Loud clunk

FRANKGKOVACH

MEMBER
2003 MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER
4 CYL
AWD
AUTOMATIC
120,000 MILES

Here is my problem: going from park to any gear, if parked on a hill, there is a loud clunk which seems to come from right in front of driver. ONLY occurs when parked on hill and gravity is pushing down and backwards. Next, if going from stop and accelerate too suddenly the same type "clunk" noise is heard, but it seems to come from rear, and driver can actually feel in his seat somewhat an impact of some sort. Same thing occurs if accelerator is suddenly let off, when engine rpm's are high. This can be controlled by parking on flat surfaces or by accelerating v e r y gradually, and never letting off the gas when the engine rpm's are high. I THINK it is a transmission/drive train problem, but I am definitely no expert. This is an AWD car and I can't make heads or tails of how the system actually transmits power to the wheels, but I think the problem lies in there.

4 Replies

NORCALSAINT

MEMBER
1 POST

My 2003 AWD is doing the same thing. Did you ever figure out what it was?

Thanks, NorCal

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Monday, February 7th, 2011 AT 2:00 PM

FRANKGKOVACH

MEMBER
3 POSTS

Yes, it was the motor mounts and a bushing that holds the rear differential in place. I ended up just going to the dealer and having them look at it. First of all they said that three out of the four motor mounts were either broke or on their way to being broke. I told them to replace them, which cost some money, and that fixed most of the problem. Upon picking up the vehicle I realized that there was still a jolt, much more muted, which seemed to be coming from behind the driver. Took it back, they threw it up on the lift, and this time discovered that the rear differential was loose in its mount. I could see the mechanic lift it up and down with about an inch and a half of play. It's supposed to not move at all. So, that was all it was. My wife was in an accident in that car, when she got rear ended in the rain at an intersection and consequently rear ended somebody else. All the cosmetic damage had been fixed for some time but I think that both of these problems started then and got progessively worse. There are a lot of vibrations and high torque situations from the engine to the rear diff and I could definitely see how if a mount was damaged so that it didn't hold whatever it was supposed to hold as tight as it should have, you would basically start a cycle of destruction until it either completely, catastophically failed or you fixed it. All in all, a simple problem, but an expensive one.