First there was this hot tar smell

[MATBird]

Re: First there was this hot tar smell

Oh yee of little faith, $135.07 ...
Turns out it was the power steering switch/valve as 94MCD correctly diagnosed. What a memory of past posts! The part was $45 and the rest was steering fluid and labor, No bargain but fair enough, I was quoted $190 and $225 for rebuilt rack and pinion assemblys plus install about $200 more and $140 for power steering pump, same labor. (Just for future reference.)
Thank you all for the input.

Jon: So what caused the "hot tar" smell? Did I miss a post?

[justjon]

Re: First there was this hot tar smell

The hot tar smell is a mystery to me unless that's what burning power steering fluid smells like. I did have a little smoke. The serpentine belt is fine. It is conceivable that I damaged the switch by gently scraping on a parking stop. The other good news in this has been the elimination of the dreaded steering wheel squeek. I had a very faint squeek that went away when the car warmed up that was getting progresively louder to the point that I almost but didn't squirt some WD40 at it. (someone said you should use silicone spray because of electrical short possibility with WD40?, didn't understand that)