Well cr#p. Did something really dumb today.

Over the past couple of days my wife's car has been a little noisier than usual, but only intermittently. Sometimes it would just sound normal, but other times not. The noise was a rattle that seemed like an echo of usual valve clatter. It varied with the rpms. Sometimes there was a metallic rattle when I turned off the engine.

I suspected that an old welded header pipe had finally gone south, but was unable to localize the noise to the exhaust.

Today I started it and it sounded horrible. A very loud rattle. Convinced my header had finally gone, I decided to drive it. This was a bad idea.

After a mile or two of worsening noise, I finally pulled in to a parking lot and shutdown the car. Opening the hood produced a small cloud of smoke from under the intake manifold.

So I'm guessing that rather than an exhaust leak I was driving with the starter at least partly engaged. This is evidenced by the fact that now the car won't start. The starter solenoid clicks and the motor whirs, but doesn't engage.

Is this a reasonable diagnosis? Is the ignition switch a likely cause of this? Should I replace it too?

I'm going out (a) whack the starter and hope that it starts or (b) push start it, so that I can get it back to where I'm staying. Tomorrow I'll get a starter from a local parts place and try replace it. I've read some archives and it looks like I need about three feet of extensions. I might be working with hand tools and without jack stands. Is it still possible?

Best,
Spencer