My engine mounts have started leaking on my 2015 V12 Vantage and will require replacement soon. The transaxle mounts aren’t currently showing any signs of leaking, is it normal to replace the engine and gearbox mounts together, or just the engine mounts.

I understand that the Aston mounts are expensive and it’s quite a labor intensive job. What price would be reasonable for the replacement at an independent?

Thanks

 

Curious, how many miles on your Aston? When I started looking for a V12S about 3 years ago, I can across a few that had leaking engine mounts. One, had a previous inspection record that recommended replacing the mounts with an estimate of $5,000 from a Bentley dealer. It's one of the reasons I decided to pay a premium for my 2016 V2S as it has a two year Aston warranty - towards the end of the warranty I'll have an independent shop go through the car to spot issues like that. The car that had the bad mounts also had a lot of other services that needed to be addressed. I offered a price that took deferred items into consideration which they rejected and I hear eventually it sold for less than I offered (about two years ago). I'd be curious as to how many other V12S owners have had to replace engine mounts. My buddy has 100K miles on his V12S with original mounts. Is it like the tail lights condensing, and occasional poorly made clutches being a manufacturing defect, or other issues that make them go bad?

 

It currently has 19,500 miles. It had 18,500 when I bought it in December. During the PPI we noticed that the mounts had burped fluid at some point, see attached picture, but the mounts and rubber were dry and showed no sign of ongoing leaks. So I budgeted to have them replaced at some point.

I’m guessing that the mounts burped some fluid a number of years ago, but as the car was hardly driven by the previous owned over the last 4-5 years, there wasn’t any sign of ongoing leaks. The 1,000 miles I’ve added has caused the mounts to start weeping fluid.

Yes probably a bad set of engine mounts, fortunately the transaxle look OK

 

Does anyone know why replacing these mounts are so expensive?

 

The mounts are only available from AM (no aftermarket), so you pay AM prices plus tariffs. Torque tube has to be disconnected, engine and subframe lifted, then everything realigned. Approx 15 hours of labor. It’s adds up quickly.

 

Why would you disconnect the torque tube? I think just dropping subframe would do the job, of course you have to hang the engine from top.

 

Exactly. It may have been presented this way to justify the cost. Regardless it's not a day job. I would probably wait and see if more fresh fluid leaks or if you notice a unusual vibration at idle or acceleration. There's lots of the same V12 engine's in earlier cars (DB9,DBS, Rapide) that have way more miles and no mention on the forum of failure.

 

I wonder who makes the OEM engine mounts? Its almost certainly a part that a small manufacturer like A.M. bought after development was paid for by a larger manufacturer. If/when they get pulled out, see if there are any markings. I know Mercedes Benz used fluid filled engine mounts in the S series and others, I am sure others do as well, and that there is some manufacturer that makes fluid filled engine mounts. It makes no sense to manufacture a part like that in house for virtually any car maker when off the shelf solutions exist.

 

I bet that if a generic engine mount that was not fluid filled, was used the driver would probably not know the difference.

 

I considered this a bit last night, and an older forum post here states that DB9 engine mounts are a Ford sourced item, specifically from the Thunderbird. It stands to reason then, that the V12 in the Vantage uses the same mounts. I haven't investigated this further, and do not have access to a V12, but....That avenue seems logical, and is probably available on Rock Auto or at O'Reilly's or Autozone for the parts.

As for installation, I can recall no examples in my experience, that one could not access engine mounts by lifting the engine from below with a transmission jack or similar, while on a lift, or at worst, jack stands, after loosening the retaining bolts. I haven't seen how the set up on the V12 is, but I would be very surprised if this isn't a possible avenue for the DIYer.

 

DB9 workshop manual shows 10.3 hours for a side, combined L & R motor mounts probably around 11 hours total.
Without a doubt a big job following the workshop manual.

Steps:
Remove the front subframe
Remove the Power Assisted Steering assembly - it blocks access to the motor mounts
Remove and install the Engine mount(s) - it shows a special small clearance tool for the top nuts
Put back together

 

And your still looking at a 4 wheel alignment after the subframe dro