Thought i would do this little guide when i decided to change the lower engine mount on my 2004 1.2 8v panda.

symptoms of worn mount:
excessive rocking of engine when in gear and lifting clutch.
clunk or thud when in low gears on over run (throttle off)
juddering in reverse ( especialy up hill )
clutch judder

any of the above can be sign of worn mount
new one cost £25 off fleabay

it could be done on the floor but better on a ramp or car ramps ( my method )
Having done one on my punto last year thought this would be easy, turned out harder.

the mount is held in place by 2 bolts (see pics) one captive into the subframe the other through the gearbox with nut. dont worry about supporting the engine as it is held by the other mount and you will need to rock engine to get new mount in.
TIP: undue / loosen all the bolts before you remove the mount bolts as engine will move when you are struggling with any of the others.
both undid easily but the problem i had was that the front one could not be pulled out due to the exhaust flexi joint being in the way

2 choices here 1. remove the exhaust ( not a easy thing to do with old exhaust or on your back on the floor)
2. remove the support bracket bolts and drop bracket down ( as the bolt was clear of the gearbox and was held by the bracket) once dropped down the bolt comes out under the exhaust.

the bracket is held by 2 bolts ( one with nut through gearbox - came out ok ) the other i had problems with is captive in the gearbox bellhousing. would not move with gun or long bar so i ended up using the jack method get good spanner on it and put trolley jack under other end of spanner and jack up using the weight of the car to undue the bolt. took a few attempts but finaly there was a crack !! ooops bolt snapped off. !!

anyway now bracket could be lowered and mount bolt pulled out, new mount fitted and all bolted back into place
no way to repair broken bolt or room to drill out so just left it as support bracket held by other bolt hopefully ok

new mount in place even though didnt look any better condition than the original it has made a lot of difference
no more engine rocking or thud on overrun.

hope this helps someone thinking of doing it in future

Nice work Jon,
Ours is having a new one on on Wednesday (51 Euros inc fitting) - that is at the main dealer here - the price on EPER is 51 euros (39 quid ?), so he aint charging for labour -, on a ramp he said it was a 10 minute job.
Exactly same symptoms as yours.
Great pics as well. !
Cap.

UPDATE: Been for a drive round - judder has gone and the thud on over run has gone - gear changes are smoother - exhaust is blowing slightly from the clamp when i tried to remove it but will be easy fix with a bit of paste.

captainslarty said:

Nice work Jon,
Ours is having a new one on on Wednesday (51 Euros inc fitting) - that is at the main dealer here - the price on EPER is 51 euros (39 quid ?), so he aint charging for labour -, on a ramp he said it was a 10 minute job.
Exactly same symptoms as yours.
Great pics as well. !
Cap.

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BARGAIN - you will notice difference straight away - my next job is both track control arm (lower wishbones) will take some pics while im doing it.

Thanks for this. My 2005 4x4 passed the mot yesterday (as any car should really if its been checked regularly all year), but in the advisory it points out 'transfer box mount worn' -- basically the same lower engine mount, but different shape and fitting as attached to the propshaft drive transfer housing . Anyone here ever had to do this? Keen to know how difficult. Thanks. Pete

Herts Hillhopper said:

Thanks for this. My 2005 4x4 passed the mot yesterday (as any car should really if its been checked regularly all year), but in the advisory it points out 'transfer box mount worn' -- basically the same lower engine mount, but different shape and fitting as attached to the propshaft drive transfer housing . Anyone here ever had to do this? Keen to know how difficult. Thanks. Pete

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Hi Pete, not done one, but here's a pic of the beastie, looks fairly simple, only 3 bolts (providing you can get to them )

Its the same as part 20 in the pic (ignore the ringed part, that was mine) --
A bit steep though, £74 inc vat !! yikes - !
I used the 100HP one on my 1.2 and it was only 25 Euros from Fiat.. their pricing is weird.. but....
Hope the piccie helps, the bolts are M12 / 1.25 * 85 (part 21 , 2 of) and part 22 M12 / 1.25 * 90. so should be ok, plenty of meat on them.
The difference on mine was like Jon reported, incredible, a different car... It is, as in UK, not an MOT failure, but an advisory here, mine didnt even get an advisory but you could tell when you drove it it was knackered. When taken off the non rounded end bush could be easily moved by gentle pressure - Ker nacked.. - the new on was stiff as a stiff thing... a veritable transformation - so good in fact that I can now feel other parts that are beginning to wear haha.. In a few months it will be new shocks / struts all round inc top mounts, also new front wishbones.. Mr fiat can fit them - I can make more per in the Marina than fiat charge here.
Cap'n Joe.

Thanks CaptainSlarty - very helpful. The version of ePER on the forum doesn't show the 4x4 bracket that you've shown (only shows the normal support (9 in the drwing) - item 20 looks like what's under my car, so I will go and order that part! Closedr inspection under the car shows the rear diff mounts are giving out too... function of age I suspect

Herts Hillhopper said:

Thanks CaptainSlarty - very helpful. The version of ePER on the forum doesn't show the 4x4 bracket that you've shown (only shows the normal support (9 in the drwing) - item 20 looks like what's under my car, so I will go and order that part! Closedr inspection under the car shows the rear diff mounts are giving out too... function of age I suspect

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PM me your VIN number and I will give you the actual part number and price -
or email username at yahoo dot co dot uk.
The forum one is well out of date now unfortunately.

I hope you really dont need the rear mounts yikes ! - 165 quid EACH for the block units, and 30 quid for the rear mount ring at the back of the diff... Jeeeez !!

I think I would remove them, find a suspension bush at an auto factor that - (older fords etc had loads of round tubular bush units.) - would fit inside the tube part and press it home after cutting out the old one...

This guide was a great help as I did this over the weekend. I used a 'Febi' part from ebay. For anyone else doing this, do not put the longest bolt all the way through the mount until you reattach the support bracket or its impossible to put back on.

I had use of a garage pit to do this, I would not have been brave enough to do it on my back or strong enough to get all the bolts off in that position i think.

The panda is no longer juddering in reverse but it's still a bit clunky. Ever since i drove a skoda citygo hire car for a bit my little panda feels a bit broken!

daveofkent said:

This guide was a great help as I did this over the weekend. I used a 'Febi' part from ebay. For anyone else doing this, do not put the longest bolt all the way through the mount until you reattach the support bracket or its impossible to put back on.

I had use of a garage pit to do this, I would not have been brave enough to do it on my back or strong enough to get all the bolts off in that position i think.

The panda is no longer juddering in reverse but it's still a bit clunky. Ever since i drove a skoda citygo hire car for a bit my little panda feels a bit broken!

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Glad it helped you

I have just bought a new mount for our 1.1 Panda (169)2009.
Thought the Febi Bilstein one was possibly good quality, but the one delivered was a FirstLine product, have not come across them before.

What are peoples experiences with non original parts? should I have gone for Lemforder or another brand?

Thanks

H A