Must have wiggled /shorted the wrong wires under the hood as I was topping off the auto tranny on the '78 245 Kidmobile. Went to restart, and light smoke with an electrical burning smell came out of the center console.

Now it will not even crank, brand new Diehard minutes ago, recent engine transplant/splices to wire harness( small RED wire and YELLOW wire with BLUE tracer).

Headlights come on strong, will not dim when turning the key.

Jumping the solenoid with a screwdriver produces results, but appears to be impractical on a regular basis.

I may have shorted the YELLOW/BLUE wire against the engine, but can't figure out what I fried. Will recheck splices in AM

Any advice welcomed and appreciated. George Wietor, dripping oil in the driveway in Grand Rapids.

/// If the smoke is out of the Gear shift you have a failed neutral start switch. The brass traces are very close in the center of the switch. Years of wear wipe brass and oil/grime into the bakelite. It will light up like a bulb filament. Been there, had it happen in my 79.

If this is not an auto trans then you should look for the source. Pull fuses, turn everything off and then test resistance at the open fuse clips until you eliminate the short. Inside the engine compartment you can remove the positive (red) wires at the distribution rail behind the battery. If you put a test bulb in the negative battery cable you can limit the current while you search. The use of a low current test lamp will allow you to safely trace this problem

Thanks for the tip. Salvaged a neutral start switch from EvanR's fleet along with some other electrical garbage and dropped fasteners, since I had a suspicion. Shorting the old switch started the beast. Replacing with an used part solved the problem. This is a part with 2 plugs on wires which tunnel under the carpet.

My legs are thoroughly soaked from changing this out in the driveway in a snow shower. Off to work. Thanks again for the help. George