Shifting Linkage Play And Noise

[morg96ls400]

Hi guys,

I have pinpointed the clunking noise even further to several possible culprits.

First of all, i took off the wooden interior molding around the shifter box, finding that there is a very audible "click" everytime i slightly press the brake down. This is the lock that makes sure you do not shift out of park before your brakes are engaged. However, I don't believe it should be so audible as a loud "click." So i have a theory that the owner before me somehow damaged this part because the shifting linkage underneath the car has quite a bit of play in it like it is loose due to improper shifting.

My question is: how do you damage this? My shift from park to reverse is very rough-lots of resistance from the shifter knob as i try to go from P-R. Also, after it does switch, the driveshaft sounds torqued (only in reverse) so much that it makes a metal on metal noise (like a loose joint or worn down driveshaft bushing.

It was suggested that it may be a loose heatshield underneath the car hitting something, however it sounds more like a substantial piece of metal (such as the driveshaft or differential) that is making contact to create this noise. I have changed the transmission and differential oil recently, but could this noise be coming from a gear worn out in either one? It is only from P-R cold that this is occurring, and the noise dies down after several shifts. After some driving or it gets warmed up, the noise does not occur.

Any help/experience/tips/things to inspect/things to ask the mechanic to check would be very helpful, I'm not inclined to take apart the shifter it self and look to see what's going on as I would have to drop the tranny (out of my league). Thanks for the assistance.