Where does the clunk sound like it's coming from? Gearbox, front, back, side? Could be a propshaft UJ, or a drive shaft, or the Watts linkage on the rear axle maybe? We had that on ours but it only manifested itself when going over rough bumps, but your issue sounds different.
Have you checked the fluid level in the ACE resvoir just in case it's a wee bit low? I'd check that before deciding on removal. But if you do opt for removal it's not a major operation. Our ACE pump gave up the ghost so I decided to remove it. LR supply a pully that replaces the pump, which is pretty easy to remove, easliy accessed it's at the front right at the top of the engine at the front of the engine bay. Just a case of replacing it with the pully and fitting a new serpentine belt as I think it's slightly differnt size than the one that runs with the pump. The new belt came with the pully. The next thing to do is drain the resevoir and pinch off the pipes to the pump, but be careful to leave the resevoir in place as it is split in two and the right hand side is the power steering fluid resevoir.
I think the ACE locks itself out when the system fails, although I'm sure someone will be able to clarify, after I removed the ACE pump the wee orange light stayed Illuminated on the dash, took it to LR and the did the diagnostic clearing thing, which told the car the ACE had been removed, which stopped the hugely irritating bing, bign, bign for about 30 seconds, and the wee orange light was off, never to return. And the car passed 3 MOT's with the ACE removed, so that's not and issue. The handling didn't seem to be affected, felt much the same as before.
Where abouts are you located, if you're not a million miles away I'd happily come give you a hand if you're not sure of anything, I'm down in the Borders
hope this helps,
Jim
