Hey everyone, I searched the forums, but don't really know what I'm looking for so I really appologize if this is a dumb question. For your reference, this is a 2003 Audi A4 1.8T Quattro.

First of all, it should be pretty obvious I'm not a gearhead. I'm pretty handy and have enough tools to get myself into trouble though. So let me start from the beginning. I went out to grab a pizza tonight. I hopped back in my car after being inside for about 5 minutes. I hadn't left my lights or anything on. I try to start my car and it appears my battery is dead. The inside lights/dash lights are completely off. A guy in the parking lot sees me and says, "hey your brake lights are flickering, pop the hood you probably have a bad ground wire." OK, so I pop the hood and he proceeds to start jiggling the negative post on the battery and ground cable. The cabin lights and dash lights flicker on and off accordingly. Finally with a wrench he's able to lock it in place long enough for me to start the car. Great. The problem is its 10pm at this point. There aren't many car parts stores open at this hour. So I drive 30 minutes away to one that I know is open 24/7 (did I mention right before this all happened my cell phone died and I don't have a car charger? Awesome night so far...). I buy a battery cable and a battery (just in case it isn't the ground wire). I proceed to drive home. At this point, the car has been running for over an hour, if the battery was connected and charging properly it would be good to go. SO I turn off the car, wait a second put the key back in and same thing, no lights, no dash no ignition. I was basically expecting this at this point.

Here is where my real problems begin. I get the cable off the terminal in about 30 seconds. No problems there. I get to the ground part. I grab a ratchet and extension, and find the right sized socket. I turn. I turn harder. I turn really really hard. Nothing. I let it soak for 30 minutes in WD40. I try again, still nothing. I now noticed the nut is starting to get a little stripped from my turning. Argh. I go to the 24 hour drug store and buy a "Gator Grip" socket that is supposed to grab any sized nut/bolt even if they're stripped. I come back and try this. Nothing. I get the bright idea of attaching it to my power drill, which is a very nice powerful drill. Nothing, the stripping just gets worse.

Question #1
-How in the name of all things holy do Iremove this nut?? Do I need to cut if off?With what?

Ok, now to the part where I think I broke my car. Being a guy that hasn't really "worked on" modern cars, I thought that maybe I could use a different bolt to ground the battery. There was a bolt nearby between two hoses that looked quite convinient and tempting. With my power drill / gator grip combo I went to work, and as soon as the bolt was slightly loose, I found I had opened up something pressurized. Steam/gas shot out all over the place. As soon as I stopped crapping my pants and the explosion of gas stopped I quickly tightened the nut back down.The gaskind of smelled sweet like radiator fluid, but I can't be sure.It was kind of whiteish in color, but this could be almost anything when diffusing in the air as a gas I guess. This nut/bolt was attached to an aluminum plate that had two hoses coming into the plate on either side. One or both of the hoses may have been aluminum too, but they were definitely both covered by black rubber. I am suspecting this had something to do with the A/C or the radiator. But I really have no idea.

Question #2
-What bolt did I loosen and how badly did I damage my car? Can I fix it myself?

Guys I really really appreciate your help. I have no idea what I've done and I basically have to fix my car tomorrow. I can use my roommates car in the morning to go buy tools/parts, but I have a pretty limited time here. All of your responses will be genuinely appreciated!!!!

 

I have no idea what bolt you took out, or how to fix your battery cable issue, but I feel bad for you so the least I can do is bump your thread to the top. best of luck to you, I'm sure someone here will be able to help you in one way or another. oh, and welcome to AF.

 

#1#2 sounds like the AC only way to find out is when you use it but that wont screw you engine up ( a picture of that part would be nice )?,

the rear break lights flickering could be the break peddle switch ready to fail or it has a bad ground,

ignition lights failing to come on and battery sounding as if it were dead ( which it obviously isn't ) because you got the car started with that battery so im guessing you have a bad ignition switch and a common problem it seems of late,

so all in all a picture of the damaged bolt you took off and the area where it came from is a first request and welcome to AF

 

Bump. Also might want to have put this in Tech post.

 

Thanks for all the input so far guys. I'll grab some shots of the bolt I removed in a little while and throw them up here. I'm still struggling with removed the frozen/stripped nut. I'm off to buy a Dremel so I can just cut it off.

 

why do you think your ground wire needs to be replaced?

 

Yeah, just cut the old bolt on the old cable off.

Or, just cut the wire right next to the bolt, and find a new ground location.

 

personally I would like to see pictures before you cut anything off because if you did damage something serious and spark could blow you away

 

PUT THE WRENCH DOWN!!! and SLOWLY.... STEP AWAY FROM THE AUDI!!!

 

haha! I know I need to... These pics are ugly and contain graphic content, cover your eyes and hide your children.

Here is the bolt I undid where the gas leaked out; it is highlighted with a black circle around it. You can see the mangled ground bolt in the lower right hand corner:



Here is a wider shot that may give you a better frame of reference:



Finally here is the coup de gras, the completely mangled ground bolt. It has been chisled, hammered, drilled, stripped, extracted, blowtorched, and soaked in WD40... i have no idea what to do now except maybe just cut it off:



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