After a long week with lots of travelling I got a call late on Friday evening. The red MGB tourer had problems again. The owner reports that first the horn was suddenly – then it went on permanently – followed by a blown fuse number three. In this car – quite a few modifications were done but after digging in deeper – I understand that this is standard ignition white to green cable fuse.
Now, this is interesting as the horn is powered by a purple cable – meaning a fused connection from the battery cable. At first, I was a bit puzzled how the changes done last week could cause this. As additional information I was told – that the steering wheel moved ?! ….. Moved?! I could not make much sense out of this at first. And on the short drive to my garage, I did not notice a moving steering wheel.
When I took of the horn button – I was already surprised, as it came out with the cable torn off. Even more mysterious: After taking the steering wheel off – the contact ring I worked on last week was missing?! I called the owner and asked if someone worked on the car after me. Apparently not. He also mentioned that the steering wheel moved and then I understood what he meant – it tried to pull it as well:
One thing is clear: it should not be possible to pull the column in and out like this. I strongly believe that this was also the reason the horn not to work before. Last week I adjusted the cooper pickup, the new movement must have caused the pickup to somehow lockup with the contact ring on the steering wheel. This in turn then separated ´from the paper clip on the adapter – causing the shortage with the indicator – I found the ring after the phone call with the owner behind the striker for the indicator.
I happen to have a broken column from another MGB as well as a working unit from my Morgan restoration. Previously I did not realize that the Morgan is using the same column – but tonight- after working on it I realised that it is the same part. Mine is not for sale – so the only thing I could offer is to put everything back together – without the horn button wired up. I also removed some unnecessary cables and taped of some that dangled loosely behind the dashboard. I assume this is from a removed seatbelt warning until (purple pink cable)!?
Removing the steering column would not too be too difficult – but can be quite time consuming. Especially the bolt on the universal joint in the engine bay can be a bugger. Finding a new column will be even harder. There are some available on Ebay in the UK – but a) condition is hard to tell and b) shipping to Germany usually a problem. Oh well – this is not my car. With a bit TLC and some updates – it would be a great MGB. When I returned to the paint shop a fender and valance of another customer MGB was just finished in BLVC 60 – aqua color. Looks awesome and I would really like to see the complete car one day.
Fixing C6622 