I had what looked like a broke or about to brake drivers side motor mount, I ordered a set from Lucky8, they were Britpart I believe. My drivers side turned out to be completely sheared. I replaced both motor mounts about 30k miles ago already, didn't last too long, not sure what brand I put in the first time. Anyway, immediately when I started the engine I could feel a vibration in the steering wheel, and when I put it in gear the car would have a mild vibration throughout the body that seem to come and go?? It's almost like it's worse when the engine is cold? I scoured over everything under the hood, couldn't find anything bent or touching the frame due to me jacking the engine up, I checked/jacked up the rear tranny mounts and they look great also. What I don't know is if the engine had this slight vibration for a while before, and I didn't feel it due to the bad motor mount? idk. Looking up at the damper when the engine is idling, I can see a slight wobble, the bolt is tight. any ideas?

 

Trans mounts?

 

I put a bottle jack under the transfer case, jacked it up and the mounts looked solid. I even removed the lower nut on the rear mounts so I could get a better look at them due to them having the shielding covering the rubber. They looked and felt fine..

I do have a slight "gravel" sound at idle that I've had for a few years, it's never really pronounced "here I am" yet. I've used a stethoscope to try and isolate where this mild sound is coming from, and it seems like it's around the front of the tranny? I thought it was possibly my flex plate, and about a year ago, I removed the inspection/torque convertor plugs and I couldn't see anything out of the normal, I have also read that you really cant see a bad/cracked flex plate through those holes. And it seems everything I've read about the sound a bad flex plate makes doesn't match what I am hearing with my rig. The reason I am bringing up the strange sound I have heard off and on over the last few years is...I'm now noting a slight vibration when the starter is turning the motor over, but not always, usually only on cold start. So I'm wondering if my flex plate is the culprit. When I have some dry weather I'm going to get back at it. Im going to read up more on flex plate issues on here.

 

I kind of have the same thing, always thought it was normal more or less, or possibly due to the Kent 180 camshaft, or because I don't have any carpet or any interior trim. At idle, regardless of gear position, I'll feel a slight vibration that lasts for ~2 seconds, goes away, then comes back at random intervals of like 3-10 seconds. New motor mounts all around, new flex plate, 8k miles on my full engine rebuild. Fwiw, I installed a brand new genuine crank pulley and it still has a very slight wobble.. so I think that's normal.

Thing is I don't really have anything to compare to as I pretty much tore down the rover as soon as I bought it. And I've never driven another rover

 

Interesting comparison Jeff, sounds very similar to my issue. I've put about 40k miles on mine and never had this vibration before....

 

Will it run without the serp belt? I've never tried, but it is a way to isolate anything rotating like the water pump, ac clutch, ps pump, etc.

 

I could look at that Lisa, I had an idler bearing just starting to make some noise a while back, I pulled it off and added some grease to the almost dry sealed bearing. I just had my hands on the clutch fan and water pump, they felt great.