Hey there. I've got a 2000 A4 Avant 2.8 that just quit running the other day. I'm not able to supply any codes at the moment. The last day it ran, I started the engine, it ran for about 8-10 seconds roughly, then just quit. I tried jumping the engine and it just ran a few seconds and quit again. I charged up the battery because it was pretty drained from all of this and tried to start it. The wire from the positive battery terminal to the starter began to smoke a little and got very hot, too hot to touch.

I just installed a new fuel pump and I'm thinking now that the pump wasn't the problem. Do you think the starter is toast and/or the alternator? All the spark plugs are good, I checked them all. When I try to turn it over, the engine only very slowly turns over once or twice then I get the click, click, click like the battery's low or the starter's bad. Should I replace the entire terminal and wire from battery to starter?

What do you think? Thanks.

 

Could be the starter. Can you or did you check the amp draw when you engage the starter? The other possibility is that the alternator / voltage regulator has a short somewhere and that is causing your problem. but I would take the starter to an autoworks etc. and have it checked if you cannot verify the amp draw.

 

You have something wired wrong if its getting hot and smoking. Probably from when you did the fuel pump.

 

Sorry, I was in the hospital cuz of some stupid piece of metal stuck in my eyeball from grinding without goggles. They finally called my name when I was writing.
But anyway. It sounds like an alternator to me. The car dying while running would have nothing to do with the starter. Do you accidentally have the positive battery lead grounded out? Cuz that will cause very hot cable and smoke. If you pulled it off and put it back on the battery, it would spark like hell too. Id also check all your fuses because you probably blew one or two.