Proton Waja Engine Mounting

Folks, imagine this. Having your Waja travelling at 100km/hr and the next you know; it generates heavy (irritating) noise as if the exhaust piping has been massively modified to match those super F1 cars!

Yes! That’s exactly how my Waja reacted every time I accelerated her to 100km/hr (needless to say when it exceeds 100km/hr). Knowing that the sound wasn't like any other normal Waja, I decided to hunt around for exhaust experts (well, the only thing that I could think of was exhaust related problems, that was causing the unwanted noise).

After consulting 3 exhaust experts, none of them could actually identify any issues with the exhaust system; not even a single crack or hole was found along the exhaust piping. Weird!!!! What else could cause such a noise?

Since exhaust experts could not identify any defects, I drove off downtown, to my usual car mechanic that I send my car for routine servicing. When the mechanic took my car for a test drive, he realized that the noise was not meant to be on a standard Proton Waja (Phewwwww, thank god he realized that...the rest of the so called exhaust specialists, claimed that the noise was normal on Proton cars…duhhh…… #@$#%$#%).

After approx. 1 hr of thorough checking, the mechanic managed to identify the root cause of the noise. It was nothing but the engine mounting that was causing the noise all the while. When the mechanic pointed out the root cause, I wasn't that convinced (that an engine mounting could cause so much noise). Anyhow, he guaranteed that he would replace back the older engine mounting if the noise was still there even after the new replacement. Hearing this, I felt a little more comfortable and thought of taking the chance to see if engine mounting was the cause of it. It took almost 3 hrs for the engine mounting to be replaced.

Upon installation, I was told to start my car. God gracious...believe it or not...the moment I ignited the engine....the noise level in the car was close to 0dB (versus a 100dB before this)....super silent...At this point, the mechanic looked at me and went...."How is it now? You cant hear a single noise now, eh?"...I just smiled.

Just to double confirm that the F1 noise was indeed purged out 100%, I took my car for a test drive. Again, to my astonishment, there was no noise at all even at 140km/hr. Nothing could beat my happiness at this point; it was simply nice to know that my Waja is back to its normal condition, just like how any other standard 1.6 Sedan car should be (for its cabin noise level).

Total cost for the engine mounting replacement (front/rear) + workmanship was RM480. Couldnt care much on the pricing as the job done was super clean and the result was beyond satisfactory level. For those of you who have not seen Waja's engine mounting, here you go:

Believe it or not, after getting the engine mounting replaced, not only the F1 noise was eliminated, even my dashboard noise (which used to generate funny noises) was also eliminated all together. In addition, every time I warm up my car in the morning, the engine doesn’t die off anymore (versus before, I had to ignite the engine like twice every morning). Man! Engine mounting does make a lot of difference.

Now, what had happened to my old engine mounting, that it needed a replacement? For those who are not familiar, engine mounting is generally meant to hold a car’s engine onto its body frame. Engine mounting usually comes in heavy metal form (exterior) with solid rubber (interior). In order not to make things too technical and complicated, let’s put it this way. Car engines usually generate vibration when they are ignited/on the run. These vibrations that are generated will need to be dampened or absorbed by something (ie: the engine mounting), failing which the vibration will further extend to the car body (causing unwanted noises in the cabin) as well as devastating other parts within the car (this usually happens when the engine mounting is unable to take even 1% of the engine’s vibration). In my case, the interior rubber on the engine mounting was found to be super hardened whereby; it could no longer absorb the engine’s vibration. Now, that simply answers all those ‘uninvited noises’ in my car.

So, car owners out there (especially Waja). If at all you feel that your car is generating excessive noise at high RPMs, look out for your engine mounting, as it may need to be replaced.