Horn problem

[Qu1ckn1ck]

Dismantled the steering wheel horn push, spring loaded brush and eventually removed the steering wheel and boss complete to find out why my horn is silent.  Should the spring loaded brush in it's little tube be firmly located in some way ?  Mine is like a pr*ck in a bucket as the hole in the boss where the brush goes through to slide on the slip ring appears much too large, allowing the brush assembly to waggle about.  The plastic horn push assembly is just a push fit in the boss with no positive location either so making contact with the brush is a bit hit or miss.

I do have an earth through the steering shaft but it appears to be intermittent and checking with a multimeter reads only 7 or 8 volts with a fully charged battery.

Comments and suggestions will be much appreciated.

Nick

 

 

 

[Colin Lindsay]

The plastic bit goes through the hole leaving the metal part insulated from the wheel but able to move up and down on the spring as the wheel rotates. If your entire brush pencil goes right through, can it be bulked out for example with tape, or even glued in place?

You can also attach a cable from the horn push to the other end of the pencil, just solder it in place and this guarantees contact every time.

[dougbgt6]

Disappointing thread, particularly after the initial banana in a bucket comment.

db  

[Pete Lewis]

simpulze 

agree wind some tape to fatten it up , stops the wiggle ,   solid end runs on the ring  the soldered end abuts the horn push 

getting the push to contact the pencil can be a faf 

as Rob says solder a length  of wire between , take care if you de solder the pencil wire it will all pop apart

Pete

[Graham Ness]

If intermittent horn, then check that the 'earth strap' wire is in place on the steering column 'universal joint'.  Mine played up for a while until I realised this was missing.  Made up a new one, and problem solved.  It basically makes a good electrical connection between the two parts of the steering column.  

Graham

[Qu1ckn1ck]

3 hours ago, Graham Ness said:

If intermittent horn, then check that the 'earth strap' wire is in place on the steering column 'universal joint'.  Mine played up for a while until I realised this was missing.  Made up a new one, and problem solved.  It basically makes a good electrical connection between the two parts of the steering column.  

Graham

Thanks Graham, I think that is my problem.  How do you access the upper part of the universal joint to fit the earth strap as mine is totally hidden away ?   

I could not understand why the horn works perfectly when the car is parked but not when driving, until I saw a suggestion that the steering lock being "On" provides an earth.

Nick

[1969Mk3Spitfire]

I had the same problem.  When my car was reassembled the earth strap was omitted and the horn didn't work.  It's an easy fix but the UJ must take the prize as the most inaccessible nut and bolt on the car.  The lower nut and bolt isn't too bad but access to the upper one is dreadful.  I remember it being half a flat at a time and spending a lot of time continually moving the steering wheel a few degrees to give access. It takes a lot of patience and perseverance.

  

[NonMember]

If you undo the (relatively accessible) lower clamp, and probably the intermediate clamp in the foot-well, you can slide the inner column up until the UJ is readily accessible the other side of the suspension turret. However, that will leave you needing to re-align the steering wheel. You may prefer the half-a-flat-at-a-time method.

[Pete Lewis]

had a look at a concours   64   spit4 for valuation and with a  unknown  recon rack there was no provision to connect the rack /chassis/engine  earth

just a alloy socket cap plug,  solution was to clean rack tube and attach earth with jubilee clip but that didnt detract from the superb authentic  rebuild 

[Qu1ckn1ck]

I had a similar idea of using a Jubilee clip and a paint free area on the steering shaft to locate the earth strap with the other end on the accessible lower steering u/j clamp.

[Colin Lindsay]

My GT6 horn only works when you turn the steering column slightly; press the horn push, nothing, but sight sideways pressure on the steering wheel and it goes off full blast. I'm wondering what the cause of that is? 

[1969Mk3Spitfire]

I'd put it down to poltergeists.

My horn will intermittently sound at around half a steering wheel turn.  This can sometimes be amusing but sometimes embarrassing.

Somehow, the live ring that sits inside the column is finding an earth as the wheel is rotated but so far it's eluding me.

In your case, it sounds like the earth isn't completing the circuit until you apply pressure.  Could just be a bad connection.  Maybe try removing the ring and cleaning it with wet and dry.  Also clean the contacts on the pencil and check its tension as described above.  Clean the earth contact surface on the wheel where the  button fits and check the function of the switch, maybe spray it with switch cleaner.  All electrical problems are work of the devil.

[Pete Lewis]

random horn ....generally the hand wheel is too close to the column cowling and this makes the earth on roundabouts and turns and you get the odd toot !!!  its a common hoot 

await answers on a post card 

[dougbgt6]

Damn you Lewis! In before me again!

When stationary, heaving on the steering wheel my horn was certain to go off. It's the contact ring touching the inside of the column, it's all a bit slack in there. The WSM and Haynes show the ring as flat, but mine had "turn ups" on the edges, bent them in a bit and problem much reduced.

Doug 

[Pete Lewis]

20 hours ago, dougbgt6 said:

Damn you Lewis! In before me again!

Thursday    every thing happens on a Thursday 

[Peter Truman]

Had the same intermittent horn on the daughters Mk2 when turning, had to fix it after a couple of times truck drivers took offense and one gave chase to her, admittedly the horns were triple air so a good blast!.

The problem was the pencil was old and loose in the hole thro the Motolita steering wheel boss, replaced the pencil with a new one and had to pack it out with a thin shrink sleeve to ensure a good fit in the wheel boss, used a horn button with a male spade terminal on it, soldered a wire to the pencil end connection and a female spade to the horn button, no further problems, then she pinched my 60's Les Leston wood rimmed steering wheel, fortunately the boss and horn button fitted!