1959 Horn problem

[kib]

My 59 sedan suddenly got sound from the horn all the time, i hooked off the wire at the neutral contact to have it silent.
I took of the steering wheel but nothing wrong with the contact and cable there, anybody in this forum experienced the same?

kib

[Antoni Deighton]

Kib,
What a coincidence! The other day the horn on my '78 Fleetwood started to blow, starting quite soft and quickly getting louder. I rushed outside opened the hood and disconnected the battery (it's on a quick disconnect). This afternoon I figured I'd try and troubleshoot.

A couple of months ago I replaced the steering wheel (I had sent it out for restoration). When I reinstalled it the horn would make a quick honk then stop working. This happened several times, so I figured I'd live with it not working properly. So today I removed the horn pad from the steering wheel figuring the problem must be with the connection. After the horn pad was separated, I reconnected the battery and the horn still sounded (loud!). So I disconnected it again.

I logged in here just now to see if I could find a solution. Sounds like you are experiencing the same thing. Hopefully we can both get answers!

A.

[J. Gomez]

My 59 sedan suddenly got sound from the horn all the time, i hooked off the wire at the neutral contact to have it silent.
I took of the steering wheel but nothing wrong with the contact and cable there, anybody in this forum experienced the same?

kib

Kib,

If you do a search on the board you will find several threads on your topic with some general information.

If you removed the wire at the neutral switch to stop the horns the problem is the wire at the center of the steering shaft is shorted to ground. Since you already removed the steering wheel, check the center brass tip at the shaft, you should have an insulator inside the shaft, the wire connects to the brass tip. If the insulator is missing/broken the brass tip will short inside the shaft. If yours is ok then it could be the wire is shorted inside the shaft or at the neutral switch.

Good luck..!

[kib]

Jose:

The insulator is ok and the brass center is not lying against the metal. I guess it must be the wire then inside the shaft, or could it be the horn relay?

Thanks!

[J. Gomez]

Jose:

The insulator is ok and the brass center is not lying against the metal. I guess it must be the wire then inside the shaft, or could it be the horn relay?

Thanks!

Kib,

The “white” (or “tan” to be correct) wire from the neutral switch extends up to the horn relay, this operates the relay. Since you already have it off, the relay is out of the circuit.

The problem could be a short somewhere inside the shaft either the wire, the brass ring or the neutral switch. If the neutral switch is twisted the spring load horn contact could be rubbing against the tube, also if the brass ring at the shaft which the contact rides may be grounded.

I would suggest checking the area around the neutral switch and the switch itself first. Last thing would be the wire from the brass ring up to the horn tip; this will required a major dismantling to replace it.

Good luck..! 

[kib]

Hm, thanks Jose.

When I took off the steering wheel I also took off everything behind so there was only the tan wire in the middle of the shaft left. I isolated this wire with tape and then conected the tan wire to the neutral switch again. The horn sound loud and clear he he.
So that means there is power on the contact for the tan wire on the neutral switch all the time or broken tan wire innside the shaft?

Thanks again!

Kib