Hello, I recently replaced the passenger and driver side motor mounts on my 2006 2.0L engine Mazda 3. When I started installing everything back the way it was, I noticed that the airbox housing wasn't aligning to the bottom of the tube where the air is supposed to come in from. I tried squeezing it as close to it as I can but it won't fit and there's just a huge gap on the side. It also felt like the battery terminals wouldn't reach the negative terminal anymore and I had to pull it hard to get it on. I was not aware if the car had this alignment issue before fixing the mounts, and now the car idles very low and erratically when its stopped in drive (which might be due to the battery being disconnected or maybe this gap is causing it to happen). Is there a chance I incorrectly installed the motor mounts and everything shifted back a little bit?

 

That's wierd. Did you have the engine supported before taking off the mounts? Did you do them at the same time or separately? Very interesting.

The car is now lacking the proper air:fuel mixture that it needs to hold a steady idle and have proper acceleration due to this gap in the air box

 

Hello sorry for the late response, yes I supported the engine with a block of wood and I did the passenger side first, then the driver side a few hours later. The driver side mount was extremely hard to align and even though it bolted in fine, I feel like that might be where the issue is. The only one I still need to do is the rear transmission mount. The old motor mounts were completely shot and I was surprised the engine didn't fall to the ground when driving it home haha. It also feels like the air box sits too high, so even if it did align, it wouldn't fall into the tube where the air comes from. Any advice would be helpful, I might just take it to a mechanic if I can't find any answers.

 

Was it supported just with wood? Or the wood was on a jack? That'd be the best way to do it. By jacking up the engine with a long piece of wood supporting the engine and transmission. You should have no problem aligning the new mount with the holes and the engine if it was supported properly. If you have time, might want to give it a shot before spending the money on mechanic. Good luck!

 

Yes wood on a jack. I'm replacing the rear mount tomorrow, hopefully, that aligns things for the airbox housing. Thanks!