Detective D
Well-Known Member
Hello all!
I am working on getting a 78 Monaco former County Detective's sedan roadworthy.
Step one was polish the original paint and see if was worth a lick. While I was messing around under the hood, I noticed the spades for the horn(s) were unhooked. So I stuck them back on. Pulled the car out into the sun to check the paint. Soon after, I realized the horns were unhooked because I had a short in the column as the horn would sound with the wheel in a certain spot. Further, the parking lights would come on and stay on in a certain spot. I unhooked the horns for the time being again.
So, the adventure began! Found my front bulbs were both getting pulled apart because the sockets were coming out of the back of the front housings(turn signals) Pulled the bulbs, bulbs were only thing holding sockets to housing, sockets are hanging in the air right now. More on this in a minute, but I installed new bulbs. Did not fix anything.
Dug into the column. Now, I am not sure because I have never had one of these apart, but unless I am crazy or there is something unique I did not find an actual horn switch under the center wheel/hub cover. Oh, I have a non tilt column with the 3 spoke steering wheel with the little 4 inch circle cover in the middle. I did find wires coming out of what may or may not be switches under the 3 rubberish covers on the 3 spokes of the wheel. Does the center cover not sound the horn, only the three "soft" sections on the spokes?
Anyway, onward! Pulled the wheel. Turn signal switch looked pretty bad. Only really clicked into place nice for the "right" signal, pulling the stalk down made a sickly decidedly not "click" but did hold in place. Decided I would replace it. Found a NOS online, got it in.
Current state: With all 4 bulbs good, pulling hazard switch makes them all blink. The "green arrow" in the dash for the right signal blinks. the left is either burnt out or otherwise. Push stalk up(right turn), signals flash. Pull it down though, no blinks. Green arrow is not lit up in dash, but both front and rear bulbs are lit on the outside.
I determined the flasher is good because the hazards work, and right signal is fine now.
I found my horn relay, had a hole melted in two sides. Yikes! Will replace with aftermarket this weekend. I will keep an eye on it but i imagine this was from being parked with the horns unhooked but current going to them anyway from the short.
Questions:
Does the green arrow bulb need to function for the entire system to work, or is this a sign of something grounding out?
Is there supposed to be an actual horn switch in the center of the wheel under the round pad?
This car has side markers. Yellow up front, red in back. The passenger side both got mangled, lenses are gone. Driver side good. Are these part of the system, or only with the headlights on?
Back to those front bulbs, as I look at the sockets, it looks to me as though they were press fit at the factory and so far as I can tell are not going to play nice going back into the housings. Is there a method for this? Is there an aftermarket solution? Sourcing new housings that are otherwise fine seems like a waste of "pretty good" original stuff plus money really.
Thanks in advance.
I am working on getting a 78 Monaco former County Detective's sedan roadworthy.
Step one was polish the original paint and see if was worth a lick. While I was messing around under the hood, I noticed the spades for the horn(s) were unhooked. So I stuck them back on. Pulled the car out into the sun to check the paint. Soon after, I realized the horns were unhooked because I had a short in the column as the horn would sound with the wheel in a certain spot. Further, the parking lights would come on and stay on in a certain spot. I unhooked the horns for the time being again.
So, the adventure began! Found my front bulbs were both getting pulled apart because the sockets were coming out of the back of the front housings(turn signals) Pulled the bulbs, bulbs were only thing holding sockets to housing, sockets are hanging in the air right now. More on this in a minute, but I installed new bulbs. Did not fix anything.
Dug into the column. Now, I am not sure because I have never had one of these apart, but unless I am crazy or there is something unique I did not find an actual horn switch under the center wheel/hub cover. Oh, I have a non tilt column with the 3 spoke steering wheel with the little 4 inch circle cover in the middle. I did find wires coming out of what may or may not be switches under the 3 rubberish covers on the 3 spokes of the wheel. Does the center cover not sound the horn, only the three "soft" sections on the spokes?
Anyway, onward! Pulled the wheel. Turn signal switch looked pretty bad. Only really clicked into place nice for the "right" signal, pulling the stalk down made a sickly decidedly not "click" but did hold in place. Decided I would replace it. Found a NOS online, got it in.
Current state: With all 4 bulbs good, pulling hazard switch makes them all blink. The "green arrow" in the dash for the right signal blinks. the left is either burnt out or otherwise. Push stalk up(right turn), signals flash. Pull it down though, no blinks. Green arrow is not lit up in dash, but both front and rear bulbs are lit on the outside.
I determined the flasher is good because the hazards work, and right signal is fine now.
I found my horn relay, had a hole melted in two sides. Yikes! Will replace with aftermarket this weekend. I will keep an eye on it but i imagine this was from being parked with the horns unhooked but current going to them anyway from the short.
Questions:
Does the green arrow bulb need to function for the entire system to work, or is this a sign of something grounding out?
Is there supposed to be an actual horn switch in the center of the wheel under the round pad?
This car has side markers. Yellow up front, red in back. The passenger side both got mangled, lenses are gone. Driver side good. Are these part of the system, or only with the headlights on?
Back to those front bulbs, as I look at the sockets, it looks to me as though they were press fit at the factory and so far as I can tell are not going to play nice going back into the housings. Is there a method for this? Is there an aftermarket solution? Sourcing new housings that are otherwise fine seems like a waste of "pretty good" original stuff plus money really.
Thanks in advance.