Bollocks! (Long)

[Kent McLean]

Listens,

Gawd, it hurts to own an Audi.

The other night went to watch my kid play baseball
(like cricket, only different). My GF met me there.
After the game, we drove back to the apartment and
pulled into adjacent spaces. I lowered the window
and turned down my radio so we could discuss which 
car to take to dinner (she doesn't trust my Audi;
go figure). 

I talked her into taking my '89 200 TQ. She opens the 
passenger door, sticks her head in, then says, "We'll 
take mine. Yours is billowing smoke."

Well, it wasn't smoke, it was steam. Having just 
replaced the radiator, I couldn't f'n believe it. 
I popped the hood to see the steam coming from the 
overflow tank. Strike One! We took her car.

That night, I browsed Scott Mockry's site to see
how to test the fan (as a few people suggested 
might be the problem before I discovered the
split radiator). It seemed simple enough. Pull
the thermo switch connector, turn on the ignition,
jump some of the pins, and watch the fan work (or 
not.)

The next day I got into the car, turned the key, and
nothing. Nada. Nil. _F!_ I immediately checked the
radio. After talking with the GF the night before, 
I forgot to turn it off. Dead battery. Strike Two!

The next day I return to the car and pull out the 
jumper cables. I popped the rear seat (can't get a 
good connection from the remote jumper post), hooked 
up the leads to the dead battery, then hooked up the 
positive lead on the good battery, then the negative 
lead. Got a little spark, not a problem. Went to try 
starting the Audi. Nothing. Again. Went to check the 
connections. There was a small fire at the negative 
lead of the good battery. Sh!t. Pull it off, blow it 
out. The jumper wires were HOT. I re-checked the leads 
at the dead battery. Some flaming @sshole had carefully 
mis-connected the red/positive jumper cable to the 
negative side of the dead battery. 

I reconnected things properly. Car started after its
usual 7 or 8 cranks. Ahhhh.

Turned on the radio and Nothing. Nada. Nil. Oh, oh.
I think I fried my new replacement radio. Strike
Three! I'm out.

That brings me to my two questions:

1) How do you get at the radiator's thermo switch?
   I can't see diddley down there. The Bentley manual 
   shows it on the right rear of the radiator. Do you 
   have to take off the rear shroud and fan? Can you 
   get at it from below?

2) What could I have fried by reversing polarity
   on the jumper cables?
   I'm hoping the dead radio is just a fuse; I haven't 
   checked it yet. (I need time to cool off.)

3) What is the easiest way to get 12v switched
   current to the radio?
   I want the radio to go off when I take the key 
   out of the ignition.

Thank you for your wisdom and understanding.

Kent McLean, distraught
'89 200 TQ, distraught