The horn blows, so does the.......

[Turbogus]

Howdy from Oregon gang,
Well, when I first got "Betty" the horn didn't work at all. Popped the hood and I found the reason why........... no horn. I had a spare electrical horn from my bike so hooked it up and it worked........only too well.
A slowly creeping problem is the horn keeps honking after I let up on the horn button, that is becoming much more frequent. So I disconnected the horn and it'd reset, as I had more pressing issues, this kinda fell by the wayside.
This grant steering wheel is one of the newer items and I've carefully checked and re checked that the trouble wasn't with the horn buton itself. With the horn connected and I start the motor the horn doesn't honk. However, when I press the horn button briefly the horn honks even after the spring raises the button. The button is fully raised making no contact with the column. When this horn blowing has been going on I've removed the horn button and spring, but it makes no difference.
Now that I'm ready to diagnose again I'm thinking possibly a stuck relay, but I thought that a stuck relay would leave the circuit open, am I correct? or should I just replace the relay?

Thanks and a lift of the lynch lid for any responses

 

[superj]

do you know which relay it is? honk hte horn and then reach over and whack the relay. if the horn stops, you know thats the trouble

 

[SteelHeadz]

The relay can either be stuck open(no continuity) or stuck closed(short to positive or voltage). In this case i would call it stuck closed, intermittent. One more thing to check is the rotating contact plate behind the steering lock plate under the stering wheel. If all that checks out good, check the wiring that runs down inside the steering column housing down to the lower end of the column tube. Sometimes the wire gets chaffed from all the vibrations.

 

[Turbogus]

Thanks for the ideas Jason and Mikey
In the exploded view of the CJ tilt column I'm not finding the "rotating contact plate behind the steering lock plate", rather there's the turn signal switch, then the tilt lever shield, would it be one of these?

I would've thiought that the culprit may very well be the wiring within the column too, but during install of new wiring for turn signal, hazard, and horn I taped up the lower connector with electrical tape and she slid right in, so I'm dubious of a snag/abrasion, but I'll add that to my list after I try a new relay. Reckon I'm a novice on relays, I thought they always stuck open.

 

[firemanharry]

If it were a wire rubbing I would think it would happen all the time not just when the button is pressed. I've had problems with the internal ring and that caused the horn to blow when I turned the wheel. Sounds like a relay hanging up to me as well.

 

[Turbogus]

Yep, that was my supposition as well.

 

[83-cj-7=383-stroker]

could it be the horn itself is sticking and cause it to continue to honk ?

 

[Turbogus]

This horn was on my bike ('78 Kaw Z1R turbo) and it always functioned normally. Further, this horn was working on 'Betty' (my Jeep) normally, but this problem gradually increased its frequency.

 

[flatie46]

I've had several Grant wheels in the past, never seemed to get the horn to work right. The best I ever done with one was on a toyota 4x4. It worked right for about a year then it devloped a short and after that I didn't even bother hooking up the horn.

Z1R turbo... cool! You better hang on to that pup, kinda rare!

 

[Turbogus]

very rare with the black paint and Molly graphics

 

[Turbogus]

do you know which relay it is? honk hte horn and then reach over and whack the relay. if the horn stops, you know thats the trouble

Ack! Looking at the wiring diagram I thought I knew where the relay was. I went to the side of the steering column and found the black line with tracer but wouldn't you know, the line dissapears over the steering column. I didn't have time to remove the steering column shroud to search for the relay, can anyone tell me where that little bugger resides?

Update: Found the little cretin hiding behind the Parking Brake release handle

 

[Turbogus]

I've had several Grant wheels in the past, never seemed to get the horn to work right. The best I ever done with one was on a toyota 4x4. It worked right for about a year then it devloped a short and after that I didn't even bother hooking up the horn.

Z1R turbo... cool! You better hang on to that pup, kinda rare!

I finally found where the relay was hiding, replaced it and the horn regained normal function without sticking "on" iratenanner: