There's a fine example of a dry rotted rubber bushing. The rubber looses it's ability to flex, becomes excessively stiff/hard, and then begins to crack and break away. Motor mounts are more or less a large bushing between the engine and frame of the vehicle and will deteriorate with age the same way. You can DIY the mounts fairly easily if you're inclined to do so, I don't know your skill level. An independant shop can do them for less than Toyota wants to.

Do you have a problem with the way it rides and handles? Is there oil leaking from your struts if you look above your tires and lift the bellow by hand?

If they really are all bad, all 4 mounts can be had for about $150, and all 4 struts for about $300 plus labor and front wheel camber and toe alignment.

What mileage are you at? How old are your spark plugs and upstream O2 sensor? Have your throttle body and MAF/IAT intake sensor been cleaned lately? You may also have a slight vacuum leak at intake manifold gasket... As mentioned, get a second opinion and quote from independent auto service garages.

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http://www.charliesimportauto.com/

Ok everybody, I went to a independent autoshop called Sunset Auto Import at Henderson for a second investigation. I paid about $108 for an hour of diagnostics, and they found out that my car is running a bit too lean but not enough to set off my Check Engine Light. I told them beforehand that I had changed my spark plugs and cleaned my MAF/IAT sensor. They couldn't find a vacuum leak but they did use a spare MAF sensor to test the car, which immediately normalized my air/fuel mix.

They concluded that as for right now, I definately have a faulty Mass Air Flow Sensor so I immediately set out to replace it with a $80 AutoZone aftermarket.

They also told me that struts and engine mounts are the #1 source of revenue for dealership service stations. They remarked that while my engine mounts are worn, they are not completely broken yet and the wear and tear is consistent for a 152800+ mile car.

They told me that I have at least 20,000 miles on my engine mounts and no symptoms of failure was found on my struts. Which is about a year of mileage for me, and I would rather do it myself with a $300 engine hoist, torque wrench, and socket wrench set.

This is the last time I am ever taking my car to a Toyota Dealership except for every 2nd or 3rd oil change. The Desert Toyota Dealership in Vegas have made some very shady changes recently, replacing old staff with new staff, and I felt like they were trying to sell me a car the entire time. They even stopped me from getting my car back yesterday thinking I am trying to steal a car, when it took them forever to retrieve my car from the lot (I simply walked over to the left side, assuming that they just left my car there).

If you ever do eventualy need to replace any mount, you only need a regular floor jack. and a pair of 'candlestick' safety supports to secure front end up off the ground. No need to pull out anything. You just replace mounts one at a time.

When replacing struts, your stabilizer bar end links may be hard to remove. You need a metric allen key to hold the stud while loosening lock nut. If seized or stripped, you may have to sacrifice the boot and hold the stud from behind with Vise-Grips to be able to loosen lock nut. They sometimes need to be cut off, so you may consider replacing them (get Moog) as well as the stabilizer bar mount bushings. Lifting the steering knuckle as you tighten strut bolts back onto it to have negative camber ( /--------\ ) at closer to original position, will reduce camber and toe alignment throw off until you have it properly aligned, as required after front strut replacement.

From experience, I don't need a torque wrench to replace struts... You may well be overwhelmed if attempting any mechanical work for the first time, on suspension parts that are seized up from 12 years of rust and oxidation buildup. You need a good assortment of big and small tools, ready to tackle any situation.

More likely they were trying to push sales through to the front of the store, tell you that you'd be better off buying or leasing new...but in fewer words.

At 152K miles I'd do the mounts, especially if they're original. It will idle MUCH better again.

On an 02 Rolla I'd look real hard at the intake manifold gaskets, a very common and hard to pin down vacuum leak source. They're probably bad, but maybe not bad enough to cause a noticeable problem right now. It's easy enough to replace them with a set of metric hand tools.

My 2002 Corolla LE is also a stick shift, but it has 228,000 miles. My mounts are getting a little worn, but not that bad. When I was at Goodyear, the tech told me under hard acceleration, he could feel the mounts going out. I asked "why are you accelerating hard?" Then he downplayed it. I only went there for an alignment. I went home, opened the hood, then looked under the car and saw what I believe it normal wear for this mileage.

I replaced my rear struts with FCS complete coil over spring assemblies. Will be replacing the fronts sometime this year, although they do not fail the bump test. I got the rear FCS complete assemblies mailed for 120. Fronts are always 20-30 dollars more expensive than rears. For the fronts, I'm inclined to go with Monroe.

As far as the rough idle, I also noticed it when I bought the car at 212,000. After replacing the plugs with Denso iridium, I bought a new PCV valve from the dealer ($15) and put it in. Problem solved. I still have the original MAF sensor, I just keep it cleaned every once in awhile.

I missed it, but you don't need an engine hoist. You can use a floor jack with block of wood to lift the engine enough to do the mounts.

Hey thanks for the help you guys.

So as it turns out after a good month and a half of driving with a new $80 MAF sensor, it definitely fixed the idle issue.

No more idle-hunting, it stays on 600-700 without A/C and on hot days with AC on it'll average 800 RPM. Once every two weeks, the idle will go down for like half a second, and then the engine corrects itself and begins idling normally.

When I get more student loans in the Fall, I am going to get myself a few tools and quick-strut replacements to work on my suspension. I did the bump test again yesterday, and while it passes (it bounces up to two times), I hear "creaking" noises. Like those noises you hear in those old high school romance movies where the couple makes love on top of a cliff or behind a billboard.

In another topic, does anyone know the exact dimensions of my hood panel for a 2002 Toyota Corolla Sport? As far as I know, the S-trim has slightly different dimensions versus the ordinary LE or CE Corollas.

I want to purchase a Decepticon Hood Decal from EBay, but it asked me for my hood dimensions, and I want to know exactly how much of my hood is USABLE. Maybe I should go for a Twisted Metal Theme, with the evil clown "Sweet Tooth" taking up a majority of my hood, side panel and door real estate by submitting my measurements to a custom art and logo shop. You know, to warn potential reckless drivers of me.

On my rear bumper and trunk, I placed 5 "intimidating" bumper stickers in response to numerous road rage incidents (that I retaliated and could have been arrested), as well as news reports of rising hit-and-runs in Las Vegas. It seems to work, I have a "Beware: Road Rage", a "I Brake Check", two "I Drive for MPGs, Please go Around" stickers, and finally a "I Drive a Stick Shift, I Roll Back On Hills" sticker on the center of my trunk.

So far, it works just like how I want it to, like how pufferfish inflates themselves to scare off predators, or poisonous frogs having bright colors to show that they are extremely toxic. Today, I had a few cops following me around staring at me, my car, and through my windows.

Last Fall, I got pulled over with a few of the threatening bumper stickers and the motorcycle cop kept asking me if I have a gun before he, assured that I am not armed, cautiously wrote my ticket XD.