Lower gearbox mount bolt

[Michal]

With that bolt missing, the engine will move around a lot and easily cause more and expensive damage.
How did the inner joint become pulled apart, and that bolt become missing? There is bound to be some interesting story behind that.

My guess is that the mechanic screwed something up when replacing the lower gearbox mount in May last year.

Some time ago the car started to give faint rattling sounds from time to time, ranging from a single sound to short series. Then the car started to develop weird behaviour on the bends but I thought it could be due to worn shock absorbers.
About two weeks ago the car became really noisy under heavier acceleration but it sounded like a hole in the exhaust to me. On a way back home from an unfruitful visit in the garage (the mechanic was in a hurry for his long camping weekend and refused to have a look at the car), on an uphill street the car stopped transferring the power to the wheels.
The rescue truck towed it to another garage, where they took that picture I attached. Few days later they fitted a second-hand driveshaft that I sourced and as I wrote earlier, a too long bolt with some washers under the flange to compensate its length.
I have no idea how long I've been driving without that bolt, but it were definitely weeks since I noticed the car's handling became worse. Perhaps the bolt wasn't tightened enough and started to get looser until it fell out completely.

[Fummins]

Hopefully you get compensated for at least the cost of parts and labor for this eff up. Either way, I hope you don't let that person touch your car going forward.

[Michal]

Hopefully you get compensated for at least the cost of parts and labor for this eff up. Either way, I hope you don't let that person touch your car going forward.

Just to clarify, so far my Mirage has been dealt with by two garages/mechanics:
- The first, who replaced the gearbox mount and possibly failed to tighten the bolt and who is more interested in camping;
- The second who replaced the broken shaft, discovered the missing bolt and fitted a too long replacement found in a drawer (which, as a emergency fix seems to be a solution, but if I should be concerned, please let me know).

[Fummins]

Just to clarify, so far my Mirage has been dealt with by two garages/mechanics:
- The first, who replaced the gearbox mount and possibly failed to tighten the bolt and who is more interested in camping;
- The second who replaced the broken shaft, discovered the missing bolt and fitted a too long replacement found in a drawer (which, as a emergency fix seems to be a solution, but if I should be concerned, please let me know).

I just meant the first one that is likely the reason the bolt fell off in the first place. The longer bolt is a good temporary (permanent if you’re me) fix.

[foama]

What a story! I agree with Fummins that replacement bolt should be OK.
Maybe an aftermarket complete driveshaft would be economically best.

https://www.ebay.de/itm/275938234153...Condition=1000


https://www.ebay.de/itm/386941864948...Condition=1000