I have a mystery part question. Thought someone might be able to help me solve it. I found a random part not attached to anything just resting on the frame of my Prius just behind the lower motor mount. I was down there replacing some rubber exhaust hanger and seeing if I could reattach this lower heat exhaust manifold heat shield that came off when it rusted off around the bolts. Side question, don’t know if I can easily get it back on there…how important is it to try and get back on? (see this companion post: Exhaust Manifold Heat Insulator #2 | PriusChat) Here are the photos of where I found the part, both with the part sitting there and not: For the life of me I can’t tell where this thing came from and it didn’t seem to fall from above. So strange. Here are some photos of the part by itself: My hunch is that someone at a shop I took the car to at some point took this part off and placed it on this spot in the frame as they were doing work only to forget it was there when they lowered the car. My records for the car show the following service being done at different shops: - 11/2019 - Replaced Hub Assembly on Front Wheels - 08/2020 - Replaced Front Ball Joints - 11/2022 - Replaced Front and Rear Struts Curious what your thoughts are, are you able to ID this part? Car seems to be running very smoothly for the past few years, no major issues. Thanks!
Rubber on top and metal on the bottom? Looks like some sort of shock absorbing mount, and the bolt/stud which had passed through it, and through the hole below where it sat, is gone now. The shape and size is sort of similar to a ball joint but the pictures I found online of the front ball joints on the Prius didn't look like that. Perhaps under the outer rubber they do?
Take it to the shop and ask... My guess is that this part fell into that spot and the shop had those pieces on hand and simply used a new one rather than looking for the old one. Pretty sure if this part wasn't in place with a new one that you'd have noises and other symptoms.
I will guess that was some type of "tuned vibration damper" that came apart because of rust. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
12313-21030 Engine Mount Adjuster Bracket (For Transverse Engine Mounting). This part has come loose from the bracket. See how it should look.
Nice work recognizing that! Only remaining question: is this from the existing mount, or previous mount?
Judging by the photo, the bottom of this bracket is not very fresh. Corrosion has eaten away a fair amount of metal, so this part that fell off is most likely from the bracket in the first photo.
Wow! Amazing you could identify this. Thank you! Should I try and reinstall it back onto the bracket? Or should I try and get a new one to reinstall back onto the bracket? Or should I replace the entire bracket? Or should I just not worry about it for now... What would you do if it was your car? (I'm planning to try and replace all three motor mounts including the lower one...if that weighs in at all in your thoughts on replacing this entire bracket. I also want to try and do something about the rust on the bottom of the car....)
A new bracket can cost from 30 to 50. It is more important for you to inspect the car body from below in a special service to understand the scale of the disaster from corrosion.
