DennisT

I have seriously sticky horn buttons on my 1997 CTD Laramie SLT steering wheel. One dealer said I'd have to replace the steering wheel. I am prepared to use spray lube on it but the best way would seem to be to replace the buttons. Anyone dealt with this issue before?

I've quit using the horn because they remain on for a half-mile before I can peck away at the button and get it un-stuck again.

Must be a flaky design button.

Thoughts really appreciated, Dennis

Joseph H. Smith

I have a 98 with a broken horn switch. Because mine is in the airbag trim cover and the fact that they did a mod on the airbag and that the trim is no longer available i would have to spend $1000.00 to get a new airbag and clock spring. I checked with a few dealers and they said the same thing. They first would tell me that yes the horn SWITCHES are available and cost in the $50.00's but I would then remind them that mine is a 98 and they would check again and would reply that they were checking the 97 which has different horn switches and that yes my airbag and clock spring have to be changed for around $1000.00. I don't know what dealership told you that you needed to change your steering column but I would bet that they were talking about a 98 and not a 97. Check with another dealer and make sure they check 97 and not 98. You will find that the switches are still avialable. I just did this in the last 2 weeks. Joe

J BODY

Can't remember....97 still had the round horn buttons correct? If so, they are available separately. I've also found that the best way to remove them (to avoid steering wheel damage) is to remove the wheel and push them out from the back. They can be pried from the front, but you will risk damaging the leather. I have about four of these switches in my tool box that i've cleaned up and put spade terminals on. I use them in place of the starter relay to "bump" over engines.

DennisT

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Finally someone who's been through this. Whew. Thank you.

OK. Yes, my horn buttons are round....maybe inch-and-a-quarter in dia. One on left side of steering wheel crossmember, one on right. Mine now always appear slightly depressed.....makes me wonder if whatever springing/return system is in there, it is failing and not returning smoothly, which also makes them stick. I don't know if they are plastic springs, or a domed tin thing that finally collapses.

Are there wire connections inside that? Or spring contacts? How deep is the cavity for the button?

I'm nervous about pulling the steering wheel as suggested, but understand the reasoning.

Have you tried repairing one of these silly buttons?

Thanks very much,
Dennis

J BODY

A very thin feeler gauge, some glass/all purpose cleaner, compressed air, and a few rags. Remove horn relay. Spray the buttons, run the feeler gauge around the edge of the button in an up/down motion. Repeat as necessary. Blow dry w/t air. Sometimes it does the trick......and sometimes you just get new buttons.

T-Bone

I have pulled the buttons from my 1997 steering wheel. Just use a small screwdriver and gently pry around the outer lip of the button. The buttons are just pressure fit into the wheel. I did not damage the leather. Once out, you will see that the button easily comes apart and can be cleaned.

I made the mistake of spraying carb cleaner on mine to try and get it loosened up. Not good. It seemed to melt the plastic but I was still able to clean up the button and it works perfectly now.

T-Bone

justme-

and then they never go back in properly because you bent the retaining tabs.... bad idea.

Yes the horn buttons can be removed and replaced, and it does not require a clock spring replacement, steering column replacement, or even button replacement. Don't bother replacing the buttons, just mod the ones in there- the new replacements will jam soon enough themselves and you're back to square one.
It's in the service manual.....
Disconnect the batteries for an hour before doing anything else (IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!) to allow the airbag circuit to discharge. There are a couple of screws on the back side of the steering wheel- remove them which releases the cruise control panel and the the airbag module. Remove them and unplug them- The horn buttons should come out easily then with 2 screws each.

Planning on fixing mine soon too- been having the same problem on my 96 since new. Reassemble, connect the batteries then FROM THE PASSENGER SIDE insert the key and turn the ignition to 'run'- this allows the system to test the airbag and if it trips you're NOT in front of it!

I am planning on sanding the button to make it slightly smaller in the opening to allow for the grit.

T-Bone

I’m not sure I understand about the retaining tabs. There are no retaining tabs on the button that hold it into the steering wheel. There are tabs on the button that you can see once the button is out. I did not have any problems gently separating the button cap from the button body. I went to great lengths to try and buy a new button. They are about $10 from the dealer. I then found a used steering column complete with buttons. I was going to guy just the buttons and when I removed them from the wheel, I realized I could just remove and fix mine. The whole process took only minutes with no repercussions.

I would much rather remove a horn button and risk breaking a tab on a $10 part than removing an airbag that I bet my life on. To each his own.

T-Bone

justme-

as soon as you touch anything inside the steering wheel you are presented with the possibility of affecting the airbag system.

I just checked the 1996 factory manual- my apologies. The manual says to remove the cruise and airbag module then "pry the buttons out with a small screwdriver". It does have retaining tabs (your's may have been broken??) holding them into the wheel spoke. The diagram shows the connector for the button wiring behind the airbag module necessitating the module removal. Apparently DC intends you to bend the tabs- I was thinking the tabs were holding the button into the trim ring, not the ring assembly into the wheel.

Never personally done it- was there enough room to get to the connector T-Bone?

My previous post was from memory- I've been through all the manuals DC published for this truck many times. The screws may have been mentioned in a diagnostic manual...(or it could have been a different year....or I could have just made it up...)

T-Bone

I ran out at lunch, pulled both horn buttons and snapped some pics. There are two tabs on each button that extend down past the button body. They do not appear to be attached to anything. Man, those things look dirty blown up that big!!!

Here is a pic of me prying out the button:
[IMG][/IMG]

Here is a pic of the tab on the button that holds the button to the body:

T-Bone

DennisT

Wonderful dialogue guys. Many thanks, I'll dive into mine.

Dennis

DennisT

T-Bone: what's under the button? Clip wiring or are they connected just by spring contact? Did you pull any fuse or module?

I haven't dived into mine quite, yet, maybe tomorrow.

I'm interested to see if I can dis-assemble the button itself once it's out.

Dennis

T-Bone

The button assembly is pressure fit into the hole in the steering wheel. There are wires coming up to it from the steering wheel. Not a lot of slack, but once the button assembly is out, you can easily remove the button from the body. I struggled with this until I saw a button that was already out. Very straight forward. For the attached pictures, I pulled mine in the parking lot at lunch with a small Swiss army knife…

I did not pull any fuses. Your call on the airbag thing.

T-Bone

DennisT

After a lot of helpful hints in this thread, I fixed my horn buttons today...finally. I found a, "pair," of new ones through dealer networking. Twenty-some bucks...not good/not bad.

The new buttons come with wire pigtails attached and bullet connectors at the ends. There is a left and a right side. I disassembled one of the new button assemblies. Four lock tabs hold the center button into the button, "cups." I unlocked one retaining tab, moved to No. 2 tab, and as it unlocked, the first one snapped closed again. So I took four round toothpickes and used them to hold each tab open. Button cap popped right off. Inside the cup is an, "X," made of flat copper spring material...they provide the spring action and the contacts. Simple and not impressive.

So I pried out the button cups on the actual truck. Observe the nice photo in this thread above showing a pried out cup. My cups had NO slack in the wiring and would only lift up about the same amount as the above photo. Told me dealing with the wiring would be a misery unless a fellow removed the airbag. (Ugh) So I pried the tabs again and managed to get the button tops/caps off. Inside was all clean. Spring metal was slightly depressed so I tensioned them up a bit to level. NOTHING appeared wrong.

So I compared the new button caps to the old one. I inverted a new cap, and slid in slightly inside the cup. Moved fine. Tried the old one. It hung up. Looked at caps side-by-side: my old ones appeared to have suffered some slight swelling; just enough the hang up. I could have sanded the old ones back to original diameter, but chose instead to merely insert the brand new ones. I did so and pushed the assemblies back into the steering wheel. Everything works fine.

Conclusion: They are a lousy design, but somewhat rebuild-able. I burned money for a new pair, but am not that unset because I now have a second set of horn buttons. Oh, trivia: the wires provided with the new buttons are connected to the button cups by rivits. Same rivits become the contacts inside the cup. So there is no proper way to switch wiring.

If I had another truck now with same problem I think I'd first try to find some kind of abrasive, flexible blade that I could run around between the button and cup and attempt to, "sand," back some clearance. It would have fixed my problem this time with no parts purchase or disassembly.

I hope this helps someone else.

Yup, lousy design; cheap junk buttons.

Dennis
Odessa/Ritzville, WA