Engine noise and vibration

I have posted about this previously, but I described it as a rough idle. Really it doesn't idle rough, no coughing or sputtering or uneven sounding. It sounds fine. It just sounds really loud inside the cabin, and there's a lot of vibration making it into the car itself from the engine, but ONLY when the car is in gear, reverse or drive. Shift to neutral and the noise is almost gone, rev the RPMs and the noise decreases but doesn't entirely dispappear. Dad speculated that because of this it could be something to do with the transmission, maybe trans mount or something and that makes sense to me. Any thoughts? I really can't afford to put too much money into this car, but when we bought it it was quiet as a cat when in gear. Thanks!

Forgot to mention, I have a 2000 Intrigue GLS!

From here this is nearly impossible to diagnose, many things can cause what your are describing, you really need some knowledgeable to check this out onsite. Yes could be a mount or some part of the exhaust grounding to the body and so on.

from here this is nearly impossible to diagnose, many things can cause what your are describing, you really need some knowledgeable to check this out onsite. Yes could be a mount or some part of the exhaust grounding to the body and so on.
+1.

Official diagnosis: 3 shot mounts, which I think would be all of them... so shot, in fact, that the engine has been sinking and grinding against the passenger side front axle. $750 repair job. Shoot me now.
So I'm pricing parts and trying to determine if I, with help from some family, can do some or all of this myself. I know nothing about axles, and what I know about mounts basically is 'support the engine with jack, unbolt mount, install new mount, remove jack'. We still owe $4k on this car. Christmas is in 2 days, and that is about the only time I will have to work on this.
Anybody know how to replace an axle? I'll do some searching on here.

the engine has been sinking and grinding against the passenger side front axle

That almost doesnt even seem possible. Did you confirm this yourself or just take the mechanics word for it? If it is true, I wouldnt mind seeing a picture of that.

Yes I believe there are only 3 mounts for the engine. The top one should be a piece of cake...Ive had it loose and off before and never had to jack up the engine.

No way the engine drops against the axle they are essentialy one unit. besides are the brackets broken or the rubber pads bad, even if they are bad, 750 is way too much. The labor time in the book is 4 hours, the mounts are about 220.00

That almost doesnt even seem possible. Did you confirm this yourself or just take the mechanics word for it? If it is true, I wouldnt mind seeing a picture of that.

Yes I believe there are only 3 mounts for the engine. The top one should be a piece of cake...Ive had it loose and off before and never had to jack up the engine.
I took the mechanic's word for it. The place has a good rep around here, though they tend to price a little high but they back their work up with a good warranty. The 750 was including fixing the axle as well, the price was only about 550 for just the mounts. To be honest I don't even know what to look for at the axle, he just said it was "slinging grease everywhere." Maybe the damage to the axle is unrelated to the mounts, which I don't give a rip about, since if it's damaged it needs to be fixed regardless, right? So this morning I am calling around to places getting prices on mounts, will probably just do that this weekend, and praying that some place is open after 1 when I get off work!

Btw that top mount, is that the one on the right-hand side of the engine when looking from the front? Mounts to the frame above the radiator? I have wondered about how hard that one would be. Honestly that one doesn't look that bad, so I don't think it is causing most of my issue. I don't hear extra banging around when I shift so I'm not hitting the fan shroud or anything. I think I have read that there is a lower front as well, and a back, and a tranny, so including that top mount would make 4, or were you just talking engine mounts?

I was just talking about engine mounts, I think theres only 3, but like I said Im not sure.

It sounds like your axle issue is unrelated, and it also sounds like the axle issue is a torn CV boot...which most people usually replace the joint in that case. The axle cv-joints are what allow your "axles" to put power to each front wheel but still remain flexible and move with the suspension and steering...they are covered by a rubber boot and packed with grease, which is probably what he was talking about with the grease being everywhere.....depending on which joint it is, it can be a fairly labor intensive job if im not mistaken.

To do this work you need a lift, a way to support the the drivetrain to remove the mounts, the axle is about a 1.5 job, the strut is usually partially removed to access, as mentioned this is normally not a dyer type repair without the proper tolos and some guidance and a lift.

I was just talking about engine mounts, I think theres only 3, but like I said Im not sure.

There's a front right, rear right, top left torque strut, and transmission mount. I'm doing everything except the torque strut since that looked fine, but if it turns out later that it isn't fine it's an easy to get to piece so no big deal.

Ok, changed the front and tranny mounts. The rear is pretty much impossible without lifting the engine out to reach the bolts, and I don't have a lift, but following chilton's advice and lifting it with a floor jack and a long block of wood under the oil pan worked very well. The front mount was totally trashed. I'll post a pic if I can figure out how. I mean the thing was actually in two pieces. Tranny mount wasn't too bad, some cracking, but it was easy enough to change so we did it. The rear mount from what we could tell looked ok, but that one has to be the reason this books as a 4 hour job. I'm going to return the rear one that I purchased and change that torque strut too. You don't even need to raise the engine to change that one.
For reference, the tranny mount is right behind the driver's side tire. Take off the tire and the cowling behind it and you've got a great view of the mount and all four bolts. Easy.
The front mount is tricky, but we pulled out the fan assembly and the mount is on the passenger side of the engine. Easy to find from below, hard to get at from above. Hands at funny angles, wrenches in tight spots, etc etc but not too bad.
You can reach one bolt from the top of the rear mount by taking off the passenger side tire, but the other top bolt is right behind a piece of solid steel. That was the whole reason we couldn't get the rear mount off, because there is no room for a wrench in that space, way too tight.
Didn't get any pics of it, but I think I see what the mechanic was talking about with the axle. Definitely lots of grease. It wasn't grinding against the engine, I think he meant the subframe because there was a clear indentation in the pile of grease on the subframe right below the boot. I suspect the bad mount allowed the contact. I probably still need to change that, it isn't that expensive of a buy. Anybody ever change an axle?