Thing I would never have suspected

"PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012) 07/20/2020 at 07:13 • Filed to: None

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As some of your may recall my C5 being a head turner when all hell broke loose in it and horn started blaring for no good reason (and all sorts of warnings popped up in the dash)

Well, after some youtubing and googling it was determined to be the horn... or contact membrane.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I would have never once suspected the actual horn button to be the issue. Fuse - sure. Some sort of a wire short - absolutely. C5 leaks water into the cabin like a firehose is pointed at it - so water damage/corrosion. Yep.
No. It’s literally the worst design ever - Two fairly large plates of copper sandwiched together between steering wheel plea ther and airbag. You bop the center of the steering wheel and it toots. The problem is that the two plates of copper might possibly corrode with time...make contact and horn will be on non stop.... OOOR. copper will corrode and not make contact at all and horn will never work.

If there was no youtube or search engines, how in the fuck would Mad Max find his electrical gremlins?

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > PartyPooper2012 07/20/2020 at 07:31

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Like I always say, C5 is a dumb GM product. But its cheap to buy and stupidly fast so I put up with it...GM did do a great job with designing and building the engine, chassis and suspension geom; everything else is eeh...

pip bip - choose Corrour > PartyPooper2012 07/20/2020 at 07:32

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without YT, most mechanics would be making a bigger fortune

PartyPooper2012 > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability 07/20/2020 at 07:34

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would probably have been better off just selling engine and trans in a box... Here. Stick this in your camry/corolla/tercel. 

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > PartyPooper2012 07/20/2020 at 07:38

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Would've been a good option

old-busted-hotness-still-cant-comment > PartyPooper2012 07/20/2020 at 07:44

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Had a similar problem with the Crown Vic (pre-airbag wheel). The horn contacts are one flat sheet and one dimpled sheet separated by foam. The foam rots after 30 years or so.

I don’t see how your contacts are tensioned. Does it rely on the airbag cover springing back to shape?

Urambo Tauro > PartyPooper2012 07/20/2020 at 07:46

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Weird flex but ok

PartyPooper2012 > old-busted-hotness-still-cant-comment 07/20/2020 at 08:04

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There might be something inside that copper sheet sandwich to keep the plates apart. I didn’t open it. It touches the airbag cover, but doesn’t attach to it in any way. 

PartyPooper2012 > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability 07/20/2020 at 09:07

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By the way, I think we dominate oppo with our C5 repairs.

Some might see it and decide C5 is not that reliable.

We might have to post some pics of rubber burning

JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t > old-busted-hotness-still-cant-comment 07/20/2020 at 09:19

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Had similar a design on my ‘89 mazda protege... Foam rotted away and horn came on while driving through a quiet neighborhood in the middle of the night. I wasn’ t thinking clearly, because late at night, rather than pulling the fuse or disconnecting the wire harness at the horn, I used my swiss army knife’s screwdriver to dis as semble the steering wheel and disconnect the switch pad. 

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > PartyPooper2012 07/20/2020 at 09:23

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I do my part with getting and posting autox/track vids!

Its a needy boi but like I said, when it works, it obliterates cars 2x/3x as expensive....

PartyPooper2012 > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability 07/20/2020 at 09:52

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True story. Races will be held once a year circa Feb 30th. Subject to weather and religion permitting. 

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > PartyPooper2012 07/20/2020 at 12:15

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GM is notorious (in my circle of friends anyway) for having horns that stop working. I know I’m forgetting a few, but off the top of my head I can remember a C5 Z06, multiple Silverados, a first gen CTS-V, and an early 2000's Cavalier, all losing the functionality of their horns. Hilarious.

PartyPooper2012 > WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI 07/20/2020 at 12:29

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Even more hilarious when horn starts blaring on its own and there is nothing you can do till you disconnect the battery.

Poor people in front of me at red light thought I went nuts (They don’t know me like you guys know me)

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > PartyPooper2012 07/20/2020 at 12:54

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I replied to your post when it happened and told the story of when it happened to me. Nothing quite prep ares you for a moment like that.........

PartyPooper2012 > WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI 07/20/2020 at 13:18

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yeah. I would have been ok with something obvious. Had it not been for YT or google, i would have gone through entire wire harness with a microscope.

Even then, there is no obvious indication that the horn button....membrane... is the issue. You look at this thing and looks exactly like the new one. No damage. No discoloration. no corr osion.

I know me. If I went through entire wire harness and didn’t find the issue, it would have ended up taking the car to dealership. They would have charged me arm and a leg for diagnosing - as if they have never ever seen this issue before... and then slapped a new airbag in for 1200 on top of diagnostics.

4-5k easy.

piece of shit corvette. I ought to wrap it around a big rock. I like wrenching tho....so I probably won’t