Low battery voltage at the furnace and/or improper fuel/air mixture can cause sooting. Kill power & pull the ignitor board. I clean mine up with a contact spray & clean the terminals with a pencil eraser on my 93 Pace Arrow Diesel. Do you have forward & rear furnace? Nice to be able to swap ignitor boards for testing.
I would think that slow fan would not trip the sail switch but if that was the issue it would not go as far as releasing gas. Might need to pull the ignitor/sensor for cleaning. I have seen posts where the insulator on the ignitor will have a hairline crack & the spark will jump thru the crack to ground, Not to ground on the burner.
Keep us posted.