FTO AUSTRALIA

Hey guys,

Just got a letter from VicRoads after a couple of their engineers checked my car out (for a recall... long story but luckily it was all free etc)

Everything was good except, "Engine/transmission support member rear mounts bolt cross threaded and not sufficiently tightened"

I have no idea what this means, is it something I could do myself or would it be best to take it to the mechanics (I'll be going soon for suspension and a service anyway...)

Cheers

That a mechanic job. The nuts that those bolts tighten into are welded inside the subframe..

Just run a tap through it

lol, and some locktite

Bennoz wrote:lol, and some locktite

Live by that sh*t. We have machines running more rev's a day than a car will do it in its life time and never have loose bolts. It helicoils you got to be suspect on.

So I brought it to my mechanic who didn't really know what it meant (how reassuring)

He thought it was the main bolt on the sub-frame next to the transmission (under the battery). Is this right or is he way off? And I only saw one main bolt.. does "cross threaded" mean that there are multiple bolts which are the wrong way around or something?
Car is due for another VicRoads inspection on Tuesday so I gotta call my mechanic today if it's wrong

Thanks a lot fellas,

Cheers

That's a cross threaded bolt, note the smoothed area? if it's bad it will never tighten. It happens when a bolt is done up stupid tight as most bolts have a torque rating for fastening.

Other times the bolt and nut may fuse together which is A VERY BAD THING (tm).

Last cross threaded bolt i had was also on an engine mount, it ended up loosening which broke more bolts and almost had the engine touching the ground which would have also been A VERY BAD THING (tm).

Thats a bolts that's too long for its application! ^^

Thanks again for the advice guys.

My mechanic said it took him hours to fix it even though we initially thought it was a simple job (He's a good family friend so no, I doubt he was trying to rip me off for labour lol). Something about the holes for the bolts being damaged etc, and it was really dangerous to have the bolts so loose.

Here's some photos I took while under the hoist... the engine/transmission support member is just the long black part with only a couple of nuts and bolts?

hugekim wrote:the engine/transmission support member is just the long black part with only a couple of nuts and bolts?

sure is

Bennoz wrote:Thats a bolts that's too long for its application! ^^

And yet still cross-threaded (was the only decent pic I could find on google at short notice)

mr-charisma wrote:

hugekim wrote:the engine/transmission support member is just the long black part with only a couple of nuts and bolts?

sure is

Otherwise known as a Crossmember