clunk type noise

I'm wondering if this is the sign of anything serious. Sometimes after I start moving my car after a stop I hear a brief little clunk/pop type sound. It's from lower right and I hear it usually when I'm turning right. It's very brief. What could this indicate?

If this is rear wheel drive it could be the yoke on the drive shaft.

If it is not this it could be your control arm bushings or ball joint.

Assuming your post is correctly posted to the Taurus forum, the car will be a FWD so a yoke is not the issue.

As mentioned above, inspect the steering and suspension for any signs of worn parts. Assuming none are found, inspect the brakes to see if you have a brake pad that is loose and possibly moving around from the rust that will quickly form on the rotor after sitting in a humid environment for a short (or long) amount of time.

-Rod

Do broken coil springs have these type of symptoms? WHat would be the symptom of a broken coil spring?

Broken springs could make a clunk noise as well, but I'd expect them to also make a noise after you stop the car and it settles after the initial front end dive. I'd also expect that you would notice one corner of the vehicle sitting a bit lower than the other corners. Keep in mind the springs are what support the weight of the car, not the struts.

For some model years of Taurus in the rust belt there was a recall for rusted and broken springs that could puncture a tire, causing a safety hazard. Some folks reported broken springs even though their cars were not in the model year range listed in the recall and had to pay out of their pocket to have new springs installed. You don't mention what model year your Taurus is, but you can search this forum for specifics on the recall.

Also the noise could be due to worn or broken anti-sway bar end links or bushings. Of course any of these items should be pretty easy to recognize if the front end is inspected.

-Rod

Assuming your post is correctly posted to the Taurus forum, the car will be a FWD so a yoke is not the issue.

As mentioned above, inspect the steering and suspension for any signs of worn parts. Assuming none are found, inspect the brakes to see if you have a brake pad that is loose and possibly moving around from the rust that will quickly form on the rotor after sitting in a humid environment for a short (or long) amount of time.

-Rod

If its AWD would it not have a rear drive shaft?

FishFind, that is true. But I think Rod is leaning toward the fact that the AWD has only been around for just over two years and it probably wouldn't be a car that someone would be asking about on the forum. It would be covered under warrantee and they would just take it to the dealer.
Hey, what happened to being able to put your vehicle info in? I went to roque11 to see if it showed the year if they put their vehicle in and saw nothing. Then I went to my profile since I realized I hadn't updated for the Expedition I bought, and all my vehicles are gone. No place to put them back either. It sure was helpful to see that on the people that put the info in, to narrow their problems a bit when you could see the year.

Actually, I was referring to the comment in post #2 that said, "If this is rear wheel drive..." since there was never a production RWD Taurus. I'm anal that way. And, yes, with the 2010 and newer AWD option, the Taurus would have a rear drive shaft, but it's still not a RWD Taurus. And, yes, there are folks with AWD Taurus vehicles that have already put enough miles on their cars to be out of warranty.

As for why we can no longer enter our vehicle information, I'm not sure what happened to that. I suppose that feature went away when the My Garage feature was added.

-Rod

ok, thanks. I have never had a AWD or FWD so I was assuming it had a drive shaft but was not sure.

Generally with FWD cars the transaxle is mounted directly to the engine block (like a transmission) but the differential is in the same case as the transmission (hence the term transaxle I suppose). Power is distributed to the wheels via "half shafts" with constant velocity (CV) joints at each end. With a FWD-based AWD vehicle, there is generally still a transaxle but the transaxle will also contain a VCU or center differential and include an output shaft that will distribute power to the rear differential. The bulk of the torque is applied to the front wheels, but when slip is detected, more torque will be applied to the rear. There are all sorts of variations on this and how power is supplied to the rear, but in general this is the high level system layout for AWD cars.

-Rod