1975 Type 2 horn

[hercdriver]

Ok. This should be simple right? The horn system itself is a simple two wire setup with a hot and a ground wire. The circuit is completed when the horn button is depressed to close the break in the ground.

Take 35 years of use and hack jobs, and it starts to make you wonder how it could be taken out of operation so thoroughly. I've gone through the Bentley and searched through Muir's bible, but have come up short on details that my visual mind needs to grasp the nuances of this little devil.

To give you a little detail on the particulars of this bus, it was the winning recipient of a teenage boy's cosmic uber-upgrade of a state of the art 1990's alarm system/radio. I highly doubt that any of it ever worked as advertised, but the little bugger managed to maim much of the electrical system in the process. So now I'm trying to undo the sins of youth and get this bus up to Pennsylvania state inspection standards.

The horn didn't work when I bought the bus last summer. So I thought it could be the horn itself or just a bad connection. During one of my orders with Wolfsburg West, I added a horn to save on shipping. I know. I know. Don't just throw parts at a problem, but I did. Installed the new horn and cleaned the two wires that connect to it. Tried the horn. Nothing. Popped the button off the steering wheel, removed the three screws and cleaned the inside of the push button. Still nothing. The wire just under the button cap was connected and cleaned as well.

I came inside and searched online to see what else I could be missing. Good fuse (yes). How about the ground wire from the steering column to the steering box? I donna know? Let's go look.



It's gone. Snipped and thrown into oblivion. Why? I'm thinking that will become apparent when I get the horn to work. I also think that I'll replace the steering coupler since it's cracked and worn. I did jump a ground from the steering column to see if I could get any kind of noise, but no luck. Which lead me to ask what else could it be?

Could it be the gap of the steering wheel to the steering column? It looks to be almost a half of an inch. There is a small copper contact that can be seen not making contact with plate above it.



Here's an after shot of cleaning beneath the horn button.


After all of that hot air, here's what I'm asking.

1. Do I need to pull the steering wheel?
2. What fuse does this run through? The far right or three from the right?
3. Should the horn work without the key in the ignition?
4. What else would you do?

Dave

[vwlover77]

I can't answer all of your questions, but I would pull the steering wheel (just remove the nut and pull it off - no puller is needed). That gap looks too large.

The horn will not work without the ignition on.

[hercdriver]

I can't answer all of your questions, but I would pull the steering wheel (just remove the nut and pull it off - no puller is needed). That gap looks too large.

The horn will not work without the ignition on.

Thanks, Don.

I can now make noise!

I removed the button cover again. Only this time I pulled the steering wheel off as well. Much easier than I had imagined (Don is right - no puller is needed). I cleaned everything with carb cleaner, then a scotch brite pad and then finally electrical contact cleaner.

I called Scott at German Supply to order the steering coupler and he took a few minutes to mention common trouble spots. When I mentioned the 1/2 inch gap, he said that was way too big and should be more like 2 mm.

So before I reinstalled the steering wheel, I loosened the allen screw at the base of the ignition housing and pushed the housing up in order to close the gap. After the steering wheel was installed, the gap closed to about an 1/8 inch with the cooper tab easily making contact with the rim above it. To finish the job, I made a new ground wire for the steering coupler and installed it.

Voila! A horn that works.

P.S. On my 75, the horn runs through the 8a fuse on the far right of the fuse box.

[Amskeptic]

Voila! A horn that works.

To give it the Itinerant Air-Cooled Kiss of Reliability, get a small screwdriver tip of DeOx electrical gel and dab the copper contact.
Congratulations for perseverence.
Colin

[hambone]

My horn still doesn't work. I think it's missing a plastic insulator ring, as the horn sounds continuously when connected.
How difficult is it to replace the steering coupler on an early Bay? It looks pretty straightforward.
Never ending projects.

[Amskeptic]

My horn still doesn't work. I think it's missing a plastic insulator ring, as the horn sounds continuously when connected.
How difficult is it to replace the steering coupler on an early Bay? It looks pretty straightforward.
Never ending projects.

If you are dexterous, you can get it replaced with very little disassembly. A bent 13mm small profile box wrench is good. The earlier buses are trickier than the later ones due to their unique use of the column tube as a part of the electrical path.
Colin

[hercdriver]

Voila! A horn that works.

To give it the Itinerant Air-Cooled Kiss of Reliability, get a small screwdriver tip of DeOx electrical gel and dab the copper contact.
Congratulations for perseverence.
Colin

I did a quick google search for DeOx and came up short of a product to buy. I did however find lots of info on bulb grease as well as dielectric grease. The bulb grease looks like it will help conduct and prevent corrosion, whereas the dielectric is non-conductive. Any preference?
Dave

[Amskeptic]

Voila! A horn that works.

To give it the Itinerant Air-Cooled Kiss of Reliability, get a small screwdriver tip of DeOx electrical gel and dab the copper contact.
Congratulations for perseverence.
Colin

I did a quick google search for DeOx and came up short of a product to buy. I did however find lots of info on bulb grease as well as dielectric grease. The bulb grease looks like it will help conduct and prevent corrosion, whereas the dielectric is non-conductive. Any preference?
Dave

Dielectric by all means.