91CuttyConv Posted January 15, 2003 Report Share Posted January 15, 2003 As many of you may already know from my previous posts, this thing has been my enemy, doing everything in its power to defeat me. I am talking about the Horn pad combined with HVAC and radio controls on a 91 Cutlass. For the longest time I have been trying to find one in light grey until today I played around and discovered color does not matter, the vinyl overlay is interchangeable. So I played Frankenstein and switched some parts around from a donor pad. However, same problem, horn wants to constantly honk, so out came the fuse again. Here is my ongoing problem, for one reason or another the terminals want to always contanct the metal frame of the wheel, thus completing the circut and honking the horn. I have tried everything and nothing works. I do not believe the wheel frame is bent but who knows. The reason I keep playing games with used pads is GM wants $750 for a new one! I was wondering if this is a common problem or if I am just unlucky. I have driven other Cutty's with this same setup and the horn always seemed very touchy, it would not take much to make it honk, mine need no pressing, just plug the fuse in and hoooonnnnkkkkk! AHHHH, sorry for the long post but this damn thing is driving me nuts. Thanks in advance for those of you willing to read my crazyness. Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian P Posted January 15, 2003 Report Share Posted January 15, 2003 If you could get a newer one that'd probably be your better bet. Or maybe you could snap off the contacts that touch (hopefully not all of them!) I know the floam deteriorates inside them and the contacts dont retract after a certain age. I havent taken apart any of them but there should be a way to fix it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted January 15, 2003 Report Share Posted January 15, 2003 Yeah, I've had the problem Brian mention. The contacts consist of 2 copper or brass plates, one is flat and the other has a bump on it. The 2 plates are separated by a gray sponge probably a few mm in thickness with a hole for the bump. When you push the horn, it pushes the bump into the bottom flat plate. Anyway, that sponge deteriorates to where it crumbles away and becomes even a bit gooey. When that happens, the bump on the top plate makes constant contact with the bottom plate. The temporary solution for me was to disconnect the 2 side horn buttons and leave the center one connected because it didn't have the same problem. I have been meaning to fix this for several years, but haven't really tried too hard to find a good replacement spongy material. I had thought it might be easier to mount a tactile feedback pushbutton switch in there, but haven't found one yet that requires similar force with similar travel of the original switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldsmoBeast Posted January 15, 2003 Report Share Posted January 15, 2003 yeah i had that exact same problem maybe a year or 2 ago...the sponge was all messed and what not. so being the cheapass that i am, i left the side that was perfect the way it is and i bent up the metal plates on the other 2 sides a little.....granted they don't really work and it was prolly a shitty thing to do, i can still use the horn out of one side and i never had that problem again.....meh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
91CuttyConv Posted January 16, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2003 First off I want to thank all of you shinning some light on the situation, you have no idea what I have been through, but then again maybe you do How do I go about disconnecting the side buttons? because I believe that is where the problem is. I breifly played around with it but lost all horn ability, then again i didn't look into it very deeply. Again, thank you very very much!!!! Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted January 16, 2003 Report Share Posted January 16, 2003 I forget because this was many years ago I disconnected just the side buttons, but I think they have little spade type connectors sticking out of the black plastic. There's a wire plugged into the spade connectors and I just pulled them off and taped them up. At least I THINK that's what I did! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
91CuttyConv Posted January 16, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2003 Thanks for the reply. When the weather warms up I'll get out to the car and play some games. I need to get a new black mounting bracket anyways, the tabs on the upper end of mine are cracked so the unit does not fit tightly. Anyway, I'm glad to find out other people have had this same problem, i just can't believe what GM wants for a new one. Thanks, Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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