'87 4000 Quattro CLUNK!

[Paul Heneghan]

> From: Christopher Flanner <christopher.flanner at marquette.edu>
> Could someone with a non-clunking 4000 Quattro PLEASE check to see if
> their driveshaft has about 5 degrees of slop and pings if you rotate it
> with a quick jerk?

Mine has more play than that, but it doesn't clunk.  It used to clunk, but I
replaced the rear diff mounts (one of which had completely disintegrated)
and it stopped clunking.

I had proof of what was causing my clunk by jacking up a rear corner
(safely).  Then I put the engine in 1st gear and put a breaker bar with a
socket on the hub nut for the rear wheel I had just raised.  When I rotated
the wheel clockwise and anticlockwise, I could hear the clunk (but much
quieter).  Peering under the car while doing this showed the rear diff was
leaping up and down and it also exposed the innards of the wrecked diff
mounting.

I think you need to be brutal with your car.  Get some big levers and start
levering at some suspension parts looking for abnormal play.  MAKE SURE THE
CAR DOESN'T FALL ON YOU.  BTDT!!!!  Alternatively, find a respected mechanic
and pay him for an hour's work and he will find out what's causing the
clunk.

Paul