I am in the process of replacing the engine and transmission mounts on a 2011 XF SC. I was hesitant of going DIY on this, but after getting quotes of $600 plus just for labor I decided to dive in. I have actually completed the engine mount replacements already. The passenger side engine mount is pretty straightforward; jack the engine up, remove the engine side mounting bracket, swap the mount and put it back together. The driver side engine mount is another story because access is very limited. The shop manual calls for disconnecting some AC lines and dropping the steering gear, but I was able to get the mount swapped out without doing that. I removed the top and bottom nuts on the mount and jacked the engine up far enough to maneuver the engine mount in/out. The old mount actually fell out as it had failed in two as you can see in the picture. I did have to loosen the bolts on the steering gear to squeeze the new mount in, but I didn't remove the steering gear and I didn't disconnect the steering column splines. I jacked the engine with a 2x4 just behind the steering gear. Now I am planning to deal with the transmission mount which looks like an easy job compared to the engine mount, but I have a question as to where to jack up the transmission. The transmission oil pan seems to be the only jack point, but as far as I can tell, the transmission oil pan is plastic. Is it safe to jack up the transmission from under the pan with a good sized piece of wood, or is there another spot that would work better?


Passenger side and driver side engine mounts, L to R.

 

I’ve seen someone use a large board under the pan to help support the tranny.

 

I ended up going with a 2x4 the width of the transmission pan. I was a bit skeptical but it seems to have worked okay, no leaks and the new transmission mount is in.

 

Where did you source the parts?

 

I went with Parts Geek for these. The engine mounts were $132 per (MTC brand) and the transmission mount was $200 (Eurospare), so almost $500 for the set. They looked to be of good quality. The engine mounts looked identical to the OEM mounts I replaced, and the transmission mount was a little more robust (thicker rubber). They are all installed now and the ride, shifting, etc. is smooth. The car had 88k on it and both engine mounts had failed or were near failure, and the transmission mounts had cracks in the rubber. Hope this helps.

 

My last task is to replace the seal on the brake vacuum pump which is seeping oil, but that looks like a piece of cake compared to these mounts.

 

Oh, and for the record, I determined that the engine mounts were bad by doing a power brake. I snapped off the inside plastic coolant reservoir mount in the process. Luckily I have a 3D printer to fix that problem.

 

Make sure you look at the vacuum pump first. Half the time, it leaks from the case or plastic connector for the vacuum line.