Replacing Nissan Presage / Altima TU31 QR25 Engine mount

 Above is old damaged engine mount. The right sided (from compartment view) (near pulley/ engine belt side) is most prone to be torn apart.

 There are 3 hex nuts on the engine side mount. Two above and 1 at the bottom. You need long socket to loosen it as seen here the center pin is long.

 A long hex socket extender > 12 inches will make life easier.

 This is the second most difficult nut to be removed. I need two socket extender ( total length of 15 inches) to reach the chasis mount at the back. The regridgerant lines will obstruct you access.

 You can see the hex nut at the back of the chasis engine mount.

 This is the most difficult hex nut to be removed because the difficult access. Taking away the Relay mount/ bracket, I still cannot reach it with wrench or hex socket from above. The belt and pulley is obstructing all movement here. Finally, it took me 30 mins just to loosen this nut. I have to jack up the car (not engine) and insert the long long hex socket from below.

 The Relay box/ bracket needs to be loosened in order to reach the front chasis engine mount nut.

All hex nuts are loosened but are not taken away yet. The engine is jacked with a foot long hard wood under the tranny. How much is needed to jack the engine? I jack it up till I can observe the engine mount rubber edge  rising up by about 1 inch and the whole mount can be shaken loose by hand.

 The engine mount can be removed now. You need to lift the water reservior out.

The damaged engine mount with the center strut completelt torn apart from the rubber mount. The central strut kicking around and create clunking that is very obvious in the passenger compartment, whenever over bumppy road.

Car Compartment noise and clunking over uneven road

My MPV is 5 years old and some noticeable metal clunking was noted over uneven road. Engine noise is also more pronounced at 2,000 rpm. The clunk is like metal knock against metal and happens 0.5 seconds after a bump/ uneven road. Worn engine mount was in my first suspicion but some forum mentioned worn sway bar bushing/ joint and even suspension may cause such clunking. My experience with my Mercedes is that the engine mount will last much longer and will only cause vibration rather than clunk. After thorough hammering, and kicking for loose parts ( jacking up both tyres and hitting , rocking the tyres, connection rods, exhaust pipe ... ) , no postive finding. But then after careful inspection, the motor mount near the engine side (TU31 / QR25 engine has 4 mounts : Font, rear ( not visible from engine bay), engine side, transmission side ), I find the engine mount collapsed by few centimeters and evident from the assymmetry of the rubber on the side. (Photo pending ...)

If you get a new engine mount and you can appreciate the difference.
The collapsed mount causing the metal strut rokcing up and down and hitting the chasis mount and results in clunking.

Replacement is simple and does not need to slip under the car (in which replacement of Mercedes E-class engine mount needs to do so ) .

All you need to replace the engine side engine mount ( Right driver side if you are sitting inside the car) :
1) Foot long 3 inches thick wood, to be placed between the floor jack and the tranny.
2) Floor jack
3) Hex Socket : size 12mm ( to remove the relay box that hinder the access to the engine mount) , 14mm (for the engine mount) . You may need a long 14mm hex socket as one of the screw of the mount is longer than usual.
4) A hex socket extender of at least 12 inches long, as the rear nut of the engine mount is not accessible .

It should be a 30-60 minutes job if all the tools are in hand. The part is cheap and cost only USD $ 60.