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In Volvo world this week:

I've been sensing vibrations through the car body this week and assumed it was the wheel balancing or lost a weight from one of the wheels. Anyway I got home last night and as soon as I got out the car there was the 'sweet' smell of what seemed like engine coolant....I popped the bonnet and saw black oil under the engine mount and it was dripping underneath the car at the cambelt end.

Looks like the engine mount's hydraulic fluid has leaked out and my god the stuff STINKS it nearly made me retch with it's sweet oily 'burnt' smell

Now on the lookout for a replacement.

The symptoms are vibrations through the car at around 60/70mph and a slight lurching when coming on/off the throttle (more engine movement).

You can see the blackish fluid leaking at the bolt positions:



And under the car:

And in the wheel arch:


At first I thought it was the Power Steering fluid or Engine Oil but looking at it carefully and looking on line I found other similar cases to confirm the problem.

The fluid leaks out like a black oil and then evaporates/dries leaving brown stains.

Damped engine mountings? That seems a bit industrial, do Ovlov/Frod really expect a petrol engine to thrash about that much or is it another example of adding more layers of technology where none was actually needed?

Just order a new mount (the rubbery fluidy part).

It was only* £91.00

Can't help thinking the recent Kangaroo jumps have fractured the poor mount

Welly wrote:In Volvo world this week:

I've been sensing vibrations through the car body this week and assumed it was the wheel balancing or lost a weight from one of the wheels. Anyway I got home last night and as soon as I got out the car there was the 'sweet' smell of what seemed like engine coolant....I popped the bonnet and saw black oil under the engine mount and it was dripping underneath the car at the cambelt end.

Looks like the engine mount's hydraulic fluid has leaked out and my god the stuff STINKS it nearly made me retch with it's sweet oily 'burnt' smell

Now on the lookout for a replacement.

The symptoms are vibrations through the car at around 60/70mph and a slight lurching when coming on/off the throttle (more engine movement).

You can see the blackish fluid leaking at the bolt positions:



And under the car:

And in the wheel arch:


At first I thought it was the Power Steering fluid or Engine Oil but looking at it carefully and looking on line I found other similar cases to confirm the problem.

The fluid leaks out like a black oil and then evaporates/dries leaving brown stains.

Is it just me welly or is your rear tyre below the legal limit in that photo

No but it does look like it there!

I'm still on Winter tyres I only use it for work now (about 80 miles per week) so haven't been arsed to change to 'normal' tyres. There's plenty of tread depth but the shoulders have worn a bit on both sides of the tyre. There's only 3 months left before Winter/November so I might just leave them on

Welly wrote:There's only 3 months left before Winter/November so I might just leave them on

That's the spirit Welton!
(If memory serves we've been completely spared any semblance of winter since you fitted those boots)!
Saved me a fortune in heating bills - keep it up.

Have you had the mount done yet?

Is it me or has this Summer* been a bit crap weather-wise? sorry for the 'W' reference I personally need to stop the world revolving for a few weeks so I can catch up.

The mount is on "special order" whilst I drive the thing like there's a fresh egg balanced on the bonnet

I've not really been following the weather there, from what I hear it's either too bloody hot or it's been raining for months, no happy medium. Here, low 30's with the odd thunderstorm to make it unbearably humid most of the time.

Most of the wet stuff seems to be avoiding us for some reason: I was watching a thunderstorm last week, it cam East across the Adriatic, across Istria heading our way but it petered out at Karlovac so we got nothing, but kicked off again when it got past us towards Zagreb. Then on the radar images I watched a rainstorm coming from the Adriatic split in half, with one half heading South to Dalmatia while the other headed North to Slovenia, missing this part of Croatia entirely. Was it something I said?

Fill it with urethane foam?

New mount is on and much improvements. I reckon the old one was getting lazy for a while; the rubber was in a right shonky state all cracked and that. The seal that retained the fluid had parted company with the main aluminium body and embarrassed itself. Didn't get a photo opportunity

The car is nice and smooth on/off the throttle and gear changes noticeably more direct (guess the engine's not flapping around now).

Labour £45.00