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I have a 2012 Civic LX automatic with 135k miles. I noticed a vibration when at stop lights a while back and want to figure out what it is so I can fix it. The vibrations when stopped at idle go away if I press the accelerator to slightly raise idle speed by maybe 100 RPM or so. There is also a clunk when shifting in and out of gear and when hitting the gas from stopped or nearly stopped.

These symptoms have led me to look into motor mounts. The motor does move back and forth when I press the accelerator with my foot on the brake and the car in drive, but I don't know how much movement is normal. I put a pry bar under the passenger side mount and it seemed fairly easy to move up and down, but again, I don't have a great reference point.

I am trying to be more confident in my diagnosis before I spend almost $500 on a set of OEM mounts. Thanks in advance for any input.

 
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Here's a video of the engine while I'm revving the engine with my foot on the brake and the car in park.

 
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Visually inspecting the mounts should be pretty indicative. Excessive play or collapsed rubber. Worst case, prop the engine up on your floor jack and take them out and post pics here.

Either way, you shouldn't need to be spending $500. The upgraded polyurethane ones are less than that. A quick check on RockAuto is showing me that all three replacement mounts can be had for less than half.

Just saw the video. Mounts are a safe bet.

 
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Thanks for taking a look. Any recommendations for the upgraded PU mounts? I'm a bit leery of aftermarket engine mounts after reading multiple accounts (including on this forum) of them going bad quickly or making the vibration issue worse.

 
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Well, the poly ones are much stiffer than stock and designed for performance, so that would be why. Probably not worth buying those in your instance but it was just to prove a point.

DEA or Pioneer are decent aftermarkets that I've had experience with. They're about 85% of the way to OEM for 40% of the price. I don't tend to own cars for terribly long but they lasted the few years I had each car. Beats the hell out of bad mounts, anyway.

 
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I was able to get the car up on jack stands today to get a view of the dog bone in the back of the engine. No noticeable issues, but I really couldn’t see the larger part that connects to the frame since it is blocked by the frame and a cover plate.

I did put a flat blade screw driver between the bracket and mount of the passenger side motor mount and can easily move the motor by just twisting the screwdriver. I’m thinking this is my culprit. I also noticed that the gap between the bracket and mount body is just under 3/8in. I wonder what a new mount looks like.

I think I will go ahead and replace the passenger side mount only for the moment due to time and budget constraints. I will plan to do the dog bone at the next oil change and the transmission mount in the near future as well.

 
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I think those passenger mounts are known to fail and collapse. Maybe try an anchor brand mount?