I've got a 96 LS400. When the car gets really hot inside, like parked in the sun, the auto tilt steering won't come down (in and out always works), and the horn starts working again. The horn stopped working about 3 weeks ago, but when it gets hot, it comes to life. I was thinking that there might be some grease or something that changes viscosity with the heat and interrupts the connections. Is this possible? Anybody have a writeup on removing the clockspring?

 

Sounds like it might be a problem with the spiral cable in the steering wheel... When the horn won't work, are you able to turn the wheel to any position that allows the horn to work?

 

swapping clock springs isn't tough, I did one on a Taurus SHO but you do want to get a writeup because you need to disable the airbag system before you start taking the steering wheel apart

 

No, when the horn doesn't work...it doesn't work. No matter which way the wheel turns, it doesn't work. When I run the A/C and get the cabin cool, I'm able to get the column down but the horn stops working. Is there any grease or sealant on/around the clockspring/spiral cable that could interrupt the connection? I replaced the horn relay first thing before I read about the spiral cable issue.

 

anybody???

 

How about your cruise or airbag light? Does the cruise stop working too? How about your airbag light on the dash?

 

Cruise and Airbag are fine

 

It doesn't mean much that the cruise is working and airbag light isn't coming on... I had a bad spiral cable / clock spring and the horn, cruise control, and directional's all worked fine. My airbag light was coming on intermittently. I'd reset it, it would stay off for days or sometimes weeks, then come back on again...

 

Sounds like you have a bad clock spring. Replace it with a new one. Make sure you DO NOT rotate it 360 degrees or you will break the clock spring!

James

 

Remove negative battery cable first. do not perform any work to the vehicle for at least 2 minutes to allow the Airbag ECU to power down. Remove the driver's airbag assembly. Put reference marks on the steering wheel and steering shaft to allow for correct alignment during re-assembly. Remove the steering wheel, making sure to dis connect all wiring connectors interfering with wheel removal. Using a steering wheel puller, (can rent one at local parts store) remove steering wheel.
Then remove the upper and lower steering column covers, should be 3 phillips head screws holding it. The clockspring is immediately behind the column cover, it is in a plastic case that says something like "Do not rotate past stop" or something like that. I believe on your car there is 4 screws holding it on to the steering column. You MAY have to swap the turn signal and wiper switches onto the new clockspring. Also the new one will have a clip installed on it to prevent it from turning. Do not remove this clip until you are ready to install the wheel. IF for some reason it comes out, rotate the clockspring CLOCKWISE until it stops. DO NOT FORCE IT! Rotate it back 2 1/2 turns counterclockwise and install the wheel. It sounds daunting, but is very easy. They have problems when they get old. Common problem.
DO NOT RECONNECT BATTERY CABLE UNTIL VEHICLE IS RE-ASSEMBLED. Unexpected airbag deployment could happen, or you could set some trouble codes.

 

Any ideas as to why the temperature changing has an affect on it??

 

could be that the wires are broken just enough that they go open in the heat. Have seen it before... clocksprings do some weird stuff when they get worn