RedBird (Jai) has been having intermittent starting problems for a few days. I listened to an audio. It sounded like a low battery problem. Battery is about a year old. Starter engaged and barely rolled the engine over. A couple of times it started fine. The engine starts and runs fine with a push. Today when Jai tried to start RB at the gas station, smoke came from under the hood. Inspection by someone says the wires going to the starter are burned. My long distance guess is a bare wire short circuit down by the starter. Possibly intermittently bleeding enough elec. to ground to deprive the starter. Today the wire must have welded itself to the chassis. Thoughts from the Georgia gang?

@SteveJ

@gwri8

Possibly bad battery or starter connections?

 All I heard was burned wire(s).  Yesterday I asked Jai to tug on both ends of both battery cables to see if any were loose. She checked the solenoid wires too. She says they're all clean and tight. She's getting it towed to Pete's shop, her older mechanic friend who's worked on RB before. I'm still leaning toward a shorted wire. I doubt it's anything too serious. 

 Update. There are some burned wires. Don't know which ones yet. Pete has tested the starter and says it needs to be replaced. Starter is on order and Jai will have it back tomorrow.

Have a close inspection done of the wires that go to the alternator as well. If you saw smoke chances are something there may have gotten a bit warm.