[Tinom]

I’m yet to figure out a strange clunk and thump noises coming from the front of the car when it sometimes shifts. A friend test drove the car ( a B5.5 V6 4motion ) and he said that wasn’t exactly a transmission problem he couldn’t say it wasn’t 100% but it just didn’t feel like it. Also it does it from time to time and otherwise shifts are very smooth and sometimes can’t even feel em. Here’s the kicker, I rebuild my whole transmission and now the only thing left is the valve body ( my mechanic for the transmission said it’s not perfect for his standards and it may kick once in a fool moon but it will drive ). So I’m ruling out the transmission. Another two things I noticed. Sometimes I can feel the whole car move when doing the PRND shifting in place when the car isn’t moving and the last thing I did was just 2 hours ago when I opened the front hood and looked what the engine was doing when I was on D and holding the brake plus applying a little gas and i know a motor has some small movement by im not sure I should see the front of the motor move up and down so much to notice it right ? About 2 inches movement I guess.

 

[Tortelious]

Sounds like a bad or nonexistent snub mount.

 

[Tinom]

Sounds like a bad or nonexistent snub mount.

Is that the little rubber mount that sits somewhere in front ?

 

[Tortelious]

Is that the little rubber mount that sits somewhere in front ?

Yes, that's it.

 

[Hirnbeiss]

Not uncommon for the motor mounts to have disintegrated sometime in the past decade. Open the hood so you can see the engine from the drivers seat. With your foot firmly on the brake pedal to prevent the car moving, put the car in gear and give it some gas. If you see the engine move significantly, you have confirmed bad mounts. Put it back in park, turn off, replace mounts.

 

[Tinom]

Not uncommon for the motor mounts to have disintegrated sometime in the past decade. Open the hood so you can see the engine from the drivers seat. With your foot firmly on the brake pedal to prevent the car moving, put the car in gear and give it some gas. If you see the engine move significantly, you have confirmed bad mounts. Put it back in park, turn off, replace mounts.

Well it did move. Idk how much is normal but I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t notice it so much. Will get the car to the shop and fix it next week ( I do need new brake disks anyways ) and sort it out.

 

[Hirnbeiss]

I don’t think there’s a spec on allowable movement, more like a subconscious recognition of “that doesn’t look right”.

 

[graham.tillotson]

Not sure of the timing of your transmission swap in and out, but when I replaced the motor/trans mounts on my 2002 Passat GLS Wagon the transmission mount plate on the driver's side (the one covering the shift position sensor) was cracked in half at the bolt hole. Assume you would have seen something like that when doing the transmission work. Replacement of the mounts helped, though my choice to use the polyurethane snub mount was a bit dumb. Now everything is on the tight side and I get a higher amount of vibration sitting at lights. Prior to this work I was definitely getting some movement going in and out of gears.

Graham

 

[Tinom]

Not sure of the timing of your transmission swap in and out, but when I replaced the motor/trans mounts on my 2002 Passat GLS Wagon the transmission mount plate on the driver's side (the one covering the shift position sensor) was cracked in half at the bolt hole. Assume you would have seen something like that when doing the transmission work. Replacement of the mounts helped, though my choice to use the polyurethane snub mount was a bit dumb. Now everything is on the tight side and I get a higher amount of vibration sitting at lights. Prior to this work I was definitely getting some movement going in and out of gears.

Graham

I didn’t personally do it, had a guy that’s local here and very good with 5HP19s and he did say one thing is left and that’s the valvebody. Only problem is he said that even if it kicks it’s gonna be a once in several months. That’s being sure in yourself. He said he did check the trans mounts and while they weren’t broken he couldn’t say how good they might actually be outside of the visible side. He did say tough that the whole driveline and probably other parts have small imperfections from the years the car sat and that noises clunks and all that from small imperfections here and there will amount to big things. His opinion was that I should get the car checked as a whole and start rebuilding whatever is broken. We will see. The thing shifts great in all just sometimes the clunks and whole thump of the car is what gets on my nerves.

 

[Tinom]

Not sure of the timing of your transmission swap in and out, but when I replaced the motor/trans mounts on my 2002 Passat GLS Wagon the transmission mount plate on the driver's side (the one covering the shift position sensor) was cracked in half at the bolt hole. Assume you would have seen something like that when doing the transmission work. Replacement of the mounts helped, though my choice to use the polyurethane snub mount was a bit dumb. Now everything is on the tight side and I get a higher amount of vibration sitting at lights. Prior to this work I was definitely getting some movement going in and out of gears.

Graham

I’m kinda up for the polyurethane swap even if I vibrate at lights as long as I eliminate as much of the kick as possible. You know at the end of the day the dude could have done a bad job with the rebuild but I hope he hasn’t, here doing such a thing is expensive and if you fail you are pretty much shunned. He’s also a client for the company for car parts I work for so that gives me more hope.

 

[jdyonker]

Sounds like a bad or nonexistent snub mount.

Yeah what he said. The engine may even be hitting the firewall. Ask me how I know

 

[Tinom]

Yeah what he said. The engine may even be hitting the firewall. Ask me how I know

I did notice once for the last month the real kick from the valve body acting up that my mechanic said it will do from time to time and it was quite different from the regular hits I experience. I really hope you are right about the mounts

 

[PZ]

It's very difficult to visibly check trans mounts on a V6 4Mo. I found mine were shot when I swapped out the trans for a 6sp manual. I had no excess noise, vibration, or issues shifting. The center rubber bushing was torn through, but the outside edges were good and the metal was intact.

 

[Tinom]

Hey everyone. Just got the car changed new discs and pads. Mechanic said all was good. No mounts or anything that’s bad. Suspension is firm as it should be and he didn’t feel anything strange with the transmission. My other mechanic that worked on the transmission and my coworker ( we work at a company that sells and delivers car parts ) that also is one of the previous owners of my Passat Saudi was just feeling the lock up. They tried to explain to my paranoid brain that I can’t expect the 5hp to act like a 2013+ auto as it just isn’t as accurate as they are. And to be fair I think they are right. Another friend drove my car last night ( he has a A6 with the 6hp ) and said the car is fine and I should just calm down and stop trying to find problems where there arent.

 

[Xantantris]

Good to hear. By the way, refurbished trans. valve bodies are reasonably priced. Couple of Google searches should point you in the right direction.

 

[Tinom]

Good to hear. By the way, refurbished trans. valve bodies are reasonably priced. Couple of Google searches should point you in the right direction.

Might fix mine. He said he can do it but if it doesn’t bother me so much I might even drive the car like this. We will see. Nothing urgent so far. Thanks to all for the replys