JillsVette

Been trying to figure out where the loss of ground is in the column with out dis-assembly, any ideas?
I have power to the horn relay and used a jumper to the green wire to the horns which do work. While the column was out of the car i replaced the dimmer switch and the pin, insulator and spring for the horn. It is a tilt telescopic column. Is there a simple fix or do I need to tear it apart?

Peterbuilt

The horn contact has an 'L' on the bottom, is it touching the plunger and the plunger installed in the correct order?




In Willcox Corvette's illustration do you have continuity from 'A' to 'G' at the harmonica connection?

JillsVette

Not sure if I have the spring and pin installed correctly. The parts were missing when i first removed the wheel. If I remember right the pin is kept in contact to the "L" by the spring or at least that seemed logical to me. It could be that I have these parts installed incorrectly. I'll need a few days to get time to check the continuity. Thank you.

0Willcox Corvette

This should help you.


Willcox

JillsVette

I pulled the column out to fix a "lazy key" The key wouldn't come back to the run position on its own. I thought the spring was bad inside the ignition switch but the rod just needed tweeked. So If I try to get continuity from the black wire on the harmonica connector 3rd one from the bottom and the spring pin for the horn I have nothing. so i pulled the spring pin out and got a long piece of steel and poked down inside the hole I still have nothing. I'm thinking the turn signal switch is bad or at least the horn circuit of it. turn signal work. it is a tilt telescopic column. thoughts???

Peterbuilt

That ain't good.
Have you looked at Jim Shay's papers?

http://jimshea.corvettefaq.com/?p=1009

JillsVette

I pulled the steering wheel hub off 7/8" nut and found more contacts. Still no continunity to the black wires on the harmonica connector. lot of brass shavings down in there and broken plastic parts... oy.... How does thee big C clip come off??

JillsVette

Thank you for posting shea papers and the Willcox photos huge help as this was all uncharted territory.
I managed to finally get continunity at the last place. At the bottom of the turn signal switch where the ground wire was burned off........ Ground wire on bottom of horn contact on turn signal switch burned off.....

JillsVette

So what is the trick to remove the ignition key cylinder. I removed the buzzer switch as shown in the Shea paper but its stuck or im not under standing how to get it out. The paper shows to remove a cylinder retaining screw but all that in in there are the 3 large screws that hold the housing to the tube..
​​​​​​​BTW. You guys are awesome! Thank you for all the help.

Peterbuilt

Post #2 here might help.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...on-switch.html

JillsVette

Seriously awesome info there. Key cylinder popped right out.
I do not have a lever and cable for the park position on the lower column. Someone had removed long before me. The key does turn to the 5 positions. But i can pull the key anytime once it is switched on from the lock position. So im just going to replace the whole cylinder assembly.

JillsVette

Finally got the whole column reassembled and installed tonight. hooked up the battery and.... what the heck is that noise..!! its was the key reminder buzzer doing its thing... damn I did something right. horns blow nice and loud from the center button as they should. Hit the key the ole 350 groaned to life.. so freaking happy until I hit the brake pedal a few times now the brake light on the dash is lit up. Pedal is good and hard I did have the rear brake lines off momentarily to change the trailing arms and we did bleed them well after. is there a way to reset the switch in the distribution block with out too much trouble?

While the column was out waiting on parts I used 2 hemostats to reach way up in above the gage cluster and unplugged the interior light timer that was indeed faulty and just connected the white and black wires directly. dome lights work by the door switch again! geez I may be a corvette mechanic soon.

in other news also got the speedo working again. that was the drive gear inside the transmission that moved on the shaft because the clip broke. which lead to replacing the rear suspension trailing arms and rejoint the half shafts. And then,,,, wife bought new Cooper Cobra tires and says honey can you shine my wheels so it looks nice? There must be something wrong with me because I said sure no problem. 30 + hours, a dozen band aids and one bottle of super glue later I got some shine back in those 40 year old wheels, aint perfect but she is happy. so now the interior goes back in and the new door window regulators ( springs Broke) was going to just replace the spring but they were pretty sloppy. I can see why few want to repair these cars when the begin to show their age. it aint cheap and its quite an adventure.

Matt

Peterbuilt

The red BRAKE light in the dash also comes on if the parking brake handle is not all the way down (or the switch is out of adjustment) so make sure that the handle is down.

To recenter the distribution valve:
#1 While parked, stomp on the brake pedal as if you were trying to panic stop.

#2 If that fails then pump up the brake pedal and momentarily open a front bleeder.
If that fails then pump up the brake pedal and momentarily open a rear bleeder.

JillsVette

got the brake light out on the dash by stomping on the pedal. However, when the brakes are applied it flickers like maybe the plunger in the distribution block is sticking. when the pedal is released the light goes out again. going to try and vacuum bleed the system and see if that works. thank you for the pointers...
Matt