what actually happens in most cases, is the darn  current draw goes up
slightly with age.  Then switch is specked to just barely be  heavy enough
for the normal amperage draw.  This means the increase, however slight is
enough over time to eat the switch up.  What happened in your case is that
the switch was pretty crusty, due to corrosion formed as a result of the
increased  current flow.  So you  let it ride a while and this  worn blower
motor gets worse and then when you change the switch  you  have no fan
because your short is now severe enough to blow the fuse when  the new
switch is placed on high.   This is my best guess.  Make sure you look that
resistor over. The coils that form the restricted pathways, can actually
burn into and fall over against the other coil on the side for the other
speed, in effect creating a weird wiring scheme and or a short.  The relay
will be loose at the connector if it is burnt and sometimes the connector
will be burned looking where once again the current draw was too high for
some time.
  Ultimately your blower motor probably draws too much current now.
  I recall a brand new vehicle doing this once, I searched for hours for the
reason. Turned out to be packing left inside the brand new blower squirrel
cage on this brand new semi tractor.  Boy was I ever glad to find that.
  Good luck with it.
  jeff/florida

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Fitz-Randolph, Douglas [mailto:Doug@BEACONMARKETING.net]
> Sent: Friday, April 21, 2000 5:25 PM
> To: jeffcrane@EMAIL.MSN.COM
> Subject: FW: Front Blower - Help! (while we're on the subject)
>
>
> Thanks for the advice Jeff - I'll check out the resistor possibility. I
> think I oughta sit down with my Bentley manual and do a little
> more research
> - I was initially so certain it was the switch that I didn't even
> bother to
> explore any other possibilities - it just seemed odd that the blower or
> resistor shorting out would cause the dash switch to physically stop
> working. I suppose one could short out in such a way as to cause the other
> to short in turn while leaving the fuse intact. The truth is out there!
>
> - Doug
>