I own a 1990 1.8L Volkswagen Wolfsburg Edition Jetta... and just the other night when i pulled off the highway and started cruising at lower speeds, i started hearing a quick thumping noise coming from the bottom of my car. Sounded like it was coming from the right side. The faster i traveled the faster/quicker the thumping would be.. almost like it was corollated directly with speed... i'm sure it was. It really freaked me out, and i drove home on the highway anyway... and when i pulled off this time it seemed to have dwindled, it wasn't doing it anymore... so then i get in my car a day later, and it was doing it very badly again. Recently my car makes a metal sounding rattling noise when i go over bumps on the RIGHT side of my car, but not the left. It may have something to do with that... any help on this would be greatly appreciated.. thank you all.

-Dale

I have a 92 1.8L Jetta. I was having the same prob. The joint or axle that links the transmission to the wheels can break. The tranny is in the middle so there are 2 axels. On my car 1 snapped and all the power was put to the wheel because there was no traction and there was less resistance compared to the other side. Bring it to the shop and say u want them to check the CV joint.