76 Red Hawg

Or more specifically, how does the horn button move?

Sounds really stupid, but the horn on my 76 was constantly blowing. In a pinch, I had cut the wire under the hood (Because the connector was too corroded to pull apart) because the horn was blowing and would not stop.

I had this problem a few times before and hitting the horn button repeatedly made it stop. Not this time.

So, because I needed to restore my steering wheel anyway, I disassembled the steering column. I found that a retainer that sits right behind the spring was destroyed. I carefully put everything back together (I took really good pictures) with a new retainer. Everything went back together perfectly.

However, nothing pushes (or rather moves when you push it) and I am at a loss as to how it ever would. Other horns that I have worked on (and there have not been a lot) were basically a spring that separated two plates. Push the horn and the two plated moved and connected.

After assembly, my horn button is as solid as a rock and does not push.

I get it... I know... This is a stupid question, but I cannot for the life of me figure it out.

'75

It happens under the horn button, if it's solid, you may need to add shims.
Google search Jim Shea, you will find papers for the breakdown of all the C3 columns.

http://jimshea.corvettefaq.com/?p=988

danh77

Not sure if it's the same as mine, I have a 77 with t/t. When the p/o tried to repair mine they installed the plunger,spring, and retainer in the wrong order and nothing moved. When I had my issue Ernie at Wilcox helped with some diagrams and comments so possibly he will chime in shortly.

'75

More help

http://jimshea.corvettefaq.com/?p=909

'75

More help

http://jimshea.corvettefaq.com/?p=909

0Willcox Corvette

This should help you figure out what is going on.... The horn is hot at all times waiting from ground... this ground happens when you push the horn button. The simple series of steps to trace the issue is listed below in the diagram.

-Willcox

76 Red Hawg

Thanks guys. Still cannot quite make it right in my head. My horn does not physically push. I mean, not counting the electrical problems and trouble shooting I have after I get it to push, it does not push, move, anything.

And I took very detailed pictures. Sure looks like it is exactly the way it was.

0Willcox Corvette

The button sits on what is called a upper contact... this contact is elevated until the horn button is pushed. The button snaps onto the darker looking fingers and when you rock the button the darker fingers make contact with the lower section of the contact.

steersdad

Hmmmm......I was going to say a knucklehead in a minivan who pulls out right in front of me.

76 Red Hawg

OK. So Willcox... If I understand you correctly, it is not going to push much. Just a smidge so that the fingers bend back and touch the bottom metal. Do I have it right?

0Willcox Corvette

Well.. without a picture to see it's hard to say if you have it right or not.. I'm sorry..

But to answer your question the best of my ability, yes.. there is very little movement required to make the upper fingers contact the lower section of the upper contact. You can test the circuit before you put the button on by jumping ground from the upper fingers to the lower... the horn should blow.

Willcox

76 Red Hawg

Thanks Willcox. I think I am on the right track now.

c3_dk

12v

:- )

VetteLooking

Good looking women?

c3_dk

7T1vette

The horn cap (button/ring/whatever) is not the ONLY thing that can cause the horn to blow continuously. The horn button creates the electrical ground connection which completes the horn's electric circuit. But, there is also a relay involved. Once that connection is made, that fires the horn relay. The relay, then, actuates and connects higher power contacts which allow the horn to blow.

Another possible failure mode is a "mechanical" failure inside the horn relay, where the high-current contacts are closed continuously without the required signal coming from the horn button.

So, either the relay is getting a ground signal to cause it to close...OR...the relay has failed internally so that the contacts can no longer release.

dochorsepower

One more thing, The upper contact assembly shown in the post by Willcox can sometimes be a problem. I found this out when I bought one from another supplier that the contact plate was not made correctly and would ground when installed. It also had the result of not allowing horn button movement. Problem was solved by buying a correct replacement. Just to be clear, the faulty contact was NOT purchased from Willcox but another vendor that I will not name.

76 Red Hawg

OK. I am all fixed up. I reassembled the Steering wheel and it works perfectly.

I was just stuck on not being able to se how it would work.

Thanks again everyone.

tutin

That's funny. I've had my C3 '78 for like 5 years now and I assumed it simply has no horn Seriously!

I've the same issues with nothing moving and when I take the cap off from the steering wheel, I don't see anything that actually could move. So I assumed it's simply not a function of the '78 or that it was done through a button/lever I am yet to discover.

Now i've to go and look!

Thanks

raydog9379

Yeah my 78 had no horn for at least the 12 years I owned it. 2 weekends ago I fixed it thanks to diagrams on here and new parts.

Basically somewhere along the line Bubba did something to mine. Guessing he had a never ending horn problem and threw out the upper contacts and zip tied some of the other pieces together. Glad he didn't just start cutting wires.

I had to buy a kit w/ the plunger with a spring and a new horn contact assembly. Maybe like $30 bucks for them, but in all reality it's about 75 cents worth of parts.

It's honestly an easy fix once you actually figure it out (like super easy).

Here are my key points to help someone else out:

1) Had to take the steering wheel off because I don't have tiny fingers to get that little plunger/spring deal in. It's just a few screws so not the end of the world right.

2) Nobody seems to tell you this or show you anywhere (at least I couldn't find it), but since I never had a working assembly I didn't know. I thought for some reason the metal contact had to push down the plunger/spring mechanism to work. Needless to say after unscrewing and rescrewing on the steering wheel a few times because the spring and plunger kept shooting across the car as I'd try to tighten down the contact onto the plunger.... it literally just touches it on the side, not push down against it.

3) Had to gorilla glue the 3 piece emblem and metal ring together as previous JB Weld fix became brittle (about 10 years ago I had repainted the cap and used JB Weld in the 3 rivets). Sucker doesn't break apart into 3 pieces now. If I really wanted to go crazy I could have drilled out and screwed it all together. Though this "fix" for the cheap plastic rivets breaking, seems to work.

4) I was surprised at how little movement it takes to make the horn blow. I had it in my head that you would have had to slam it like I've had to in all my previous cars... Nope, little movement does the trick. BTW, horn sounds nice and beefy and for that I'm glad.