Hi,
In trying to determine why my horn buttons were not working, The wire that goes into the hole has a plastic tube, a spring, and a rounded end connector on it. If I apply pressure to assembly the horn buttons work. The question is, what holds the wire assembly in place in the hole? I don't think it's the back of the airbag module.
Thanks
Rick

 

Common problem. The sockets deteriorate over the years from age, ozone or whatever. Anyhow they eventually fail.

I have heard that replacement sockets are available, but I have never been able to locate one. Besides, replacing the socket will mean dismantling the steering wheel assembly. In my opinion that is not a job for the faint hearted.

My solution: A fabricated socket "hold down".

I got a piece of 1/16" thick stiff plastic (an old CD/DVD works great) and cut it into a small "U" shaped piece that fits flat onto the steering wheel hub.

A very narrow slot was cut into one end and the horn wire was slipped through it. It is important that the slot isn't wider than the top of the yellow bayonet.

On the other end of the plastic piece a hole was drilled to correspond with the location of one of the threaded holes in the steering wheel hub. These holes are used for attaching a steering wheel puller.

A very short (1/2" long) bolt was used to hold the plastic piece to the hub using one of the steering wheel puller threaded holes. I would not use anything longer as it may interfere with the hub internals and cause an electrical short or other problems.

Tip: If you can't find a 1/2" long bolt of the correct diameter, a trick that I sometimes use is to screw a nut onto a longer bolt of the correct diameter, hacksaw off the longer end, then unscrew the bolt cleaning up the threads that have been "buggered up" by the saw.

I did this fix about 12 years ago and it is still working great.

I would take some pics of what I had done but the car has been put away for the winter and I really don't feel up to going out to an unheated barn and take things apart .

I hope this all makes sense. Let us know how you make out!

 

Makes perfect sense, thanks for the help!

 

A couple more thoughts (after all it was 12 years ago that I did this).

1. Make a template with the holes, shape and size out of card stock or cardboard. Much easier to manipulate than trying to butcher up a piece of plastic. You will only have to cut the plastic once.

2. Use the finest toothed saw that you can find for cutting the plastic. I used a 32 Teeth Per Inch (TPI) metal cutting blade on a bandsaw. Blades for cutting wood (14 TPI or less) have a good chance of cracking the plastic.

3. When drilling the hole for the hold down bolt, start with a small bit 1/8" or so and gradually increase the size of the bits until you get the correct diameter. I think the bolt size was 3/8" but don't hold me to that!

4. Use some Anti-Seize Compound on the threads of the hold down bolt. I am not sure what the center hub of the steering wheel is made of, maybe cast aluminum or maybe even "pot metal". Anyhow you will most likely be putting a steel bolt in and the dissimilar metals will corrode making them nearly impossible to remove. If you can find them, Stainless steel bolts are a good idea-again with Anti-Seize applied to the threads.

Murphy's Law says that once you put a bolt in there, there will come the day when you will have to take it out!

 

[QUOTE=RedTRex;1579496743]Hi,
In trying to determine why my horn buttons were not working, The wire that goes into the hole has a plastic tube, a spring, and a rounded end connector on it. If I apply pressure to assembly the horn buttons work. The question is, what holds the wire assembly in place in the hole? I don't think it's the back of the airbag module.
Thanks
Rick

The white plastic slot on your turn signal canceling cam is likely 'cracked' which allows the wire to pop out and not make good contact with the turn signal cancelling cam.

Your turn signal cancelling cam has a plastic 'slot' in it that holds the dot on the black plastic tube (on the wire assembly) in place making contact.

You should be able to untwist the plastic tube and pull it straight out to unseat the 'dot' on the tube from the plastic 'slot' in the turn signal cancelling cam.

Now to get to the turn signal cancelling cam, you will have to remove the steering wheel (easy, rent a puller from oreillys.).

You'll have to pull out the SIR coil let it hang (be careful not to damage the wires, this is a $200 part from gmpartsdirect.com. So its expensive).

Behind that (cant remember if theres clip rings and such to remove) is the steering wheel lock plate. Use the lock plate remover to get to the ring on the shaft and remove it.

Behind that is your problem.. the turn signal cancelling cam.

The good news is its a $15 part from gmpartsdirect.com. $30 from your local dealer.

In fact, for my 93 its part # 26047013

I just fixed mine this weekend.

 

I noticed the black tube had 2 little bumps on it and figured it had to be held down by something like you described. I will look into the turn signal cancel cam. Meanwhile I used a stiff piece of safety wire and 2 bolts to hold tension for now. (Horn buttons work).

Interesting results for part number in Bing search http://www.bing.com/search?q=2604701...=2-8&form=QBLH