britoki (Brian T)

Yesterday the weirdest thing happened to me. Car is a 97 1.8T auto tran. <p>I let off the gas at approx 25 mph and started coasting towards a hill. I was coasting while heading into an incline, then slowly tapped the gas.<p>However, there was little engine response and it was revving up the RPMS, but no car movement. Continuing to press the gas, it still revved higher and went "clunk" loudly, and then the transmission engaged. It sounded like I hit something actually but the road was clear.<p>I sort of think the auto tran had set to a high gear since I was still at probably 3rd gear while coasting to slow down, but somehow stayed in 3rd when I applied the gas on the incline. Then when it realized it should have been in first, it hurridly slipped back down to the correct gear.<p>Yikes, I sure don't want to hear that there's a tranny problem, please tell me this is nothing to worry about :>)<p>Brian T<br>97 1.8T QS AT

ChuckH

I was driving around in '98 2.8 Q-Tip, and when I was turning a corner, I pushed on the accelerator a little to accelerate, but nothing happened, so I put the pedal down about 3/4 way to get out of the way of the car behind me, and the engine revs went to about 4K RPM or maybe even 5K, and then suddenly there was this fierce clunk and the car lurched forward. I checked out the rearview mirror for transmission parts and was wondering what was going on. Well, it turned out that my friend, who has a brain injury and is very fidgety and always playing with things in the car (he actually owns the car; I drive), had put the gear lever into neutral while I was turning the corner, and then put it back in drive right when I had the revs up. Exactly the reason we don't use my car unless absolutely necessary. I've almost wrecked my 90Q a few times because of him! :-( Anyway, I asked him to never do that again, although I know he will. I just have to do my best to keep my eyes on him and the road!<p>Perhaps your gear selector got tapped toward neutral, or you assesment is also a possibility. I have found that automatic transmissions, in general, are easily confused when going from down hill to uphill, or uphill to downhill. I would certainly mention this to your dealer and see if it happens again. Atleast that way, it will be noted in your service records should a problem show up later. Good luck!<p>Charles<br>

skimants

On occasion I've experienced an annoying clunk when I corner and are about to accerelate. Its noticeable but doesn't sound as if it was to explode. Some others have commented on this as well and my recollection and observation is that this may be caused by the AWD friction / viscous plates spinnig at different speeds on a turn and the driveline is locking-up. Maybe. Doesn't happen often - once a month, maybe.<br>Hope this helps. <br>Skimants, 98.5Qspt-tip

ChuckH

...does not use viscous plates, but the TorSen diff I think makes some noise when it locks up. :-)<p>Charles<br>