[Todd Gross]

I would think the shorted solenoid would be the culprit. A plate shift in a battery can kill the Battery, but should not harm a piece of hardware like a solenoid, being that it is down stream. Possibly, it could harm something software-like, such as an ECU, but not a high current solenoid. One way to confirm is to carefully and keeping distance, attempt to recharge the dead battery to see if it would recover.