Clunks, now vibration, quattro issues?

[BigAardvaark]

Hi,

Ever since getting this car, once warmed up in the Winter for an hour or so and at any time in warmer weather, there is a regular "clunk clunk clunk clunk clunkclunk" upon setting off. Seems to be coming from the rear or centre of the car. Only in first or second up to about 10mph. Is definitely road speed related in it's frequency - at a guess, every rotation of the wheels. Just recently I'm also getting a vibration in the whole car, nothing through the steering like you would with balance/tracking, it's almost as if there are ripples in the road surface. This vibration starts at 50+ MPH and seems to phase in and out, 3 seconds or so of vibe, 3 off, and so on.

After reading as much as I can I personally suspect the propshaft but wondered if any peeps on here might have a clue?

It's doing me melon in so my next question is, any good specialists in the Wigan area who would know quattro?

Ta!

Ian.

 

[quattrojames]

Certainly sounds like a universal or CV joint.

 

[BigAardvaark]

Can these parts be tightened/adjusted? Am I looking at the whole propshaft to be replaced?

 

[quattrojames]

I don't think so no. You've obviously got CV joints at each hub which are non-adjustable, and then the other joints are Universal joints (as far as I know), and these are all sealed non-adjustable units.

Then of course there's the diff's, I think both the Torsen diff and the rear diff are pretty bulletproof, you'd need to have a look/feel for any movement really.

A quick look on Google found this diagram for a Torsen set up.

 

[BigAardvaark]

Thanks for that, I've seen some photo's of the couplings of the prop at the gearbox end and rear diff end, there also seems to be a mounting point in the middle where the U joint is. I think! If I got a propshaft from a breakers for example, does anyone know if it's just a case of undoing the bolts at either end and the middle mount and swapping in the replacement shaft?