disengage the horn...?

Eldorado · 05-04-2005, 05:40 PM

the horn on my '83 944 randomly honks.

It's embarrassing, to say the least. lol I'm tired of going around corners and having the person in front of me think I'm honking him out of the way...

Ok, so maybe it's not so random.. It's when I turn the wheel either left or right about a quarter turn or more... so me thinks there's a bare wire in the column somewhere....

Question - how do I take the steering wheel apart to get at the electronic workings of the car's horn? or, at the very least, how can I silence the bloody horn?

if you see a 944 in the toronto area honking you off the road - I apologize!

max29a · 05-04-2005, 06:03 PM

Well I was going to point you to http://www.clarks-garage.com because just about everything you need is there.

But having recently done this the clark's write up isnt all that great seeing as how it has pictures of a non porsche steering wheel!

anyway its quite simple you basically wrap your hands around the horn and pull and twist and it will come off. It will probably bend and stick to the center like hell but it will come off. The downside is the wire you want to check is hooked to the back of this horn button/pad you are pulling off.

So there is a small chance of ripping the wire out.
A bigger chance it will just disconnect and you will never know if it was connected in the first place.
A small chance it will stay hooked and you can see what was wrong.

SoCal Driver · SoCal Driver's Garage

There is a spring copper (berilium) wiper that rides on a copper ring around the steering column. This wiper gets a groove worn into it and the unworn part eventually will intermintantly contact the column housing grounding out the horn circuit. You can get a new wiper one at the dealer for less than $10 US.

As to the horn pad; you can pry it off using a standard screw driver -- carefully. You may pull it off of the wire. No biggie as you have to anyway to get the pad out of the way. 21 mm socket to undo the nut. Don't loose the washer under it. Use a bit of paint (shoe polish, nail polish, white out) to mark the steering wheel as it sits on the steering shaft. I use a pointed punch and put marks on the shaft and steering wheel.

You will see the wiper on the back of the steering wheel when you pull it off. Three screws hold it on. Don't loose the three screws.

And replace the %$%^&(@#@$%^ clutch cylinders!!!

Eldorado · 05-04-2005, 09:06 PM

lol thanks SoCal for the reiteration on your opinion of my clutch cylinders.

as for the horn issue... I reached around the sides, and pulled two plastic parts off of either side, with 3 tabs in them that lock into the rubber porting of the horn pad... do I just hold onto there and wiggle it off? or would it be easier to pry it off with a screwdriver?

I looked at clark's too, but it wasn't much help...

Eldorado · 05-04-2005, 10:20 PM

is there a way to, for the time being, find and disconnect the wires going to the horn under the hood if I cant get the wheel apart tomorrow for some reason or another?

924Sman · 05-05-2005, 12:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Eldorado
is there a way to, for the time being, find and disconnect the wires going to the horn under the hood if I cant get the wheel apart tomorrow for some reason or another?

Yes....Under the front fender is where the horn(2) is and it will have 2 black boots. Pull back the boot and unscrew the wires from the posts on the horns. Very easy to do.

Dal

SoCal Driver · SoCal Driver's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by Eldorado
is there a way to, for the time being, find and disconnect the wires going to the horn under the hood if I cant get the wheel apart tomorrow for some reason or another?

I can remove a stock steering wheel in about 15 seconds.

Takes about 45 minutes to replace the clutch and slave cylinders and bleed them.

Eldorado · 07:39 PM

are you hinting at something SoCal?

and if that's true, come to Toronto to help me out - I dont wanna pay my mechanic his fees... lol

and I've never really done any car work myself before.... I think I'd be up to the task - the instructions look easy enough... but not having a hoist or any way to lift the car to get under it is kinda preventing me from doing any learning... (unless I dont need to lift it.....?)

Eldorado · 05-07-2005, 05:05 AM

I pulled and pulled the friggin' rubber on the wheel and the bloody thing ain't coming off....
however, since I yanked the bugger for about 10 mins yesterday morning it hasn't honked on it's own since, so I'm knocking on wood....