Horn sounding after lowering steering wheel

[Mog]

I was installing a new glovebox liner today. I undid the bracket which holds the steering wheel in place to give me a bit of play to get the glove box in. Part of the column has slid down and every time I slide it back up the horn is sounding. The horn push won’t work now either.

[svenedin]

So you slackened the nuts that clamp the steering column in the bracket? You will probably also find your indicators will not self-cancel now either (if that was working originally). You will need to remove the horn push first. Carefully lever it out from the centre of the steering wheel. Do not just lever in one place. Go around the circumference a little at a time. The plastic can be brittle with age. With the horn push out, remove the circlip, horn wire plastic shroud and spring. Then remove steering wheel nut ( 1 5/16” socket) and steering wheel. Then take off the shroud around the indicator assembly. Now you should see a copper “shoe” that makes contact with the steering column. This is part of the horn circuit. Also a little “mushroom” peg that contacts the self cancel cam of the indicator assembly. Slacken the steering column bracket as you did originally and align the “shoe” and the “mushroom” correctly then reassemble everything. For future reference it is easier to remove the steering wheel and indicator shroud to take out the glovebox but even then it can end up with the indicator shroud bracket (which should be at 12 O'clock position) fouling the glovebox surround.

PS: Disconnect the battery first! Horn is permanently live

Stephen

[svenedin]

These pictures might help you understand what I am talking about above. They were not taken for this purpose but to assist me when I was fitting a hazard switch so they are not the best. Anyway, you can see the "shoe" contact I refer to and how the horn wire/shroud/spring/clip works.

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[Mog]

Thank you, that sounds really helpful. I have a banjo steering wheel, will it be any different?

[svenedin]

I think it’s basically the same unless it’s an early car with the horn on the indicator stalk.

I probably should have said that there’s no way to realign things properly with guess work. You have to be able to see the parts hence the disassembly instructions

[ManyMinors]

Removing the hornpush is different of course as it is simply secured by a grubscrew on the banjo type steering wheel. This makes it rather easier to remove than the later type which is easily broken

[geoberni]

Disconnect the Battery before doing anything else.
You said it's a Banjo Steering Wheel, but is it a 1000 or a MM/SII as they are different brackets.

I'm not sure what you mean by

Part of the column has slid down and every time I slide it back up the horn is sounding.

What part of the column?

[Mog]

It’s a Minor 1000, 1963.
There’s a thicker part of the column that has slid down and is leaving the copper ring under the steering wheel exposed. When I slide the thicker part up it causes the horn to sound.
I need to source a suitable socket for the steering wheel before I can do anything else.

At the moment I have just disconnected the spade connector on the horn, will this be ok? I drove the car yesterday and when I turned the wheel it was causing the horn to sound.

[svenedin]

The copper slip ring should be much further down inside the indicator plastic shroud. You don't need a socket if you have a spanner that fits the nut so that you can hold the nut whilst you undo the screw or vice versa. Not having a functioning horn is an MOT fail and technically the car is not roadworthy without a functioning horn.

This is my car just now. You can just see the top of the slip ring that the horn "shoe" makes contact with.

There’s an inner column and an outer sleeve so yes the sleeve may have slipped down but if it had slipped so much surely the indicator shroud would bash into the dashboard?

Stephen

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[Mog]

Finally got this sorted today. Quite a straight forward job in the end. It’s nice when things work out. Thanks to everyone that gave advice.