Hi,
I have 2 Mtech 2 wheels and both have the same problem, the horn does not work. I have ruled this down to the contacts on the horn pad. If you take them out manually and press hard enough they will work. But when mounted on the wheel horn cover pad, and assembled it will not work.
I have tried spraying lots of contact cleaner into the contacts and if anything it has made it a bit worse.
Is it available separate to purchase the plastic cluster that houses the copper contacts?
Other that is there any other way to fix this, or a replacement part available separately only for the contacts, or is there other steering wheels that have the exact same contacts?
Thanks
Mtech 2 wheel horn contacts - repair or replacement?
Moderator: martauto
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tari
- Old Skooler
- Posts: 972
- Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2006 11:00 pm
- Location: East London
Try pressing down hard on the horn therefore on the steering wheel. If the horn works, you have the same problem as me.
I still need to figure this out
I still need to figure this out
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BHadley
- E30 Zone Regular
- Posts: 902
- Joined: Sun Sep 06, 2009 11:00 pm
- Location: Newton abbot, Devon
Have you had the steering wheel off?
There is a brass ring on the back of the wheel and a contact which looks like a Allen key, known as the carbon brush
.
When mine was playing the first time I removed the steering wheel and it fell to bits!
There is a wire connected to it from the back maybe loose?
Your horn system does work otherwise?
There is a brass ring on the back of the wheel and a contact which looks like a Allen key, known as the carbon brush
.
When mine was playing the first time I removed the steering wheel and it fell to bits!
There is a wire connected to it from the back maybe loose?
Your horn system does work otherwise?
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Z2TT
- E30 Zone Newbie
- Posts: 82
- Joined: Fri Jan 31, 2014 11:00 pm
Like I said I have ruled it down to the contacts on the steering wheel horn pad.
The brass ring has continuity to the contacts.
The brass ring has continuity to the contacts.
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Z2TT
- E30 Zone Newbie
- Posts: 82
- Joined: Fri Jan 31, 2014 11:00 pm
Hi Guys. A bit of an update.
A big contributor to the problem ended up being the wire that connects to the casting of the steering wheel, the terminal is copper and there was corrosion buildup on the slot. You can test this with a multimeter by testing the wire and putting the other lead on the casting, move it around and if resistance varies a lot then you have a bad contact, possibly due to corrosion.
At this point you also need to test that the slip ring also has good contact to it's wire, use a multimeter again and place one prong on the slip ring, and the other on the terminal of the wire.
To clean this corrosion, you need to remove the terminal. This terminal has clips on both sides, and the way to remove it is to depress both terminals toward the center of the hole with 2 mini flathead screwdrivers simultaneously and then pull upward. Spend a lot of time cleaning the corrosion off of it, especially on sections where it contacts the casting of the wheel.
The second issue is the contacts on the actual horn pad. There are 3 of these on the Mtech 2 Wheel. You need to remove the top section, you need to do this by making a hook that hooks into both of the holes, you will then use a flathead screwdriver to wedge it at the edge, then as you pry, you must use your hook to pull, this will let the contact pop off, but you need to do it very precisely as it's a tight fit.
You will now see that the contacts will have burnt out material on them that needs to be cleaned off, however over time the contact will have worn down, increasing the clearance which may now not be making full contact when the wheel is pressed down, symptom will be excessive pressure required to make the horn work. Once cleaned, you can add a little bit of solder on the bottom contact, flat section in order to raise it's level. Be careful if you add too much solder, you may risk making the air gap between the two contacts too close, resulting in accidental activation of the horn, or decrease the tactile feedback of the horn pad, so the amount of solder you need to add will vary depending on how much wear the contact has.
To anybody attempting to diagnose these issues, please be careful with the clips, as the are prone to breaking, you need to be gentle and do it systematically, if you ever need to use excessive force to get the hornpad off/on the wheel, or the contact pad off/on the hornpad, it means you are doing something incorrect.
A big contributor to the problem ended up being the wire that connects to the casting of the steering wheel, the terminal is copper and there was corrosion buildup on the slot. You can test this with a multimeter by testing the wire and putting the other lead on the casting, move it around and if resistance varies a lot then you have a bad contact, possibly due to corrosion.
At this point you also need to test that the slip ring also has good contact to it's wire, use a multimeter again and place one prong on the slip ring, and the other on the terminal of the wire.
To clean this corrosion, you need to remove the terminal. This terminal has clips on both sides, and the way to remove it is to depress both terminals toward the center of the hole with 2 mini flathead screwdrivers simultaneously and then pull upward. Spend a lot of time cleaning the corrosion off of it, especially on sections where it contacts the casting of the wheel.
The second issue is the contacts on the actual horn pad. There are 3 of these on the Mtech 2 Wheel. You need to remove the top section, you need to do this by making a hook that hooks into both of the holes, you will then use a flathead screwdriver to wedge it at the edge, then as you pry, you must use your hook to pull, this will let the contact pop off, but you need to do it very precisely as it's a tight fit.
You will now see that the contacts will have burnt out material on them that needs to be cleaned off, however over time the contact will have worn down, increasing the clearance which may now not be making full contact when the wheel is pressed down, symptom will be excessive pressure required to make the horn work. Once cleaned, you can add a little bit of solder on the bottom contact, flat section in order to raise it's level. Be careful if you add too much solder, you may risk making the air gap between the two contacts too close, resulting in accidental activation of the horn, or decrease the tactile feedback of the horn pad, so the amount of solder you need to add will vary depending on how much wear the contact has.
To anybody attempting to diagnose these issues, please be careful with the clips, as the are prone to breaking, you need to be gentle and do it systematically, if you ever need to use excessive force to get the hornpad off/on the wheel, or the contact pad off/on the hornpad, it means you are doing something incorrect.