1988 cherokee laredo horn problem

[ihaveajeep]

Hey everybody,

I've been battling for a while with the horn in my car--randomly sometimes when I turned left it would just blow. It eventually started happening so frequently that I just dismantled it, and this is what I've found (in the pictures). Whenever one of the little metal pieces in jeep2.jpg touches the metal thing circled in red in jeep1.jpg the horn blows. I can't figure out how to put it back together and make the horn function without it blowing all the time.

Any help is greatly appreciated--as you're all probably aware, I have no idea what I'm doing!
Thanks a lot,
Amber

 

[SteelHeadz]

Welcome to Jeepz Amber. I think it's jeepbiblicaly wrong to refer to a Jeep as a car. Like the slogan say's "There is no other", Its a Jeep thing.. :{)
As for the horn, there are only two ways to install the spring, either Concaved side to or away the steering wheel and the center button is mounted on top of that.. I would think that the lip of the spring will seat on the plastic insulator thats attached to the steering wheel being held by three phillips screws..

 

[ihaveajeep]

thanks for responding!
unfortunately I still have no idea what I'm doing. =/
I've tried putting it together the way you described, but there's no way I can not have metal touching the thing circled in red (the spring??). And because of that, the horn always blows.

 

[SteelHeadz]

Does the contact( the thing circled in red) push down?

 

[ihaveajeep]

yes it does

 

[SteelHeadz]

Install the plate( Middle out of all three in the pictures) with the outer rim against the plastic ring on the steering wheel. The center of that plate should not touch any part of the center nut of the steering wheel. Carefully line up the 3 holes on the plate to the holes on the steering wheel to facilitate the installation of the horn button retainer. Install the horn button to where the screws are centered on the holes of the plate and lined up on the threads of the steering wheel then install the 3 screws.

 

[keepMaster]

Hi, i had the same problem. you got to understand how the horn works first. ref your own pictures. the little piece of metal circled in red is a spring/ power button. don’t remove it or it will fall apart. in the same picture, at the center of the steering wheel is the big nut that holds the steering wheel on. look just under that big nut. you see a raised, round "groove" like a washer (but it is not). That raised round circle area just under the big steering wheel nut is the other part of the switch it is where the little metal thing circled in red needs to touch. The WAY it touches is by that round plain flat "plate" with 3 holes (not the one with green ring). Now they call that plate a "horn spring" because it really is not flat. you see it kind of is bent (in the picture it is bending "up"). When you press the car horn button, it presses down on the "Cup Frame" (the thing with the round green insulator). The cup frame presses down on the spring plate and then the spring plate pushes down and completes the switch contact (point from red circled metal to raised metal hub under main nut). The trick........when you install the plate "horn spring" spring......you want it bending "down" (opposite of the picture is now). it will always be touching the spring power button underneath. The horn spring, however, is NOT touching in the middle / other side yet (the round raised /side ring under the big nut). If you want to test this use / take just "horn spring plate" turn it upside down from the picture, place it on top of your steering wheel (loosely sets in the white plastic outer rim) and press down. The horn will honk. see how it works first and try it, it won't shock you. its fun. The last thing is the "button cup" it sits on top of the "horn spring" (same as the picture, just sits on top) with the green bottom 3 insulators matching the 3 big holes in the "horn spring", then to the steering wheel's 3 threaded screw holes. When put together the "spring plate" is always touching the red circle contact. when pressed down by the cup, the center round touches the steering nut edge and horn honks. The only other thing is DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN the 3 screws....it WILL break the green plastic (or cause it to crack with heat over time / later). Leave the 3 screw loose-ish...slightly tight...else the plastic will crack.
- Hope this helps

 

[keepMaster]

oh heck....here is a diagram i made.
" I must apologize, I did not have time to
build it to scale or to paint it."
- E.B. Back to the Future