97' F-150 79,000 5.4L Driving down the road and turn off the overdrive (via the shift lever switch) it blows the fuse and the all the dash instruments go out. the fuse protects both the instruments and the overdrive switch. Anyone have simular problem?

 

you probably have a wiring problem in the shifter.you will have to pull the steering colume cover off to get at the problem.the three wires that come out of the shift stalk are really prone to breaking and could cause this problem.good luck.

 

Thanks for your help. Questions: Where is the steering colume cover? Do you have an idea what color the 3 wires are? Is the problem in the shifter or as the wires exit the shifter? Thanks again for the ideas.

 

its usually where the wire exit the shifter.i have repaired them by soldering and heat shrinking but that usually lasts a year ,and thats if the wirehas enough room to repair.sorry i dont have the wire colors,my link to the ford website is down.the wires have a heatshrink rap around it.good luck

 

I just taped them up, that was about a year ago and so far is still working fine, and I have been meaning to fix it properly yet!