Automatic Horn

[WarrenD]

OK, this is just plain weird. The horn on my truck hasn't worked since I got it back in Sept last year. I haven't gotten to the troubleshooting yet as other, more important, fixes are needed. A few weeks back, I tried hitting the horn again and to my surprize, it worked but only when I pressed in a certain position. About a week ago, I tried it again, and it was back to its old dead ways.
This past weekend, I was headed to a MOPAR cruise (it IS a Dodge, after all!) and when I turned the key switch on the electrical disconnect to "ON" the horn went off. Banged on the horn button a little with my palm, no good. Opened the hood, wiggled the wires to the horn, turned the juice on and no horn. Good! Not so fast! As I lowered the hood, the horn started again. Raise the hood, horn stops. Now I'm thinking that one of the wires is shorting to the engine as they hang down and would contact metal. Look the wires over, look good. Maybe the metal connectors are shorted, so I wrapped them in electrical tape. Lower the hood, horn goes off. Finally, pulled the wires from the horn and taped them out of the way. No more horn. Haven't had a chance to dig into it, but if someone here has any suggestions, I'm all ears (ok, I guess that would be eyes for a computer! )

My plan of attack is to check the wiring for shorts first, then see if I can get the rubber out of the center of the steering wheel and check the guts.
Is it easy to pull a new wire down the center of the steering column? Maybe a better question, how do I get the rubber out of the wheel? I'm guessing there is a lip and a gentle pry to one side will release it enough to pop it out? If that fails, I think I'll look at the horn itself for an internal short.

Hope you got a laugh out of reading this one, as I was standing there raising and lowering the hood I was staring to laugh so hard I could barely hold up the hood. It really looked like something you'd see on a prank show. You can't make this stuff up....

[T. Highway]

Warren,

My first thought as I read your post was "Curly from the Three Stooges"

I've got nothing else of value to add.

Bert

[Cal_Gary]

Funny post but valid issues as well!

The horn button cover fits in a lip around the circumference of the wheel, and if it is still plyable, then stretch it carefully then pull it upward.

Here's a trick to replacing the old center wire in the column:
Pull the horn button off the top,
Remove the bottom plate bolts on the steering box (the horn wire should be passing through it as well),
Tie a spool of dental floss to the top of the wire (steering wheel end),
Use a lengthy piece of 3/8 steel rod along with someone to pull on the bottom end of the wire as you push the wire down the internal shaft, feeding the floss with it,
Once the top end of the wire passes out the bottom of the box, the dental floss should also still be attached,
Tie your new wire to the bottom end of the dental floss, then your buddy feeds it into the box while you are pulling it up with the floss, all the way up to the steering wheel;
New wire now installed....
Gary

[k8icu]

Provided the floss doesn't come off in the middle of the pulling out or pulling in.....