so i've been looking into buying an a4 for its awd handling in the winter. Only thing that worries me is that all the ones i can afford have 100k or more miles. The guy selling this 98 a4 says he can do the 100k service for me (timing belt, pump, tensioners etc) since he is a mechanic. However he stated this to me.."There is a slight problem with the driveshaft right now, don't think it's installed properly hence there is some vibration on acceleration below 20mph, i think there's a special tool to reinstall it properly which no local shop has therefore it is vibrating a bit because of that (so i suspect)". I'm not familiar with audi's so if someone could translate this for me it'd be great? Is that problem an easy fix? Thanks

btw, car is a 1998 Audi A4 Quattro 2.8L V6 Automatic

 

First step is to take it to a good shop and have them do a full pre purchase inspection. Then get back with the seller. 100k miles is not a big deal except for maybe suspension stuff. The 2.8 is a very strong engine. Have him do the timing belt first and if it needs any suspension stuff try to work out a deal. The driveshaft thing sounds a little weird though did he do the clutch or something? I know a lot of people do these things themselves so I doubt it takes a special tool. Good luck!

 

okay so i looked into it some more and he said...


secondly, the cv axles were all checked, the rear pass side seemed a bit funny but it really isn't bad after i replaced the rear diff, the old diff was leaking oil so i'm guessing it was oil starving...the whole driveshaft was rebuilt, new center bearing, the cv joints on it were all repacked, ujoint is fine so wasn't replaced...in the service manual at audi, there is a special tool to realign the driveshaft properly, there's like another way to do it but i didn't do enough research on it to really figure out how, an audi dealership can realign it, if not maybe even a driveline shop that can rebalance the driveshaft can prolly do it too...just around

What do you guys think?

 

what driveshaft? the shaft that connects the center and rear diffs? that doesnt need balancing. theres no special tool for that that i know of. have you driven it? what do you mean vibration below 20mph? what exactly vibrates? where does it come from? (steering wheel, pedals, front, back, left, right, outside, inside etc)

heres a useful link...
http://www.blauparts.com/audi/audi_d....shtml#trouble

 

i have not driven it yet; the car is 4 hours away. That is all the info i have received from him so far. Thanks for the info, ill keep you posted.

Thinking outside of the given info, what drivetrain/suspension component would cause vibration at low speed? I can only think of a bad cv axle with the given info..