Parking pawl occasionally clicking. Am I in trouble?

[jmoorep5]

So, first off, I'm not a mechanic by any means. I've done simple jobs like starters, brakes, ignition systems etc, but nothing too complicated (almost everything i've done mechanically was on a '67 mustang which is much less complicated than modern cars like my p5). I was trying to figure out if I had a bad wheel bearing (which I do) and had my front end up on jack stands. I had the car in drive and after looking listening, walked over to my window and without thinking (like an idiot) and pushed the shifter into park. Of course there was the clicking of the pawl falling against the spinning tranny but, it didn't seem to be a big deal. It still may not be, but, over the next few weeks, I noticed occasionally, I'll hear a click or pop when I start from a stop or come to a stop, at first, I thought I'd better check my cv joints to be sure that wasn't what was causing the highway issue that ended up a wheel bearing. After doing the donut test both directions, no clicking, no problem, cv joints are fine. It then hit me, this clicking might be a bent parking pawl. I'm a little concerned since it seems that you have to drop the tranny to even inspect the pawl from everything I can find, but, I have not been able to find anything specifically for the p5. Hoping someone might be able to tell me on here if this is what's likely causing the sound and if it's a minor inconvenience, or if it's something I'm going to have to spend either big money or lots of time/effort fixing my mistake. Thanks.

 

[jtlinna]

Bump TTT

Id think the pawl would click just after you take it out of park or when you put it into park. All the problems i hear with the pawl is it slipping after you put it in park. Or it being stuck in park or wont go into park at all. Maybe my rambles will prompt someone who knows transmissions better to chime in.

JT