Page 1 of 1

Unvolontarily honk when turning!

PostPosted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 7:40 am
by Pistacchio sprint 72
Hello,

I have a Moto Lita steering wheel on my Sprint. Each time I turn the steering wheel it honks! Since I changed the original honk for a bigger one, it is really annoying when I go to work as I might get into trouble when I follow a car in the morning trafic.... :mrgreen:

So Once arrived at work I pulled the push button at the center of the steering wheel
Then I found a plastic tubing with a broken end, the part fell off when I removed it. It looks like a pencil and it make a connection between the push button and ...? ... may be the top steering shaft.
That plastic connection pencil shape goes through a hole at the bottom of the boss ( not visible on my picture sorry)

Well once everything removed I thought, "OK, it is either coming from the broken tube, or it is this mettalic bent connector on the back of the push button creating some kind of unvolontarily contact...."

So I turn the ignition key on, and turned my naked steering wheel, it honked AGAIN !!!!!

So I noticed I can slightly push the steering wheel forward creating contact. There is some play between the steering wheel and the steering top shaft.

Any idea? experience in that matter? thanks guys :mrgreen:

Re: Unvolontarily honk when turning!

PostPosted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 1:30 pm
by gherlt
Hello,
I had the same problem with my Moto Lita, and later again with an original wheel.
The only piece that should make the contact from button to steering column is the small pencil, but the problem is that the steering wheel makes contact with the steering column as it is too close to it.

First you should check if the screw that holds the two pieces of the steering column together is tight.
(In the footwell). Maybe it is loose, so there is movement lengthwise and the steering wheel is too close to the column.

In my both cases I had to make a plastic washer and isolate a bit the surroundings. I would send you the pictures I made but I dont find them.

Regards

Guillermo

Re: Unvolontarily honk when turning!

PostPosted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 3:59 pm
by RogerFrench
Cedric,
The horns are energised by grounding. There's a wire (from memory it's purple / black) that comes from the horn or relay to a brass ring inside the steering wheel hub. The pencil is a brush that contacts the brass ring through the wheel on one end, and the horn push button on the other. When you push the button it completes the circuit to ground.
In your case it seems as though the wheel is contacting the brass ring directly, so I'd remove the wheel and take a look.

I don't know about Moto Lita wheels, but I'm pretty sure they'd work the standard way. You probably have to adjust the clearance between your wheel and the steering column shroud. This isn't hard to do - you slacken the clamp at the slip joint down by your feet and the column moves up and down. Tighten again when just right.

You might also want to replace your pencil - they are available from usual sources.

Re: Unvolontarily honk when turning!

PostPosted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 7:05 pm
by Pistacchio sprint 72
Thank you very much. You re all totally right.

Re: Unvolontarily honk when turning!

PostPosted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 12:57 am
by StressCraxx
There is a pair of plastic bushings inside the steering column that support the steering shaft. If the bushings are worn, the steering shaft may contact the horn plate. You can check this when you remove the steering wheel and move the shaft sideways within the column. The bushings are shown on the parts list diagram.

RD sells these bushings for a reasonable price.

Re: Unvolontarily honk when turning!

PostPosted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 6:46 pm
by alan
i think there are different length horn pencils also. Maybe it was the wrong length

Re: Unvolontarily honk when turning!

PostPosted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 9:38 pm
by RogerFrench
alan wrote:i think there are different length horn pencils also. Maybe it was the wrong length


If you get the one that's too long it won't fit. How do I know?????????

Re: Unvolontarily honk when turning!

PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 9:17 am
by Pistacchio sprint 72
Ok I repaired temporarily the pencil with super glue ant tape.

The honk was activated because the steering wheel itself was making contact with the copper disc ( suppose to make contact only with the pencil).

This was happening because I could move forward and backward the steering wheel and column of 3 mm.

This was due to a loose UJ joint, the side connecting to the the steering rack.

I tried to tighten it to the max but it would not work for some reasons I don't understand. I finally cured the problem by exchanging the bolt of my UJ by another old one, ugly and rusty but which managed to clamp tight the steering rack bit.

Now the steering wheel is backward of 3 mm. It should not make unvolontarily contact anymore when turning. I will try it after work tonight.