[V8] Major electrical problem!!!!!

[Tdehoff at aol.com]

Dear group:

Today the Audi gods frowned on me.  We were in Chicago land (we live in Iowa) 
attending our sons graduation from UTI (tech school for Car nuts) who 
happened to graduate 2nd in his class.  Anyway after the graduation and tour of the 
school we were headed out to eat when our 1990 Audi started to have all kinds 
of weird electrical malfunctions, horn sounding, lights flashing, wiper fluid 
spraying, along with smoke and electrical fire smell coming out of all around 
the dash and engine compartment.  We stop immediately and the Son was to the 
rescue with his tools, got he back seat off and the battery cable undone.  Took 
the car to a local mechanic who was recommended by a person but someone we 
have no knowledge off.    

This person upon describing what happened made a preliminary guess at a snap 
ground strap. The car has had a definite clunking sound when turned to the 
left when under acceleration which UTI Son thinks was a bad motor mount.  Local 
mechanic asked if car made any sounds if turning one way or the other which led 
him to believe that the ground strap could have snapped. 


 Guess my request from the group is this.  Given what I have described does a 
snapped ground strap seem plausible and if so what kind of damage might I 
expect to see in the wiring harness of the car once the grounding strap is 
repaired.  Is it possible to get lucky and not have any permanent damage any advice 
would greatly be appreciated.  

Iowa Tom 
1990 V8 158K