Just curious if this has happened to anyone else.A couple days ago my blower motor resistor in my 91 Explorer died.The area of the fan housing where it was located had a bunch of old leaves packed in it and when the resistor went it appears to have gotten the leaves hot enough to start smoldering.Other than a burnt smell in the interior there doesn't seem to be any damage but it could have been worse.I am not sure how leaves even get in there, but it appears to be common as my parts truck has them packed in there as well.It might be worthwhile for anyone changing their blower motor to pull out the resistor at the same time and check the cavity for leaves just in case.

The fresh air comes in from the cowl vent, and if the screen inside gets rusted out or torn it will allow leaves in. I'm actually surprised this doesn't happen more. The way the resistor works is that it glows red hot, using up some of the 12 volts to the motor to make it run slower. That means that any debris in contact with it will catch fire.

Sounds like I have this exact problem.

Per this quote: "The fresh air comes in from the cowl vent, and if the screen inside gets rusted out or torn it will allow leaves in."

Where is this cowl vent and screen that I should be looking for? I found some nice pics of this repair in this thread, but I don't see a screen:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1951351

Mike