Horn Doesn't Work

General Fiero Maintenance including oil changes, air filters, suspension refreshes, restorations, painting, etc.

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AkursedX
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Horn Doesn't Work

Post by AkursedX »

I installed my new steering wheel in my GT today. It's a MOMO Corsa. When I got it apart, I could not determine any sort of way that I'd be able to use the horn with the MOMO adapter.

I've pulled an 88 coupe wheel off before and that setup has wires for the horn. This GT wheel had this plunger thing which took me a while to figure out how it even worked. Apparently the metal plunger thing, when tapped by the horn button grounds the horn through the metal plate and the three prongs that hold it to the wheel.


Anyways......

Instead of using the MOMO adapter, I drilled out the rivits on the stock wheel and unbolted the stock hub. I then bent in all of the mounting points to match the MOMO wheel and reinstalled it.

At this point, it seems to me like everything should work just as normal. I even kept the stock GT horn button which fits perfectly. But when I attempt to use the horn. It does not work.

With the horn button off, I am able to ground the metal plunger to the center of the wheel, and I can get a faint ground off the side of the steering wheel that will make the horn sound. But with the horn button reinstalled, no sound.

Here's a couple of my theories:

#1) The horn button is not making contact with the metal plunger when pressed on. I did have to bend the stock hub in such a way that it might have made it slightly taller. And maybe I don't have the wheel bolted all the way down, although I did honk on it quite a bit.

#2) The paint on the steering wheel might be insulating the horns mounting prongs from being able to ground the horn. There isn't a lot ofpaint in the middle of the wheel, but it's a thought.

Does anyone else have any ideas? I wish I had pictures but I'm at work now and my digital camera was dead earlier. If you have pulled a GT wheel before you will probably get what I'm talking about. But basically everything is back together like the stock steering wheel which is why I'm stumped.
jelly2m81
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Joined: Mon Mar 19, 2007 2:13 am

Post by jelly2m81 »

The horn button gets ground from contacting the end of the steering shaft.

Sounds like you simply aren't making connection between that and the plunger. Might simply be that the horn button doesn't sit as close to the steering shaft as it originally did, if so you'll need to find a way to regain that gap.

I've had a few finiky ones through the shop through the years and some simply needed to have that metal plate under the horn button bent slightly.
AkursedX
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Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2004 2:14 pm
Location: Lackawanna, NY

Post by AkursedX »

Wow, I totally forgot about this post. I ended up resolving the issue. It turns out that the plastic part over the plunger should not be seated all the way into the hole in the column.

When I made this correction, it solved the problem.

Here's a pic of the final result. The steering wheel fits just like stock.

Image
'88 Fiero GT- 3800 Turbo Best E.T. 11.36 Best MPH 121.50 (Sold and gone)
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Mach10
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Post by Mach10 »

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/Thread :salute:
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