Horn Problem

[MajorL]

Hi Everyone, I have read up on the previous horn problem articles. My situation is as follows
1. Interior light and fuse OK.
2. Power into horn via purple wire OK
3. Power out of the horn on the other terminal on the purple and black wire OK
4 Horn works when shorted out in the engine Bay.
5. Power is coming out on the brown wire at the top of the steering column.
There seems to be a problem with the earthing at the top end via the purple and black wire.There is a very faint pathetic clunk from the horn. The same when the horn press is on. Where dose the purple and black wire
come out or connect at the top of the steering column so a circuit can be made to earth? I can not see any trace
of a purple and black wire . Hope all this makes sense.

[MarkyB]

The brush that bears on the "commutator" looking thing on the steering column needs to be making good contact.
The wire comes up the steering column and contacts the push button via a plastic sleeve and a spring to keep it in in contact.

[MajorL]

Thanks for your info. The wire that comes out of the steering column is a brown wire which is about 4 inches
long and goes through a small hole in the plastic insulators and has a spring loaded stud which seems to pick up
the current from the brass looking slip ring which gets its current from the contact you mention. Does this make sense? Where does the purple and black wire from the horn go when it comes up the steering column? It must be attached to something.

[MarkyB]

No idea about the wire colours.
Has the steering column been repainted? the earth return may be via the indicator clamp.
If you short the centre wire to earth the horn should sound.

[MajorL]

Thanks. I'll try and let you know.

[MajorL]

Marky B. The problem lies in the horn push although its a new one. Will check the spring length and contact with the
base of the horn push. The horn works OK when carrying out all the other tests you recommended.
Many thanks for your help.

[Dr Dan]

Hello there, I'm new to the Club, just got my first 1968 MM 1000, but not yet too savvy on the MM wiring.

My indicator stalk was falling to pieces, so I replaced it with a new one from eBay, and I wired everything up as close to the original as I could. Indicators work except the green light on the stalk - so I have a green wire & bullet left spare & not sure where to plug it (but that's not important now, as the green light never worked before).

Problem is: I can't figure out how to earth the horn, so it blares continuously (I've disconnected it). I've looked at the workshop manual, and it's not very clear on the matter

I'll have a friend (who has Heralds only!) look at it tonight. Meanwhile, any tips? I know it's going to be something really obvious

D

[bmcecosse]

The horn works by earthing the lilac/black lead - so if it's sounding all the time.....it's because it IS earthed.

[Dr Dan]

Aha! I know exactly where you mean. (Pointing an LED headlamp into the wiring, with the sun in my face made the colours look bizarre)

Thanks!

[mike.perry]

My Windtone horns only work when the engine is running.

[Dr Dan]

Hi All. I have a 1968 MM 1000 and have fitted a wooden post-sale steering wheel. Couldn't get the horn push to work completely reliably (scraping away enamel on Boss helped, but it wasn't ideal).

I also replaced the indicator stalk, which was starting to disintegrate, and the green bulb was only sporadically working. When I heaved out the steering wheel, I didn't break any teeth (!) but the brown horn earth wire got snagged and torn out of the column

As I couldn't find any mention of where the earth wire terminates, I pulled it through the plastic tube about 3" down the column and fixed the wire to the small spring-loaded bolt under the two-piece plastic covering (as I was sure that was where it had come from).

A short tantrum later (in view of the simplicity I'd expected of the job!) I've done a workaround (would this pass an MOT???) by fitting a nice red horn button just to the right of the steering wheel (fingertip reach).

This is supplied by the black-lilac +ve horn wire, and sent to ground by fixing it to a screw on the inside of the driver's glovebox.

Horn works fine.

Sidelights immediately stopped working, as did the light behind the speedo (regardless of the position of the switch under the dash). And the lamp on the end of the stalk still doesn't work

Any suggestions? Am I grounding the horn "improvised" button in the wrong place?

Here is a schematic of what I've done. I haven't checked the fuses but will do so shortly.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Dan[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

[aupickup]

the horn button does not need to be on the steering wheel
I may be wrong but that's what I understood

[PSL184]

the horn button does not need to be on the steering wheel
I may be wrong but that's what I understood

That is correct.
The horn button is on the side of my column on one of mine.

[bmcecosse]

I does need to be labelled for the MOT. And has nothing to do with side lights/speedo lights or indicator lamp - all of which need to be working for the MOT.

[PSL184]

Labelled...?
Not labelled normally on Minors are they?

[Dr Dan]

I does need to be labelled for the MOT. And has nothing to do with side lights/speedo lights or indicator lamp - all of which need to be working for the MOT.

Well, that's good to hear, because the push horn was a major pain once I replaced the wheel & needed to make endless adjustments to stop it beeping when I went round corners (!)

BUT: is it just a coincidence that the side lights/speedo lights have stopped working at the same time?

I did replace the numberplate light, and tried to fix the inside courtesy light which has never worked, and the previous owners "didn't know why". Anyway, I've now disconnected and insulated the courtesy light wires (which weren't delivering any power anyway, according to my multimeter), and yesterday I had a really weird anomaly while driving (the horn button didn't work until I switched the speedo light switch - a problem which I couldn't later replicate).

Anyway, I'm at a loss. Looking at the wiring diagram...

http://www.claas-hoelscher.de/images/mo ... llsize.gif

...I can understand how the horn and courtesy lights are "linked" but not how the horn, sidelights, and speedo lights can interfere with each other, except by a grounding problem.

???

[bmcecosse]

Which is why i say above that the horn problem is not associated with your other problems. Use the much better wiring diagram at the head of this section ! You obviously need a better 'earth' for your new button. I guess the centre button is accepted for the horn - but anything else needs to be labelled - and is so on all modern cars.

[Dr Dan]

At the risk of making a nuisance of myself (!) your suggestions raise more questions...

1. I grounded the "non-standard" (dashboard button) horn to the battery housing (as the new fuel pump, fitted by Chertsey Minors, is grounded on the opposite side, and there are lots of holes to which to bolt an earth wire).

2. I replaced the hidden dashboard light switch, in case that was faulty.

Still no side/speedo/indicator stalk lights. The latter is presumably because the green stalk light has no earth (it's depending on the brown horn earth wire, right? The one that ripped off & hence the whole separate horn button workaround). I was thinking of putting small electric beepers in parallel with the indicator wires on the stalk, as the cancelling mechanism is not great.

But please help with this very stupid question: WHERE is the "lights fuse" as shown on the wiring diagram

i.e. the fuse downstream of the "lighting switch":

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/ ... 29368b.png

That fuse seems to supply all the lights that don't work, so it's worth me checking it. My fusebox on the bulkhead only has 2 fuses, and they are ok. ...which suggests it's a wiring problem ??

I know I should look this up in the very long workshop manual, which I promise to read, but at the moment I feel like a schoolboy "stuck" on a maths question, and hoping that someone will have a simple "Eureka" answer.

[bmcecosse]

Early cars don't have the lights fuse - later cars have it as a separate white plastic fuse holder hanging down below the fuse block.

[andy.pointeer]

The picture below shows the side light fuse as indicated by bmc above The main fusebox is in top right of photo
.
[frame][/frame]

This is on my 66 Traveller so should be the same on your 68

Hope this helps