Fan Shrunk! Bad Motor Mounts?

Discuss (and cuss) the Nissan LD-series OHC Six diesel engine, popularly available in the US in 1981-83 Datsun/Nissan Maxima Sedans & Wagons.

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Carimbo
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Fan Shrunk! Bad Motor Mounts?

#1

Post by Carimbo »

Spent a lot of time under the hood this past week. Stuck at home, snowed in.

Noticed the radiator fan shrunk almost 1-2" in diameter! Huge space between it and the top of the radiator shroud, almost no clearance at the bottom. Driver's side motor mount looks sound (although I'm not really certain how it should appear), passenger side a little hard to inspect, need to take a closer look in good light.

Anyone else seen this?
Carimbo
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#2

Post by Carimbo »

Finally able to get under the car to snap some pics. Could anyone compare to their car and see if mine have collapsed? New mounts are $50 each, special order and I'd rather not go thru all that process unless my motor mounts truly need replacing.

Here is the driver's side motor mount, from underneath the car, rear looking forward thru the power steering lines, frame rail to the left, engine to the right. Judging from the metal brackets it looks like it has collapsed but I don't know what it is supposed to look like:
Image
My guess is that the rubber block should be somewhat more vertically centered in the U-channel outer housing, the part that bolts to the frame crossmember.

Another shot, from above:
Image

And another, closeup:
Image

This one shows the fan almost scraping the lower shroud, there is of course plenty of clearance on the sides and between the fan and upper shroud:
Image

Misc. info: Mount upper nut is 14mm, lower nut (hidden in crossmember extension channel) is 17mm. Driver's side definitely much easier to access.
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kassim503
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#3

Post by kassim503 »

sounds to me like they are collapsed, but I cant compare at this exact moment cause my car isnt here, also its a gasser, not a diesel, but the mounts are probably the same
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
diesel-man
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#4

Post by diesel-man »

It is a common problem, probably due to the awesome torque of the LD28 or the slight chance of the passage of 25 years of time. Too bad that Nissan didn't use the same vendor that made the hoses, for the mounts.

How many people have had a maxi diesel hose give out? How about a poll? If you just wanted to have new hoses, your vote doesn't count. :cry:
dlh
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Location: Denver

#5

Post by dlh »

I have a hard time believing the motor mounts collapsing enough to cause the fan shroud damage like that.

How is the rear transmission mount?
crank pirate, cannibalistic zcar owner
1982 280zx turbo 4 spd auto
1973 240z, lsd, cv axles
Carimbo
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#6

Post by Carimbo »

dlh wrote:I have a hard time believing the motor mounts collapsing enough to cause the fan shroud damage like that.

How is the rear transmission mount?
Tranny mount seemed OK, probably post some pics of it later, for comparison. I would think if the tranny mount failed the front of the engine would be tilted up when at rest, not down.
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asavage
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#7

Post by asavage »

Mine on the '82 look much the same as yours. You did better taking pics than I.

LH:
Image
Image


RH
Image


I do have a resonance at certain engine RPMs at certain loads, but I'm thinking it's either a deteriorating rear exhaust hanger, or the tailpipe is a bit too short and I'm getting resonance between the road and the rear. It's not very bad, except it's annoying on one steep 30 MPH hill (speed limit: 30) I climb every day.

I have at least two spare new OEM trans mounts (for AT) and one motor mount (aftermarket, LD28, but I don't recall which side). Want me to try to remember to take pics of them?
Regards,
Al S.

1982 Maxima diesel wagon, 2nd & 4th owner, 165k miles, rusty & burgundy/grey. Purchased 1996, SOLD 16Feb10
1983 Maxima diesel wagon, 199k miles, rusty, light yellow/light brown. SOLD 14Jul07
1981 720 SD22 (scrapped 04Sep07)
1983 Sentra CD17, 255k, bought 06Jul08, gave it away 22Jun10.
Carimbo
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#8

Post by Carimbo »

asavage wrote:I have at least two spare new OEM trans mounts (for AT) and one motor mount (aftermarket, LD28, but I don't recall which side). Want me to try to remember to take pics of them?
Thanks for the in-car photos. Pics of the new ones would be great if not too much of a hassle. Otherwise a visual comparison of the new to old ones would be worthwhile. So far, our in-car mounts look identical. I can't help inferring they are collapsed by looking how they are sitting in place with the metal parts of the frame and engine sides practically touching.
Carimbo
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#9

Post by Carimbo »

diesel-man wrote:It is a common problem, probably due to the awesome torque of the LD28 or the slight chance of the passage of 25 years of time.
diesel-man, sounds like you are talking from experience. How many motor mounts have you had to change in your Maxi fleet? Could you tell from my pics that mine are bad?
diesel-man wrote:Too bad that Nissan didn't use the same vendor that made the hoses, for the mounts. How many people have had a maxi diesel hose give out? How about a poll? If you just wanted to have new hoses, your vote doesn't count. :cry:
Had to replace the radiator overflow hose-- maybe that is not fair-- couldn't tell if that one was OEM.
diesel-man
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#10

Post by diesel-man »

diesel-man, sounds like you are talking from experience. How many motor mounts have you had to change in your Maxi fleet?
I have not replaced any. It is more like the "old Woman living in the shoe" too many Maxi's, to worry about restoring them. The fan will wear as gravity takes it's toll. I keep up what is necessary though. There ara a lot of crazy things about these Maxi cars... the rear struts are crap, the front ones are great. I've only had to replace maybe two hoses out of many on the fleet. Rear calipers are so so, front ones are great, etc.
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kassim503
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#11

Post by kassim503 »

diesel-man wrote:... the rear struts are crap, the front ones are great. I've only had to replace maybe two hoses out of many on the fleet. Rear calipers are so so, front ones are great, etc.
The rear struts are just terrible, too undersized for the vehicle
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
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asavage
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#12

Post by asavage »

Carimbo wrote:Pics of the new ones would be great if not too much of a hassle.
The LD28 motor mount is the same for both left & right sides: 11220-W2500, for all years.

Image


This is one of the transmission mounts: 11320-W2500. It fits all MT LD28s, and AT LD28s to Jun-82. (All ATs (gasser & diesel) from Jul-82 have a completely different rear crossmember and twin/smaller/softer(?) mounts)

Image
Regards,
Al S.

1982 Maxima diesel wagon, 2nd & 4th owner, 165k miles, rusty & burgundy/grey. Purchased 1996, SOLD 16Feb10
1983 Maxima diesel wagon, 199k miles, rusty, light yellow/light brown. SOLD 14Jul07
1981 720 SD22 (scrapped 04Sep07)
1983 Sentra CD17, 255k, bought 06Jul08, gave it away 22Jun10.
Carimbo
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#13

Post by Carimbo »

Thanks again, Al, the pictures are worth a thousand words. By comparison, the ones in our cars are too far displaced along the y-axis, and the isolating rubber too far compressed. My fan blades are taking a toll, and yours... well, I hope it doesn't get that bad before you get a chance to change your motor mounts.

The tranny mount photo was helpful also-- looks like mine should be changed also.
goglio704
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#14

Post by goglio704 »

I wonder if this is why my Blue car is so much noisier than the other two. Maybe I have noise coming through the motor mount. I did notice that the extra fan that I got with the Texas car has wear on the tips of the blades.
Matt B.

83 Maxima Sedan, LD28, 5 speed, white, 130k miles. My original Maxima.
83 Maxima Sedan converted from gasser, LD28, 5 speed, 2 tone blue, 230k miles
82 Maxima Sedan, LD28, 3 speed auto, 2 tone Gray/Silver, 140k miles
81 810 Sedan, LD28, 3 speed auto, rust, rust, and more rust!

2005 Jeep Liberty CRD
Carimbo
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#15

Post by Carimbo »

New mounts arrived today, installed them before dinner! Would have been faster but the passenger side mount did not want to come out, engine would not raise enough on that side. The hangup was the damper. Unscrewed it and the mount practically fell out by itself. Damper damps, BTW.

Here are some comparative photos:

This shows the driver's side new mount installed-- compare to some of the above photos from my or Al's car:
Image
Paint on the rubber is flaking.

Side by side comparison:
Image

Old mount overlayed on new; shows offset difference of isolated to frame:
Image

Old mount overlayed on new; shows thickness difference:
Image

Results: More space between fan and bottom of shroud; not equidistant to top however.

Drive test results: Not yet! It's Dinnertime! Kid's hungry!
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