[Bagel]

Hi folks. I have a 1964 Grand Prix. It was sitting in a barn for the last 20-some years. We finally go it out and running last year with a lot of help from a local shop.

One of the things that I had my local shop replace was the horn. The horns always work when I push down the button. But occasionally the horn will go off when I'm turning. (It has happened when turning both left and right). It doesn't happen every time. In fact, it happens maybe once or twice a drive.

I have the "deluxe steering wheel" for my automatic. The only thing I think inside the steering wheel is the horn button and turn signal stalk? My understanding is that since the horn is a one-wire, all that it's doing is grounding the relays to trigger the horns.

Since the horn has only gone off while turning, my theory is that the wire in the column must be worn/damaged around the insulation and a piece is touching the steering wheel column to complete a ground. My local shop says that the button is good. But I think I want to try to fix this myself since they weren't able to give me a quote (due to all of the unknowns).

I have the 1963 & 1964 supplemental chassis shop manual that goes over the exploded view of the steering column. I haven't taken it apart yet, but I plan to very soon.

1. If it is the problem wire, am I able to disconnect the old wire from the back of the button and fish a new one through?
2. If it's not the wire, what else could it be? Are there bearings or sleeves in the steering column that could wear away and complete a ground with the horn button?

Thanks!

[Bill Hanlon]

It is most likely the wire with insulation worn off in one or more spots. Use the old wire to pull a replacement wire up through the steering column, then connect the new wire to replace the old.

[Bagel]

Originally Posted by Bill Hanlon

It is most likely the wire with insulation worn off in one or more spots. Use the old wire to pull a replacement wire up through the steering column, then connect the new wire to replace the old.

Thanks! I'll try that the next time I get in there. I just ordered a steering wheel puller since it looks like I need to pull that off before I can get to the horn cable according to the shop manual.

[jamesq]

If the 64 is the same as the 63, the horn wire is part of the upper column bearing.
This bearing has the surface that the horn button grounds to to honk.

It is a bear to run the wire through the column!

The bearing is also hard to find....

Good luck,

James Q

[Bagel]

Just posting my progress and thoughts about the next steps that I'll be taking.

I popped off the steering wheel tonight. That was easier than I thought it would be! I cut the bottom of the horn wire (near the bottom of the steering wheel shaft), loosened the horn wire retaining clip, and taped some fish string to it.

I pulled out the upper column bearing with the horn wire attached to it, and along with it a generous amount of string to run the wire back in. (I'll probably leave the extra string alongside the wire as a backup in case something goes wrong with the replacement wire).

I attached some pictures to help others in the future.

I inspected the old horn wire and didn't notice any damage near the top on the bearing. I didn't like how it was rubbing alongside the housing actuator(?). Ya know, the hole that the wire threads through in the upper assembly. So I took two layers of heat shrink to give it both support and extra protection from wear (or making contact with other areas).

There was some indentation on the wire insulation near the bottom where the horn wire retainer clip clamps down on it. I didn't see any breaks in the insulation, but I still cut it off since it looked like it had seen better days. I'll replace that bit of wire with one of my heat shrink wire connectors (3:1) that has some low-temp solder inside to bond then connection. I'm going with some 16 AWG stranded copper-clad aluminum (CCA) wire with a silicone jacket since they're incredibly flexible and that should prevent it from wearing from getting bent too many times. (I'll still have the backup pull-string in case something goes wrong).

That extra wire that I'm attaching on should get me enough of a run to make it back out of the steering column. Once out, I'll crimp on a spade connector and connect everything back up.

[Bagel]

Got it all wired up. So far so good. Hopefully it doesn't randomly go off on me again. Time will tell.