curlyone1

Three months ago, I purchased an 07 Fusion with 85k miles and experienced a similar issue two months later. What sounded like rattling and lots of metal on metal 'grinding' was caused by a 'broken' bolt actually rattling around inside near the engine, it came from the idler pulley. The dealer replaced it, it was covered by my bumper to bumper warranty. However... two weeks later, more rattling from the front end only this time MUCH worse sounding, accompanied by popping, snapping, lagging of the engine, and very loud groaning (almost like an exhaust issue) all at the same time. I had it towed immediately to the dealer where we learned BOTH bolts from the engine mount have now broken off as well. This is not covered by the warranty. The dealer experienced minor concern, saying its not common but Vermont does a number on cars. I am contacting the manufacturer and reporting both issues. Have you done this? Word around here is stress, age, and engineering malfunction are to blame. Could potentially become a recall issue but only if we report it. The question 'how does this happen?' remains to be unanswered, to me. I am a life long VTer, I drive my cars into the ground and have never had this happen, nor have I ever heard of it happening to anyone else until I read your post. Tightening it too tightly, could cause it to crack and eventually 'break' or wear off. From a technical point of view when this happens, do other parts become compromised? In your case the belt? In my case, other bolts nearby that are also wearing out? I will repost when I learn more details. I'd love to hear from you. What have you learned?