difference off; but much 'damage' on i might as well get to work and disconnect them now, jeje.


hey VQPOWER, you mean discon. my terminals before i actually unplg the 2 mounts? sounds like a smart idea... if thats what you ment, if not please explain, so i dont do anything wrong lol.!?

yea bro ive met someone who has and it sux going to the nissan stealership. (its just preventative costly maintanence)

beside's that thanks, you are running without them with no real diffrence in vib. feel? im diggin it! thats honestly excactly what i was hoping to hear man.

damn. thats excactly what i am affraid of.. i dont like surprises. im sorry to hear that though thats so damn terrible going through 2 ECU's because of a stupid mount. i hope they let you get a new exchange on the ecu with no prob..



i cant tell people what to do but id suggest unplugging them motor mounts (imo) but im still looking for help and suggestions but im pretty satisfied with what ive heard from you guys so far as far as there purpose to damage ratio. i think theyre pretty useless....not the mount but the fact that there plugged in to something..


dunno.. it just makes life easier..

che_beaver

I thought frying your ECU was just an urban legend. That sucks.

I can't tell a difference in vibration, but it's actually my wife's car and she is a very mellow driver (she rarely revs it past 2500). When I do drive it I really can't tell any difference.

Here are some pictures of where the plugs are located. As you can see I used electrical tape to seal off the plug and the connector. Very high class.

I am a NOOB and can't figure out how to post pix. Here are the links if I did it right. If someone can bring them into a post that would be great.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3670401...n/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3670401...n/photostream/

dewd

there ya go.

so the first image is 2 plugs? i havent looked under the hood today im kinda off on where things are lol

dewd

(unrelated) also folks this little thing can cause your ecu to go south as well if it decides to seize... its called a iacv...and its not always your friend!!! beware!!! beware of the p0505 code!!! unfortunately theres no solution for this but to just replace...cant prevent/unplug the iacv lol

che_beaver

The picture on the left (thanks for posting them) is for the front mount. The left circle is the plug that comes out of the loom and goes to the ECM. The right circle is the connector that goes down to the mount. I zip tied them up out of the way after I taped them off.

The picture on the right is for the rear mount, but I couldn't get a good angle. Same deal, though. The wire comes out of the loom and within an inch or two there will be the connection.

I may have front and back reveresed come to think of it...

mrubio4602

Hello everyone I own a 00 maxima, for some time now it has been giving me a p0505 code, IACV problem. I have replaced the IACV with no success on getting rid of the code, replaced coolant temperature sensor as well and that did not solve it either. A friend of mind told me that the motor mounts can cause similar problems, do you think that the motor mounts can cause the IACV to malfunction. the dealer told me to replaced the TB and the ECM in order to ger rid of problem. my car shuts off when it is cold every morning, I have to keep my foot on the gas pedal and then it's fine, also at times at red lights i can feel the car reving up and down on its on while i have my foot on the brake. sorry that I made it so long but just trying to write what i have done with it. any advise will be appreciate it

zoemayne

iTrader: (4)

What mileage do you guys have to replace you motor mounts? I have a 2K max with 120K miles and I have to replace 3 of my mounts(the front and rear electric ones and the passenger side engine one). My car was in an an accident where the passenger fender was hit and the body shop didn't replace that mount and i'm guessing that the front and rear mount died because they had more stress on them because of the bad passenger side mount. Their expensive over $500. I see online(at nissanparts2u) that I can just buy the insulator(?)(which is the circular part of the mount) part for less. Can i do that to just repair the mount?

unrealii

iTrader: (8)

I disconnected mine today. I cross referenced the wires from the service manual to make sure I was unplugging the right connectors. The connector should have White, White/Red & White/Blue wires.

It is possible to set them on full hard. Per the attached diagnostic procedure, if you have someone rev the engine while its in D and disconnect the mounts, they will stay hard. I had no one around, so I rev'ed the engine above 1000rpm and then shut off the car hoping that the ECU did not send the signal to soften. I haven't driven enough to tell if there is any difference. It would be difficult to disconnect the rear mount while the engine is running because I had to pop off my air intake duct to get the proper angle to unclip the connector.

Hope this helps.

sascuderi

Is it better to leave them in the soft or hard state? ( I wouldn't want to be working on the car while it's in drive and someone is reving the engine!)

che_beaver

I disconnected mine at about 85K when the rear mount went TU. I was told by the dealer that you can not get a non-electric replacement that will fit the mount, but I suspect that is BS.

To do the repair your self you have to support the engine and drop the rail that runs underneath it (or so I have read). There are probably folks on the org who have done it if you search for motor mounts.

mrubio4602

I just disconnected the front one on my 00k Maxima, 97k miles, I did it while car was off I did not notice any dramatic change on performance, I will disconnect the rear one soon but wanted to do one at a time to see if there was a dramatic change but nothing so far.

Progress

iTrader: (26)

What are your symptoms giving rise to you guys disconnecting the motor mounts?

MichMaxFan

The reason to unplug is due to potential FRYING of the ECU just because of a bad motor mount.

That makes me SICK!!!!

I am really happy w/ the way my car performs, but the longer I have it and read on it, the more I am thinking of selling it because of high-cost repairs because of poor safety controls on electrical system. Is it a trade off because of other repairs I dont have to do because a lot of the car is good quality parts???

I just don't know anymore about this car....I like it but I don't know if these risks are worth it at all.....what else is there that's gonna fry my car because of the lack of a 50 cent safety design? No car is perfect, but I'm beginning to wonder about this whole thing.....

Maybe a simple Camry/Accord is a better "risk"???? Maybe not???

unrealii

iTrader: (8)

None, its a preventative maintenance measure.

After reading about these issues, I thought the same. Used car market is bad for sellers now, so I decided to hang onto my car. I disconnected the motor mounts and ordered an iacv.

Also, as this issue becomes more prevalent (unfortunately), cheaper solutions and/or a recall (we can always hope) will arise.

GrandMoffJoseph

The mounts on my 04 I35 died at about 70K. They made the "post shut off buzzing" for two months, then stopped completely. No idle/vibe issues though.

But, kudos to this board: the dealer couldn't figure it out for beans, and this esteemed board helped me diagnose the problem in 30 minutes!

che_beaver

Ditto for my 2000 at 85K. The rear one buzzed for a month before I disconnected them (front one is still good, but I disconnected it because I didn't want them asymetrical).

The tech at my dealer diagnosed it in 30 seconds. When my wife called and told me it was the motor mounts I thought "That SOB dealer was just blowing her off." Then I found the TSB and figured it wasn't worth the $600 they quoted.

blueridge

just curious, what in the world is the advantage of an electronic motor mount anyway?

unrealii

iTrader: (8)

It allows the mounts to run soft at idle to reduce vibration & harshness (NVH)

Progress

iTrader: (26)

How loud is the buzzing?

EDIT:

http://forums.maxima.org/6307721-post27.html

che_beaver

You can hear it in the cab with the doors closed. If the engine is running you can hear it if you are outside the car.

You will know when they fail, it isn't something you have to listen for.

mrubio4602

Progreess; the main problem my car is having is the p0505 code, IACV, I have already replaced the IACV, clear the code and about 37 miles after and like 5 enginition cycles I get the code again. The car shutsdown when cold and if I don't warm up the car and just try to drive off the car stalls. once car is warm I dont get much problems at times the RPM reves up about .5 . I am trying to solve the problem thought I felt the IACV was fine I replaced it, also coolant sensor, thinking it may be bad and won't sent the correct temp to ECM therefore the IACV will malfunction. I don't want to spend thousands of dollards and find no solution. Some mechanics have told me that the motor mounts if they go bad they can short the ECM and given me invalid codes.

mrubio4602

Kaane; when you replaced your second ECM did that solve your problem?

Kaane

I installed manual mounts and new second ecu, the ecu so far survived, but my idle is still about 150rpms off, I know the IACV is working because i can manually adjust idle using the scan tool and it will go up and then back down, i think i have an intake leak now that is preventing the ecu from lowering the idle anymore. At leas the ecu is not smoking anymore lol

Justock

Kaane, did you perform the "Idle Learning" procedure on it? I can't quite remember how it is done, but I'm sure you could search the forum for it. It worked on my 2002 SE after I got it goofed up and idleing too fast.

nakis

Kaane,

Take a look at your thread, New ecu, fried in seconds....

I do not know for sure, but can your high idle cause another failure.

I really hope not, but lets think this out.

Progress

iTrader: (26)

Okay, I'm pretty sure I'm not hearing that sound. I'm just getting gobs of wheel hop under hard acceleration and they may not just be the mounts.

unrealii

iTrader: (8)

Only automatics get electric motor mounts...cause we be special

Your mounts could still be bad though

Progress

iTrader: (26)

Doh! Ours are just fluid then.

mrubio4602

have any one gotten the p0505 code? I can't get the car to work propertly.

mrubio4602

Kaane; how much did you pay for your ECU, and how did you work it out when you replaced the ECU, from my understanding once you replace the ECU you have to have the dealer code the ECU with the keys in order for the car to run again, is that true?

Kaane

First ECU i bought was $225 from a junkyard, Dealer charged me $119 to recode it so the immobilizer worked, but it died seconds after being plugged in. Second ecu I had www.autoecu.com repair my original one for $349, since it was already coded I didn't need to take it to the dealer.

nakis

Kaane

I have a silly question.

Do you think the used ECU idle chip might have been damaged before you brought it in to the dealership?