[83_YoTa]

ok, befor this all happened my low setting on my heater didnt work, just the medium and high. the other day a went to warm the truck up and everything was ok. then i turned it off then fired it back up like 30 seconds later. well the heater starts blowing super hard like it was on a really high setting. then not even 2 min later it just dies. and now im stuck with no heater.
i pulled out the heater fuse and now everytime i put it back in the tail light fuse blows. anyone have any input on wat it could be or wat to test. i checked the chiltons book or w/e one it is and theres a resistor and a relay and a switch. i know where the relay is and i take it the switch is the knob on the dash, but where would i find the resistor?
its an 83 pick-up

 

[bkubisht]

heater resistor, just above passenger's feet and held into the duct with one or two screws.

 

[83_YoTa]

is the resistor a common thing to go, or would it be just as common as the relay to screw up?
how can i test the blower motor? just so i know its workin for sure.
just positive and negitive right to the lil 2 wire harness on the motor?

 

[83_YoTa]

is there a way to test the resistor to make sure its working ok?

 

[NotMatt]

is there a way to test the resistor to make sure its working ok?

The symptoms point to it not being ok. Since you said it worked for a while on different settings and slowly went out, that's what I would replace... I had the same thing happen.

I suppose you could do something with a multimeter once you got it out, but I'm not sure what values you should expect?

The only other possibility is the switch assembly, but I'd be willing to be it was the resistor, since you said it sounded like the fan was blowing something fierce before it died.