Steering column gets hot.

Mike, you should have a bunch of wires that run up your column, turn signal, hazard, horn, ignition, light for the shift indicator. I would look at the white flat connector just below your dash. On my car you could see that the large Red ignition wire melted thru the connector. It was fixed at some point prior to me owning it. Im not a wiring guru, but Im pretty sure that connector is a weak spot and can cause a lot of problems. Just one area to look at.