[226k]

For about a year recently I had started to notice a vibration at about 1000 rpm in my 04 Aerio hatchback with standard transmission. Swapping the upper engine mount (on the passenger side, under the airbox) with a better one from my parts car stopped the vibration. My parts car is an 04 sedan, without AC, that I bought new but with twice as many miles on it, so my theory is that there may have been less weight strain on the engine mount over the years. Maybe there had been less engine bay heat as well with no AC system to run and since I live in a mild/damp climate area. (There was a slight tear starting in the center of the rubber in the engine mount from the sedan, but noticeably less than the tear in the one I removed from the 04 hatchback.)
Previously, I had been noticing how heavy the rust flakes were on my harmonic balancer so I had swapped that, but the 1000 rpm vibration had not changed.
If you determine that the vibration is from an engine mount, and you decide not to order a new one from overseas, then maybe you could find a good used OEM one at an auto wrecker.

 

[226k]

Thanks for your reply. As the first mechanic noted when he disconnected the front mount the vibration went away. You fixed your vibration by replacing the right side mount (under airbox). Since I've already dumped so much $ into new aftermarket mounts and install labor I'm hoping to pinpoint which mount or mounts is causing my vibration. Don't know how you pin pointed which mount was causing your vibration and if you have any info on how you went about this I'd appreciate it. Hoping to do one mount
instead of two/three or all.

My mechanic drove the car a short distance, with the engine cold, and said it seemed like I had a bad engine mount then he used a pry bar to see if the lower mounts moved. Then we removed the airbox and checked the upper mount and it seemed to move more and so we removed it and saw the big crack in the rubber. It would be useful if you could look at the engine mounts that got removed to see if any of them look worn out or cracked.
On a possibly related note, I am surprised at how rust weakened my Aerios are underneath so you might want to look at the structural integrity of the engine cradle components and subframe assembly and look for missing bolts and/or worn rubber bushings.

 

[226k]

I don't have any engine mount currently removed to look at since I only had the right front (upper) mount removed from both cars and then installed the more worn out one into my parts car to continue to support the engine while it remains in the car. However I do recall carefully looking at them both and I am quite sure that the rubber guts of both of them looked the same as the mount in the bottom right corner of your first picture, (which you also show in both the other pictures). Mine also had that very thin, curved air space which I first thought was an additional crack until I looked at it closer.

Anyway the actual wear crack in the rubber on both of mine was about the same as yours when looking at the side view, as you have shown. On the mount from my car with the vibration, the crack in the rubber continued most of the way through to the other side of the mount. Whereas in the one from my donor car the wear crack had only just started.

I should also clarify that the engine vibration I had was, in my opinion, not very significant and I would say it had not changed much in about 10,000 km, but I wondered if it could be easily fixed. The engine vibration was only noticeable to me at a high, cold idle. But when driving the car the vibration was always a bit noticeable when coming to a stop as the engine rpm passed down through about 1000 rpm.

Have you watched the two videos made by Youtuber "Boost and Shutter" about Aerio motor mounts? You will probably find them helpful. He first goes through some other issues that can also cause a rough idle, and he shows good re and re procedures as well as pictures of the mounts he removes in his second video.

I hope that you get the problem figured out. It would be neat if you post your solution to the issue if/when you get it fixed.

 

[226k]

Since the vibration is quite excessive I wonder if it is also producing a little bit of noise, such that you could pinpoint it with a mechanic's stethoscope?