Horn issue

[bugedd]

So I hooked up my Hella horn a bit back, got it working okay. Then today I went to hit it to show off how stinkin loud it is, and nothing. We checked the relay, all is working well. We traced it back to the steering hub. When connecting the hub with a jumper to a good body ground, the horn sounds. When not jumpered, nothing. Best I can tell, the horn push grounds to the hub, which in turn grounds to the steering shaft. Somehow, this is not grounding to body, and this appears to be the issue. The steering shaft is not grounding to the column either, probably insulated by grease. So it seems I need to make a ground from steering shaft to body to make the horn work. Does this sounds right, and has anyone run into this also?

 

[Sarastro]

It seems almost impossible to me that the hub wouldn't be a good ground. You can't insulate something like that without going to some trouble. Are you sure the horn button is OK? Check it with an ohmmeter.

 

[bugedd]

Checked it. And checking ground with an meter, going from a known good body ground to the steering column....no ground. And like I said, running a jumper from hub to known good body ground, horn works. Strange, I don't get how the steering column/shaft cannot be grounded to the rest of the car. Technically the hub nut and steering shaft connect to the hub, so somehow that shaft is not grounding.

 

[smaceng]

I had this problem with my BE. I could not get the horn to work every time. I too had it wired with a relay. It turned out that the steering shaft is not really a good ground, with rubber ball joints and lubrication in the rack. So what I did was run a wire from one of the bolts on the rack to the chassis. Works every time now!
Scott in CA

 

[nomad]

Not an uncommon problem. You can rig up a wire brush so to speak that contact's your steering shaft and is grounded. Piece of piano wire or spring wire would work nicely.

Kurt.

 

[bugedd]

K, the steering shaft is one thing, the steering column is another. That isn't getting ground. Thats the strange part. Testing the shaft and the column together, they have no ground in common. And the hub/steering shaft nut/steering shaft ground together. The outer housing, the column, won't ground it.

 

[smaceng]

the steering outside column is isolated from the shaft with the felt washers inside. The horn needs a ground of the shaft which connects the steering wheel to the rack. Here is what I did. The other end of the wire shown is connected to one of the bolts at the opposite end from the steering shaft input. The wire shown is the ground to the chassis. Scott in CA

 

[ichthos]

I had the same problem. Scott's solution worked great for me. I too decided to put in on of the compact loud horns. A lot of frustration trying to figure things out. I'm sure that blasting and powder coating didn't help things. The solution was simple and not even noticeable. Works great every time without fail.
Kevin

 

[bugedd]

Glad to see others have had this issue. Scott, I see the one end of the wire, but I am having a hard time with where the other end goes. "connected to one of the bolts at the opposite end from the steering shaft input"....any schematic or pic for this?

 

[BillW103]

After painting every thing I had the same problem. I grounded to the radiator mounting bolt.

 

[smaceng]

the other end of the wire goes to one of the two bolts visible in the lower left of the picture, which hold on the plate in line and on the opposite side of the input of steering shaft. Scott in CA

 

[bugedd]

I see it now, thanks

 

[bugedd]

Did the fix, works great, thanks for the help!