XJS Steering Column Repair

I was getting ready to have a rego inspection and tested the horn. It had worked up until I was ready for registration. Any way I ended up having to remove the upper column from the car and dismantle it to repair the horn.

The problem was the horn was not working, (in my state the horn MUST be operational for registration). After dismantling the column I could not get the horn to work reliably. It was off for only half of the rotation of the column and then on for the other half. I had a short in the column.

The short turned out be the brass collar shorting on the column cover. As the wheel was turned the horn could not be turned off, VERY annoying. I wrapped the brass collar in tape and you could see where it was rubbing, so the clearance was less than the thickness of electrical tape.

For anyone who has this problem here is how I solved it.

This required the total dismantle of the column. The ROM is clear and was helpful in the removal of the column and ignition from the column, so I won't go into this too much, suffice to say I used a dremel to cut slots in the screws so I could re-install them.

Column removed and inner column out. The brass collar was my problem. The spring touches the long pin and the collar.  I made a new collar from a 1" copper pipe joiner, I had to bore the inside a little in the lathe so it was a snug slip fit on the insulation tape I wrapped around the column.

I cut the black plastic thing to keep the spring pin into the column hole. then wrapped in electrical tape inserted the spring and fit the new copper collar. I used 50mm and 24mm heat shrink to hold the copper collar in place. this heat shrink has glue on the inside so everything is held in place.


THIS REPAIR DID NOT LAST, keep reading




Damn after 12 months the horn decided to blare again, this time it would not turn off. I found that the pin down the inner column had moved when I pulled the column out and moved it back during a long trip. What had happened was the pin had pushed the spring and shorted it to the inner column.

I needed a way to hopefully fix this once and for all. I had an old static wrist strap wire, these are silicone insulated so should be durable.

I removed the pin and ran the wire down the inner column. Removed the insulation tape and replaced it with an old static bag from work, these are made from Mylar and are quite strong.




Use an old static bag (made from mylar) to insulate the collar from the column. If you do not do this the horn will short and blare constantly.

Wrapped the Mylar around the column multiple times to ensure good insulation and that the collar is a snug fit.

I soldered a wire to the copper collar. If I were doing this again I would solder a spade connector to the collar and crimp a connector to the wire.

Remove this pin from down the center of the inner column. The wire I added will take the place of this.

I drilled a hole in copper collar to allow the wire to pass through without interfering with the wiper.

Almost finished,

Reassembled and ready to go back in the car. I used the stock wiper on the copper collar and this squeaks incessantly, which I have not fixed yet. I need to remove the OEM wiper and install a carbon brush.

I used heatshrink to hold the collar in place. This heatshrink is impregnated with glue on the inside. This pic is of the older repair but I used similar to hold the new repaired collar in place.

2017 update - I did this repair about 5 years ago now and the horn has never given another problem, so I would call this repair successful.