Herfordgirl:
Call the 1800 number in the manual and ask for a guy named (G)lynn, he has a rough voice but is hilarious. I belive that he is an engineer or QA test lab person. Anyhow, he has more product knowledge of these boilers and other brands than about anyone on the planet I think. He will be able to diagnose your problem if there is one, tell you how to fix it and hook you up like right now.
I have had the issue that you describe with the creosote dripping out from the bottom side of the fan, this was caused by smoke feeding back into the fan, it is made worse by wet wood or burning right at the door. Anyhow, if you look up from the bottom of the door through the cut out that the fan blows there should be a metal guard that goes up into the door about 8" then 45's toward the furnace. I guess they had some of these guards rust or something. Mine was OK however the cresote did eventually ruin my fan which (G)lynn replaced for me, he also threw in some of the door rope, I put it in and no more problems for the past 2 years