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Triumph TR6 - TR6 Horn Issue

Anyone have any suggestions or have experience with...I changed the brass pin under the horn button sometime ago and horn worked fine. Currently, when you turn the steering wheel in a certain direction the horn sounds on its own. Problem is intermittant. I removed and replaced the brass pin today with no change. Could not get it to sound on its own by putting the car up on jack stands and turning wheels.

Shawn
SSD Mr.

Shawn, I had the same problem years ago. The bushings in your steering column are worn so that when you turn the steering wheel the shaft inside the column makes contact and sounds your horn. You have to replace the steering column bushings, not expensive but a PITA. there are also guys supplying kits that can solve this without having to take the column apart, but I don't know who they are. I sure others here can help with that.

Rob
rw loftus

Shawn... sometimes the bushing rides up, that is it works up the column with constant movement towards the steering wheel hence the grounding and completed circuit. You may not need new bushes but rather a disassembly of the column stuff from the dash back to and including the wheel so you have access to the bush which you can push back into place. To be honest, my mechanic found the solution to the same problem on my 76 and explained what he had done. I take no credit. Ken

Ken
Ken Shaddock

Shawn
The brass ring is the positive side of V. The big nut and the steering column are the negative side of V....(this is why you have that metal strap, TRF DH18, going around the rubber bushing in the steering column). Does the strap have good ground? I recall having a ground wire going from the "push" button to the big nut to give me a good ground.

You do not have a good connection on the + or- side of the circuit.

Rick
Rick Crawford

I worked on this problem with not a lot of success yesterday. I took off the steering wheel and pushed the column top bearing down a bit with a tool I designed when installing last winter. Also looked to see if the purple wire was loose which seemed okay. The beep occurs even when the horn brush is not installed. The results were the problem got worse. After multiple times retracing my steps and breaking off 3 of the 4 metal tabs on the steering column cowl, I am back to an intermitant beep at the 2 o'clock position when you turn the wheel. Not sure I can afford to touch the remaining metal tab to investigate further. Any further suggestions welcome. Shawn 74.5
SSD Mr.

Shawn... assume you have the Dan Masters book and have followed his chapter on horns through including the troubleshooting flow diagrams.

I also replaced the horn push and even turned it end over end in frustration, installed a new relay and horns in addition to following all purple wires through with a tester and ensured clean grounds but it seems you've done these things. Afterward my horn behaved like yours hence the previous note. I could turn or wiggle the steering column and the horn would beep.

Good luck

Ken
Ken Shaddock

Shawn
I would say you have a intermitent short(contact) with ground activating the horn. If you can get the horn to beep EVERY TIME you hit 2:00, then remove the ground strap that goes around the rubber steering column bushing. Does horn sound at 2:00?? If no beep then possibly the metal ring that holds your push button mechanism in place, might be coming in contact with the steering column somehow.

Rick
Rick Crawford

Rick, Ken, Rob,
Your suggestions motivated me to investigate potential undesirable contact going on under the steering wheel further. My steering wheel has a threaded bolt/shaft/post that protrudes out from under the steering wheel. Looks like it is there to line up the steering wheel? Not sure if all TR6 steering wheels have this? Thought the post might be hitting the brass ring or something when I turn the wheel. I wrapped the post with electrical tape to check isolation and reinstalled the steering wheel, horn button, etc. So far after driving 15 min, NO intermittant beep but need to drive some more to see if this really fixed the problem. I also straightened the post a bit too. Will advise once I get to drive later. Shawn 74.5
SSD Mr.

This thread was discussed between 19/09/2009 and 30/09/2009

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