JacobT

Any suggestions on possible cause of a loud rattle at idle, only when shifted into either drive or reverse. Car is 1994 968 with 95K miles - automatic (tiptronic) transmission, otherwise excellent condition. It's not an exhaust rattle, and it didn't have any recent work on it or road trauma. The sound goes away when I shift into neutral or if idle speed goes up even a little. It also goes away once you start driving. There are also rubber bits on the garage floor where the engine and torque tube meet. The belts are fine and cam belt was done 15K ago. The sound seems to be coming from the back of the motor, down low. The exhaust side motor mount rubber looks like it's falling apart somewhat. I'm thinking it's that motor mount deteriorating and spitting out deteriorated/cracked rubber when the car is first started. But, I've also read about the rubber auto transmission flex plates wearing out, and there is extra play in the drive train like you get with a worn out U-joint on a truck. Other thought is torque tube bearing but that wouldn't seem to correlate with the rubber bits falling out onto the garage floor or the fact that the sound goes away once I start driving. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

JET951

Hi JacobT , it sounds very much like you have a broken flywheel damper (Tiptronic only) part number = 944 116 065 04 , it bolts onto the rear of the flywheel and when they break they give the symptoms you mentioned .

Regards
BB

JacobT

Thank you very much. That seems to fit better than engine mount as an explanation because there is no real vibration problem. I understand that when the engine mounts actually go bad the vibration is quite noticeable. When flywheel damper goes bad the fragments of rubber actually do get dropped below the bellhousing as opposed to collecting somewhere internally?

xsboost90

they go around inside of the belhousing and can damage your ref sensor. Time to get that replaced asap- it can also damage the trans if left unfixed.