2000 Neon

I'm having problems with horn not working. Isolated it down to a ground issue, but not the ground wire in the plug on the bottom of the steering column. The problem seems to be a lack of a ground to the steering shaft and airbag/horn assembly. Does anyone know how it's supposed to be grounded?

The steering wheel bolts to the steering shaft and the airbag/horn assembly bolts to the steering wheel, so one word think that it would naturally be grounded.

Checking continuity between the steering shaft and a good ground point shows open.

When disassembled, but connected I can run a ground to the airbag/horn assembly and it works fine, unfortunately the steering wheel and airbag assembly must rotate, so now stationary ground will work.

I can lower the adjustable steering column all the way down and the horn will work 90% of the time???

Robert

 

No replies yet, so will see if I can get things started. Go here 2nd Gen Neon Parts Manuals - DodgeForum.com & scroll down to the #2 post by Moderator darthroush & under the 2nd Gen Neon: heading in his signature, click on the "Red" color year range of your 2nd gen Neon FSM = Factory Service Manual. link to open it & Scroll down & click on Horn to open all about how to trouble shoot. There are also wiring & ground location info links in the Index..
Some beginning thoughts for consideration, Let us know how the trouble shoot goes..

 

I've been through the troubleshooting steps and all components have tested good.

The issue is that the steering shaft is not grounded, but the steering column is. Trying to wrap my head around how that can happen?

How is the steering shaft grounded? Just the bearing contact? A internal slip ring assembly?

Robert

 

Well after much head scratching and troubleshooting, I determined that I had no component failure, but a ground failure. After spraying the upper steering shaft bearing and working back and forth , I retested and a miracle was born. Yes, it seems the bearing and column was so dirty that it couldn't pass the ground to the shaft.

Moral of the story: You can't honk your horn with a dirty shaft

Robert

 

Good find, fix, feedback & to hear all now seems well with the horn ground. Thanks for closing out your thread with some good findings. I'm not sure how the factory had it grounded.
Did you ever scan for stored body trouble code clues???

 

No codes present. The outer column has a ground strap that is fine, but no apparent external ground on the steering shaft. All I can figure is the factory ground was the bearing context between the steering column and steering shaft.

Robert

 

We still have our 2000 Neon, so I'm interested in the Root cause of this anomaly. Not likely Dodge would intentionally run a horn ground through a bearing, as that's not good practice as it's not a good reliable electrical connection as current passing through a bearing could cause pitting, corrosion, etc, so they likely use a dedicated low resistance electrical conductor & ground connection.

So, let's think about this some more. Looking at the shop manual & electrical connections & ground point for the horn switch, it shows the steering wheel horn switch for the horn solenoid ground point, being made to the drivers side of the center metal dash frame large center opening, there is another ground point there too, one above the other & both separately screwed to the dash metal frame.

I suspect you may have a horn switch wiring run connection problem between the horn switch and the dash metal frame ground point, so the electrons were looking for the next lowest point of resistance that could pass enough current to operate the horn relay solenoid, which maybe was through the lubed & cleaned up steering shaft axle bearing. If so, that connection might get wimpy later & cause intermittent, or non working problems again.
More thoughts for consideration if the problem returns.

 

Forgot to ask how you scanned for trouble codes??? Some code readers & scan-tools can't read more than generic engine codes, so may not be able to access stored body codes, or enhanced mfg. codes that could help focus a trouble shoot. So, if the battery hasn't been disconnected, enhanced codes may still be in memory & useful to know.

If we don't have access to a scan-tool that can access mfg enhanced codes, we can enable the vehicle computer to put up stored codes on the dash mileage display by turning the ignition switch from Off to Run 3 times (but don't go to Start to crank the engine), remain at Run the third time & the vehicle computer will display stored codes in the instrument panel mileage display. Post up All code Numbers.

 

Sorry, I dropped the ball on this. I basically went through every electrical connection on the steering wheel and found no ground. All wires going through the clock sorting are only power connections for the airbag and horn. Unless there is a ground assembly on the bottom of the shaft that I never discovered? It would have to be a slip ring design since it's purpose would be to ground the moving steering shaft. I'm really not worried about it unless there is a future problem.

Robert

 

Ok, if the problem returns come on back & post up & we'll carry on until the root cause is found, as it would likely be a problem for others too & we can make this thread a closed loop trouble shoot routine for all with like problems to try.