burning smell

I have a 98 forester. I noticed a burning smell coming from the driver side headlight. The low beam has stopped working, but the high beams work. When I try to touch the wire to try to get the light to work, it turns on but the burning smell shows up. I don't see any smoke. But when I shut off the lights and turn them back on, that headlight does not turn on. Only the passenger side does. I'm pretty sure its an electric type of burning... Any ideas of what it could be? It can be a short somewhere. The switch in the car works fine.

I have an idea what it could be, its possible the socket that plugs into the headlight has corroded from a bad connection, and the plastic is melting with the lights on.

The fact that it lights up when you move the wires points to a bad connection, its called "a wiggle test".

Go through the motions of replacing the headlamp bulb and look into the socket to see if it looks damaged. Hope this helps, John