Question - Drive Shaft Play

[jfo]

A question for our Audi techs or others who may have had issues with drive shaft vibration. I have been chasing a difficult to find vibration and think the drive shaft or shaft center bearing may be the problem. I need to know how much play should be expected in the movement of the shaft...both front to back for the entire shaft and around the center hanger bearing. I'm seeing about 3/8 " front to back. More concerning is the movement around the bearing. I get movement of the shaft in all directions when I grab it and exert medium force by hand. I can't see the bearing without dropping the heat shields. I believe the bearing is surrounded by rubber damping material, so some movement may be normal.
Unfortunately the bearing isn't available separately...you need to buy the entire drive shaft!
Any experience with this?

[snolvr]

Subscribed because I feel like I have the exact same issue as you! Even same year and model. The vibration is slight, something I notice but my wife does not(it's her car)

In all my experience with Quattro systems, you should have about 1/2" of "play" in the shaft, both fore-aft and lateral. This is obviously to accommodate for different loads on the drivetrain. I recently had stage 2 oil consumption fix done and I asked the tech at Audi to check everything under the car that could possibly be related to a vibration. He found nothing other than a passenger side motor mount that had just started to separate. Hoping this would be the answer I had them replace both motor mounts to which nothing changed. The tech then swore that most vibrations are wheel imbalance related which I knew he would say. A brand new set of winter wheels and tires this last fall did not change the vibration on the car. I only feel it at 60-80mph.

Questions: at what speeds do you notice the vibration? Have you eliminated the possibility of a wheel imbalance/bent wheel/separation in the tire?

[jfo]

Subscribed because I feel like I have the exact same issue as you! Even same year and model. The vibration is slight, something I notice but my wife does not(it's her car)

In all my experience with Quattro systems, you should have about 1/2" of "play" in the shaft, both fore-aft and lateral. This is obviously to accommodate for different loads on the drivetrain. I recently had stage 2 oil consumption fix done and I asked the tech at Audi to check everything under the car that could possibly be related to a vibration. He found nothing other than a passenger side motor mount that had just started to separate. Hoping this would be the answer I had them replace both motor mounts to which nothing changed. The tech then swore that most vibrations are wheel imbalance related which I knew he would say. A brand new set of winter wheels and tires this last fall did not change the vibration on the car. I only feel it at 60-80mph.

Questions: at what speeds do you notice the vibration? Have you eliminated the possibility of a wheel imbalance/bent wheel/separation in the tire?

Well, this one continues to be a mystery. It's actually more like a shudder/stutter than a vibration, and only occurs under certain conditions. It's not subtle and can be quite pronounced, perhaps not like what you may be experiencing. It first appeared only when traveling uphill, just before the trans kicked down as the engine labours a bit. Flat roads at any speed would be fine and I could accelerate with no issues. It's not wheel related and didn't change when I swapped my winter tires/wheels. Then it progressed to being noticeable when accelerating from a stop, but was not consistent with any particular pattern of acceleration, etc. It can feel like a rapid misfire or fuel flow problem, but no codes have been set and it will not reproduce when driving at cruising speed. So far I've replaced the engine and trans mounts with no change. Yesterday I had a shop check it over and they found nothing. The tech had trouble replicating the shudder. It now seems to be prevalent when cold, but dissipates when the cars at operating temp. This is suggesting something other than mechanical things like mounts or bushings. Since I posted this morning I have inspected the drive shaft center bearing and the movement I'm seeing looks normal...no signs of the rubber torn or degraded.
So, I'm stumped and it's really annoying. My dealer is 3 hours away and is currently booked out to May 25. I don't mind dealing with things that break but hate this type of problem.

[johnnySV]

i have a perfect driveshaft from my 2010 Automatic. it was removed at 38,000miles when i did the manual swap. it looks brand new since it came from a salt-free state. PM me if you're interested in buying it!


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[didyouseethat83]

I have the same issue on my 14' A4. I do however have warped rotors and cupped tires that I need to replace here soon. Hopefully that solves the issue!


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[sferraro]

Subscribed because I feel like I have the exact same issue as you! Even same year and model. The vibration is slight, something I notice but my wife does not(it's her car)

In all my experience with Quattro systems, you should have about 1/2" of "play" in the shaft, both fore-aft and lateral. This is obviously to accommodate for different loads on the drivetrain. I recently had stage 2 oil consumption fix done and I asked the tech at Audi to check everything under the car that could possibly be related to a vibration. He found nothing other than a passenger side motor mount that had just started to separate. Hoping this would be the answer I had them replace both motor mounts to which nothing changed. The tech then swore that most vibrations are wheel imbalance related which I knew he would say. A brand new set of winter wheels and tires this last fall did not change the vibration on the car. I only feel it at 60-80mph.

Questions: at what speeds do you notice the vibration? Have you eliminated the possibility of a wheel imbalance/bent wheel/separation in the tire?

Hey, Chad. Are you by chance running the wheel spacers when you notice the vibration?

The front ECS Tuning spacers are only 8mm, and even though they're hub centric, it's still tough to get them to seat properly. When I first installed them I think I got them to seat pretty well, but noticed after a tire balance and rotation at Discount Tire that I got the slightest vibration in the steering wheel at like 72mph. So slight in fact that my wife didn't notice it when she was driving - but I could feel it.

I don't know if you ran the spacers with your winter wheels or if you reinstalled them with the rotors, but just a thought.