Faulty horn

Hi all,    
        yesterday i turned my steering wheel turning left on a main road my horn suddenly sounded and would not stop, this has only started to happen since having my tracking done, would that have anythig to do with it has it is changing the steering or am i talking B******S
I had to pull over and remove the fuse til i got home.
Got home and removed wheel to check if the little copper on coloumn was making contact with the ring on the boss plkus i cleaned the little bit of dirt of it.
Fitted again, turned ignition on and horn sounded, so i disconnected the black and white wires that go to the centre button and removed button.
Fitted back fuse and turned on ignition, again the horn sounds.
Can someone shed some light on this tricky little one for me please.
Seem to be having problems all at once.
Cheers and a big thank you

Got it sorted, i removed teh copper piece that is in place of a relay and refitted, simple! horns work again wierd :dontknow:

Hi,
Take the wheel off and see if the horn sounds then (it shouldn't !). Using a short piece of wire, earth the copper strip sticking up from the switches to the metal of the steering column. The horn should sound. If this is the case, the problem is most likely a missing spacer at the end of the column (or one that's moved too far down the column), or the wheel itself (not as likely IMO).
Good luck !
Mark.

Cheers mark,
                    like i say horn is fine now, but will try your info fella and will keep it in mind bud.
Cheers bud, i appreciate it :wink:

Yes - it's just a bit wierd that taking the bridge out of the fuseboard then refitting it sorted the problem. Can't help thinking the problem would be elsewhere (sorry !). With the ignition on, you could try pushing down hard on the steering wheel to see if the horn sounds, then pulling it up hard to see if it stops again. Would indicate a problem with the column spacer. Mind you, if it's OK you'll probably want to leave well alone !
Cheers,
Mark

Well mark,
               it happened again yesterday, i had to remove the fuse inorder to stop it, today i refitted fuse whilst igition off, i got wheel off today and turned igition on and it still sounds, this is puzzling bud :dontknow:

VW wire their horns up the ?wrong way? and different from almost everyone else. The horn is fed 12v +ve and the switch earths (-ve) it and completes the circuit. This is why the horn has two wires when the normal way would be one wire supplying +12v from a switch and earth it to the body via the mounting or fixing. This means that if the earthing wire is touching the body anywhere the horn will sound as its already got the +12v. Check the wire from the steering wheel downwards and in the engine bay. Also there is a earth strap(wire) at the bottom of the steering column that collects to the bulkhead underneath the car, make sure it is connected after the work you have had done, although I would have thought that this would make it not work?

You need a multimeter (?5 from maplins or autojumble) to check if the earth wire from the switch has continuity with the body, i.e. its touching somewhere and completing the horn circuit.

Also as MK1 Golfs only have one track rod end that?s adjustable, after adjusting the steering wheel will have been out of alignment, did the garage have the steering wheel off to re-set it???

Early-1800 said

VW wire their horns up the ?wrong way? and different from almost everyone else. The horn is fed 12v +ve and the switch earths (-ve) it and completes the circuit. This is why the horn has two wires when the normal way would be one wire supplying +12v from a switch and earth it to the body via the mounting or fixing. This means that if the earthing wire is touching the body anywhere the horn will sound as its already got the +12v. Check the wire from the steering wheel downwards and in the engine bay. Also there is a earth strap(wire) at the bottom of the steering column that collects to the bulkhead underneath the car, make sure it is connected after the work you have had done, although I would have thought that this would make it not work?

You need a multimeter (?5 from maplins or autojumble) to check if the earth wire from the switch has continuity with the body, i.e. its touching somewhere and completing the horn circuit.

Also as MK1 Golfs only have one track rod end that?s adjustable, after adjusting the steering wheel will have been out of alignment, did the garage have the steering wheel off to re-set it???

This mk1 has track rod adjustable ends on both sides with it being a later model, i had the tracking done at ATS and it has only happened since then, when i got home i removed wheel and realigned it, but like you have spotted i have done alot of work on the front end, didnt think this would affect the horn, but will have to check the earthing on the car tomorrow, will keep you posted
Cheers bud, i appreciate it :wink:

I FOUND IT YEAH!, i had fitted dual horns a few month back and attached one to the rad with a bracket i found, when i have wired the horns, the neg on one of the horns was touching the bracket giving me the constant horn,  i thought i had taped it up good to prevent earthing (I didn't), so sorted that aswell to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Well happy another mission completed, thanks guys would have never thought of earthing etc, because of this info given to me i looked and found the fault approx 10 secs after opening bonnet  :wink: