canned resistors

hi, all

i am looking for a name for (or some description of) the following component(s):

Its a set of two low value, high wattage resistors (silvery wire rolled into a 3 cm coil) in a metal can (full of holes for air flow) that is mounted inside the double firewall, between the brake booster and the fan motor housing.

I saw by chance that the top of the can looks cooked so something failed / is bound to fail and I need to find out what.

Without knowing what this item is called I do not have a clue what to search for !

any help will be much appreciated. I have a euro spec car, so the brake booster is on the left of the engine with the battery and other goodies on the right (looking towards the car engine from the front). This device therefore features immediately behind the instrument cluster - inside the double firewall.

L

[dpetryk]

I suspect it is the resistors used to control the fan speed.

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'heater blower resistor' - that's what Mr. Haynes' book calls it. Does make sense (proximity as well as on the wiring diagram). I'll give it a check tomorrow. The fan motor works fine (blows up a storm) so I might have caught this bug early.

Thanks, Dave, for the pointer. Much appreciated.

Regards!
L