Fast66vette

Just like the title says. The horn beeps when I turn the wheel to the left and also when i pull back on the steering wheel. Would a bad rag joint do this?

66jack

Just turn right then....couldn't resist..

Check to see if the 'ground' on the rag joint is NOT broken first..

Or, it might be is the turn signal switch....

Fast66vette

The switch is a couple of years old and its good cause I've had the steering wheel off a couple of time today. I did not notice a ground strap. Should it have one?

ooh yeah

mine did it I think I took button off and made a small adjustment put it back on and all was fine.

Yellow6t7

thought if the ground on the rag joint was broken that the horn would not work at all.

65GGvert

The most likely problem is something touching in the horn contact ***'y when it shouldn't. Pull the horn button off, turn the wheel left and see if you see anything touch when it blows. Another likely possibility it that the black wire running up the column to the contact is shorting against the column at some point. That's the only wire in the column that is involved with the horn. It doesn't go through the turn signal switch, it just connects at the side of it and feeds through to the horn contact. If you pull the horn contact out and the horn still blows when you turn left, you'll know the black wire is definitely shorting to ground in the column.

nassau66427

Check the axial play on your steering column.

Your service manual has the details.

You'll probably need to make adjustments at the lower bearing.

magicv8

And the rag joint ground wire is built into the joint, but is not the problem

dharris45

If you have changed the washer and nut holding the steering wheel on recently, check that the washer isn't touching the horn contact spring. I got a new nut and washer from Long Island Corvette and ending up having to grind down the washer so that the horn would not honk inadvertently.

65GGvert

Please don't be one of those guys that asks for help and then never posts back what he found. It will help with future problems to know what you found. If you haven't had time or inclination to troubleshoot yet, that's fine, just post when you do.

Fast66vette

I worked on it Sunday and still havent figured it out. I do not have the AIM and to be honest I dont even know if all the correct parts are still installed. It's a non-tele, installed is the retainer that the horn button connects to obviously the nut and washer then from there its the horn contact 2 inch button the switch and then a metal retainer behind that. The horn still beeps with the 2 inch button out. For now I disconnected the horns. If someone has a picture or parts list of the correct stuff I would appreciate it. Also Should there be a spring in there somewhere?

Fast66vette

I checked for contact with the black wire like you said Gvert but I could not see anything.

66jack

Try a new 'horn relay' to see if that fixes the problem...

65GGvert

The only thing that will make your horn blow when you turn the wheel is getting a ground on that black wire, either via the wire being shorted, or the horn contacts not installed or working correctly. The horn relay doesn't know or care what position your wheel is in, only whether it receives the ground on the black wire to complete the circuit to close the relay.
Some of the horn button contacts (brush) are spring loaded internally so you wouldn't see a spring. I would look very carefully at the horn contact ***'y at the top just under the horn button. It is mounted with insulators to prevent it from touching the column unless you press it down to intentionally make contact. Something is allowing the horn contacts to touch the ground of the steering column. Take the three screws out of that contact assy and lift it out and then turn the wheel. If it still blows, you have a short lower down in the column, either at the spring loaded button (brush) or at the black wire. You could have a chaffed black wire contacting the column. If you take that top contact I mentioned out and then it doesn't blow when you turn the wheel, the problem is in that upper area. I'll attach a couple of diagrams of how the parts go in.

65GGvert

I just reread your post. By "two inch button", do you mean the top contact held on by screws, or the "brush" shown in the diagram. If you mean it blows with the brush removed, then you definitely have a short on the black wire somewhere in the column or under the dash as it feeds over to the relay. The black wire is the only wire that can cause the horn to blow and it has to short to ground in order to do it.

dharris45

I agree with 65GGVert. If the problem with honking is when turning the wheel, that indicates a short somewhere in the upper steering column.

If you want more diagrams of the assemblies, download the Long Island Corvette catalog or the Paragon catalog. They both have good diagrams of the upper steering column parts.

Fast66vette

Thanks for the pictures I'm gonna look into this black wire but first check and see if I have the insulators Which I believe I do not. I'm gonna be out of town for the 4th so I will look at it when I get back and give you guys an update. I forgot to mention that I get a slite shock when I push the horn. Happy 4th guys

JohnZ

You get a slight shock when pushing the horn button because you are a better path to ground than the one provided by design. A frequent cause of this condition is failure of the internal ground strap in the rag joint, so it grounds through you instead of to the steering gear.

66jack

JOHN:

In your comment is this the only way one can get that kind of 'shock'?

I was getting the 'same' kind of zapping, but my rag joint ground is good!!!

dplotkin

Ummm, I don't think so.

12 v would be barely noticable on human flesh. Any shock that is a quick zap and can be felt is of relatively high voltage. In this case its called reverse EMF (or reverse electromotive force) which results from the collapsing magnetic field of the horn relay coil as the power to it is interupted, kind of like how an ignition coil works.

The stock Corvette wheel spokes are grounded to the car, so what you feel is "kick-back." In the electrical engineering world diodes are usually straped across relay coils to prevent reverse EMF from back feeding the coil driving circut & blowing stuff up. But in C2's I don't know what they did to prevent this. Lord knows John Z & the rest of you know more than I ever will about Corvettes. I just know a little something about 'lectrical stuff.

Dan