Today my daughters '98 cav made some seriously bad noises while she was heading to work. Luckily she was close enough to home that she walked back and took my car to work. I retrieved her car and drove it home. It mad REALLY loud clunking noises going into gear, although it was quiet when traveling at steady speeds. This has the 2.2L ohv engine with the 4 speed auto trans.

I got it up on jack stands and found the following:

A bad motor mount (the 'dog bone on the lower passenger side)

When the transmission is in park., engine off, I can still turn the front wheels

When I turn the front wheels there is a noticeable delay before the drive shafts engage (like maybe 1/8 of a rotation)

Can bad mounts cause this sort of problem? Or is the tranny toast?

I can't seem to find the transmission mount, maybe because I don't know what I'm looking for.

This car gets very hard use. We live 2 1/2 miles down a private dirt/rock road from the nearest pavement, with serious hills. I have had to replace the transmission pan gasket 5 times in the past two years due to rock damage (but I'm getting pretty good at it!)

Is it worth it just to replace the mounts and see if it fixes the problem? No one is looking forward to the cost of replacing this, and my daughter really likes the car.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice

Follow up

Today I replaced the 'dog bone' engine mount, which came out more easily than I expected (once I realized that the nut was welded on), and it seems to have solved the problem.

I am still somewhat worried about the transmission mount, which I still haven't been able to locate. It's got to be under there somewhere, right? While the transmission is straightened out, there are still clunks and bumps from the front end. I'm thinking I might have to replace front struts.

tim