electrical short in 03 ranger. HELP!!!!

[Dadogman]

my wife's 2003 ranger has an electrical short. When she shifts her column shifter to drive, the heater fuse blows out. now, a light puff of smoke came out from in her steering column yesterday when the fuse blew. anyone have ANY idea of what the problem might be??? PLEASE e-mail me at: janitorialplustwinfalls@yahoo.com and help me fix this. Thank-you. Rob and lisa.

 

[adsm08]

Take the 3 screws out of the bottom of the column shroud, pop the trim work off, and look. It probably pinched or rubbed a wire.

 

[RonD]

Also have a look at this video, you may need this fix one day as well, but it also shows how the mechanism under the dash works so you can check for wires that might be getting pinched:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFa5maYbW8I