I have a 2017, 4-cyl, Toyota Camry with 236,000 miles. Recently, the vehicle has been shuddering on acceleration and after reaching highway speeds. I took it to my mechanic today and he said all four engine mounts are bad and need replacing. Cost? $2069. Ouch! Besides shopping around for a better deal, what are my options? Thank you.
Besides shopping around for a better deal, what are my options?
Hope that the shudder is not being caused by your transmission going out. Has it been serviced regularly over its 236,000 miles of operation?
I thought about the tranny. My mechanic said he thinks the transmission is fine. It shifts fine. For the past 50K miles it revs just a bit on first shift and then nothing else. The transmission has never been serviced. I know. I know. Stupid of me. I asked my mechanic if it should be serviced and he gave an emphatic "No!" At the time I had 220,000 miles and he said whatever build-up is on the clutches and gears is keeping it operational. Flush those deposits out and it will start slipping like crazy. I've taken his advice and left the tranny alone.
I took it to my mechanic today and he said all four engine mounts are bad and need replacing. Cost? $2069. Ouch!
If you have a floor jack, put a piece of wood between the engine and the jack, open the hood and slowly jack from the engine. If the engine moves without the car itself following suit, you have bad motor mounts. Simple hand tools and a torque wrench are all you need to replace engine mounts.
I find that hard to believe, personally. All 4 motor mounts shouldn't go out almost one after the other, unless maybe you drive down pothole heaven all the time. I would also be suspicious of the transmission if it's never been serviced.
took it to my mechanic today and he said all four engine mounts are bad
You need to get a second opinion. Yeah, the car has high mileage, but I'd be surprised if all the motor mounts were bad on a 7 year old Camry.
Check the top 'dogbone' motor mount yourself. It's usually the first motor mount to fail on a Camry. If it's still good, wouldn't surprise me if the other's are OK too
The transmission has never been serviced.
In that case you very likely have transmission problems.
I've taken his advice and left the tranny alone.
The right thing to do, but the damage had already been done by that time and the transmission has been running on borrowed time. That's what it means when deposits in the fluid from wear and lack of service are what's allowing the trans to work. If you check the condition of your transmission fluid it probably resembles sludge.
this seems to be an increasing problem with modern transmissions. Not just Toyota.
Manufacturers are saving money and making torque converters out of metal so thin that it easily warps with heat. Same thing that's going on with brake rotors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtGIUIPE6ik
AMD gives a great description of torque convertor shutter @ 13:42.
UPDATE...
I was skeptical of the engine mount diagnosis, especially in light of the comments made in this thread about "torque converter shudder". I had work done by this mechanic in June of 2023. They replaced the sway bar, struts, passenger-side CV axle, and tie rod ends. I met with the owner of the shop early last week. I asked him if he could re-check the engine mounts and determine whether that truly was the issue. The owner had one of his more experienced mechanics take my car for a test drive. The owner de-briefed the mechanic and then he met with me. It turns out the problem was not the engine mounts. The driver's side CV axle was shot. This is what was causing the clicking sound when I turned left and why the car shuddered on acceleration. I gave the go-ahead to replace the CV axle ($750 after tax) and the the problem was gone. So, I dodged a very expensive bullet...this time.
Thank you for all the good suggestions.
Thanks for the update . Obviously 'the doubts' were well founded. And your new mechanic/shop fixed the problem.