ModifiedA4

no really, they suck.

Audiboy

Place car up on jackstands

Inspect the transmission mounts and the rear diff mounts to make sure they are not worn, torn or loose.

Check to make sure your suspension links are tight. Check for no play in the links and ball joints.

Inspect to make sure all the axles and propeller shaft bolts are not loose.

Turn each wheel back and forth to see if you hear any clunking in any of the CV joints. You're going to have eight of them.

If all sounds quiet, then lift one rear tire only (any side). While in Park, rotate the wheel back and forth and listen for any clunking. If you still hear it and in the tranny, then chances are it's the Torsen or could be in the tranny, but not the converter.

If you hear the rear diff, then you probably isolated it to the diff.

If you didn't hear anything, try lifting up one tire up front instead. Rotate the tire back and forth. If you now hear something, it could be the front diff. I can't recall if the front diff uses a separate oil from the tranny and torsen. In any case, might be good to check if there are any separate oil tanks you need to replace.

Torque converters usually don't have a mechanical clunk sound as you are describing. It is a viscous coupled unit which means the there is oil dampening between the input to output. The oil is pumped in via the transmission pump. If you have a problem with the pump, the tranny will not go in any gear.

egustaps

I bought a tie rod end from Pure MS last week and will attempt to install this weekend myself. I can't imagine this could be the cause tho... there is a little bit of play in the joint itself, but not much.

Will try your experiments.

Audiboy

the whole chassis forward. Any play will result in a clunk if it is metal to metal contact. This might be confused as a drivetrain issue.

egustaps

from Wiki:
Constant velocity joints are usually reliable and largely trouble-free. The two main failures are wear and partial seizure.

Wear in the outer joint usually shows up as vibration at certain speeds, a bit like the vibration caused by an unbalanced wheel. To determine if the joint is worn, a driver should find a big empty car park and drive the car slowly in tight circles, left and right. Worn joints will make a rhythmic clicking or cracking noise. Wear in the inner joints shows up as a "clunk" or "pop" when applying power, or if severe, when lifting off the throttle.

NOTE: THIS IS EXACTLY MY SYMPTOM!!! THE POP IS THERE BOTH WHEN APPLYING POWER AND WHEN LIFTING OFF.

Audi Quattros use them for all four half-axles and on the front-to-rear driveshaft (propeller shaft) as well, for a total of ten CV joints.

Audiboy

haha, well that is more likely. Keep listening. It's usually the front outer that wear out fast

egustaps

CV joint or tie rod end?

egustaps

SYMPTOMS OF CV JOINT FAILURE
Bad boots are not the only thing you need to look for. You also need to listen for noise or complaints that might indicate a CV joint problem. These include:
* A "clunk" when accelerating, decelerating or when putting the transaxle into drive. The noise comes from excessive play in the inner joint on FWD applications, either inner or outer joints in a RWD independent suspension, or from the driveshaft CV joints or U-joint in a RWD or AWD powertrain. The same kind of noise can also be produced by excessive backlash in differential gears. To verify the condition, back the vehicle up, alternately accelerating and decelerating while in reverse. If the clunk or shudder is more pronounced, it confirms a bad inner joint.

Audiboy

Where'd you get this stuff? AllData?

egustaps

expert opinion... leave the car for two hrs with them. Ultima Ltd. is name of shop. We'll see what they say.