so last night i get in my car to head out for the evening, and after a while i notice a faint, slightly sweet, burning smell. my first though was maybe coolant, so i got out and popped the hood; nothing. i turned the a/c (for defrost) off, and the smell went away.

this morning on my way to work, i noticed that my defrost switch was not working. it was hung in the depressed position, but the light was not on. here we go again....had this exact same problem a while back, where the switch worked for a while, then just quit working. no smell though.

anyway, i pulled the switch out, and here's what she looks like:



thaaaaat can't be good.

a little background...i installed a new top with glass/defrost in april of '07; i had a heck of a time getting the switch wired, something seemed jumbled up with the wires and for a long time couldn't get any power to the switch. i finally got it working though...but something's not right, obviously. i'm no electrical guru...anybody want to take a stab at this? (other than hey, looks like it's wired wrong.) i know it's a long shot to ask if anyone can diagnose the problem based on all of this, but it's all i've got

 

You have a short somewere in the circuit, and the excessive current through this pin burned the plastic. Further damage was likely prevented by the defroster fuse popping. You need to find/fix the short, then replace the fuse.