So I rear ended someone a few months ago (a truck and its bumper went into my grill) and decided to rebuild my 2003 Audi A6 now I'm out of school (I have a newer Bimmer I drive anyway). Nothing was knocked out of place in the engine but I couldnt get my car to go into drive (but reverse, park and neutral worked) after waiting for the officer to respond. From my research and the fact the fans not even knocked out of place or any belts and it only has 100k miles it might not be the tranny. My buddies brother who worked on Audis said he thinks replacing the radiator should make it work again and that its probably because my transmission fluid fell out during the accident. Seeing as a new condenser and radiator were only about $80 on ebay I figured I'd try to fix the radiator and refill all my fluids to see if I can get it working mechanically again fixing it myself.

Anyway I'm pretty technically inclined and want to do this by myself with one of my friends for the experience and to save money. We've removed the bumper, the fender and the headlights so far. I know how to take the condenser off and plan on following this video:

However he says "make sure theres no freon" but doesnt explain how to empty it (I'm not sure it it emptied from the accident or not) and I dont want those pressurized tubes to shoot something out at me or get poisoned from the freon. How do I remove the freon and depressure everything thats pressurized? Kind of scared of moving forward cause I dont want to hurt myself or my friend.

Thanks for any help

 

You need an a/c servicing machine. It is a violation of the law to vent refrigerant into the atmosphere. The machines purge the system and recover the freon for proper disposal. Get it done by a pro shop that has the experience and proper equipment. Along with refrigerant the machine will also apply the proper amount of oil so your compressor doesn't seize. If you try all this yourself you will probably be getting the job re-done the correct way and spending more money.