smoke from under COWL

Ok now I've pretty much got my AC box back in the jeep and the dash is in for the most part. So anyway I turned the key on to see if the stuff was working. Left it on for a little while and then suddenly I see smoke rolling out from under the cowl (?) I took the wipers off and then the vent cover to get access. The only thing I see in there is the wiper motor. There is a definite smell of electrical fire in there, I can't find a burnt/melted wire anywhere under the dash. Grr. anything else under there that would vent into the cowl wper motor area?

I'm at a loss here.:bawl:

The outside air for the heater and the A/C is on the drivers right side under the cowl.
Smoked a fan motor or a fan motor speed resistor?

oh maybe thats it!
the controls aren't doing anything. no motor movement at all.

If something is jammed in the fan it can smoke the motor. You likely also have a blown fuse or two. I'd find the cause before replacing the fuses. Check and see if the fan turns by hand and look at the resistor pack. May be something else, but fan motors aren't cheap and the resistor packs have a tendency to cook the wiring.

I guess i should have said on the passengers side, I was thinking left or right from the drivers seat.

The resistor pack will get so hot it will ignite anything on it. You'll see it, looks a wire coil, if you turn the key/heater swith on you'll see it glow red hot.

the resistor did get burned out because the motor was being blocked. so stuff had fallen into the box and was not letting the motor turn. Both got hot and the resistor burned out. Well, I think resistor burned out since it only blows on high. Then again, does the resistor itself have a fuse? I don't think it does, either way, its fixed now and the motor turns although the interior stinks of electrical and antifreeze and the resistor is done.
Thanks for the help guys.

Sounds like res. pack is gone and maybe a heater core leak.

The resisitor does have a fuse. It looks like an inline diode, and is located right in the middle of all the coils in the resistor pack. when it burns out, only HI will work.

a new resistor isn't too expensive. You can also just solder a new fuse into the old pack.