Conductive Steering Coupler?!?!

For several weeks I have been frustrated by electrical issues.

The head light relay that switches between high and low beams doesn't work. The relay is good and wired properly. With a test light I determined that both sides of the switch in my turn signal lever are grounded. This should only happen when I pull the lever toward me.

Then I determined that the switch was being grounded by the steering column.

The steering column should be ungrounded until I press the horn button.

I disconnected all wires going to the turn signal switch and the wire going down through the center of shaft. I also disconnected to wire connecting to the tube and unmounted the top end of the tube.

So, the tube only touched the car where it goes through a rubber grommet in the "firewall". The shaft was still attached to the rubber coupler.

The test light still showed the tube and shaft being grounded!

Crazy as it seems, it looks like the coupler must be conductive.

I bought the coupler from Wolfsburg West when I realized I should get rid of red urethane.

From VW there was a jumper wire to allow for a horn ground from the tee at the steering box to the tee on the steering shaft.
Are the tee's for the shaft faced opposed or matched to each other ?
A couple of pics would help too.

What about the upper mount where it passes through the dash. Isn't there a steel subframe?

For my 62-67 horn setup I didn't use a jumper wire. The wire from the center of the shaft passes over the coupler and connects to a bolt on the steering box side.

The connections to the coupler are opposed.

There is no wire or exposed metal connection between the shaft and tube to any other part of the car. I have disconnected the upper end of the tube from the frame under the dash.

When the shaft is connected to the coupler the test light shows the shaft and tube grounded. When I disconnect the shaft from the coupler there is no ground.

So, strange as it seems, it looks like the coupler is conductive.

The coupler I am using is squarish and looks like ones for a VW bus I saw while I was shopping for a replacement last night. I am wondering if it has metal reinforcing embedded in the rubber.

I ordered different couplers last night and I will see what happens with them.

For my steering shaft I actually have 2 rubber couplers with a spacer between to move the steering wheel rearward. You can see the spacer in my photos on the SOC site.

I just posted a photo. When I first tried I saw that my donor status had lapsed. It is nice that there was near instant upgrading when I made the payment. It would be nice if there could be an automatic notification when out status changes.

I would say a simple ohm meter will answer your question. Do you have continuity from one hole to the next?

With a horn relay, at least the way I am wiring it, the column is nothing until the horn button is pushed. Then it grounds the switching part of the horn relay.

I think a test light tells me as much as a ohm meter. My test light is connected to the positive post of my battery. When I touch it to a ground it lights.

When I touch it to a bolt on the rubber disk it lights.

Edit: never mind, early column wiring is just dangerous.

The column is hot, the horn grounds to the steering box through that jumper wire at the flex coupling. The signal switch L/R contacts should be grounded until you activate the switch.

If the signal switch parts are contacting the column, it could cause erratic signaling.

Like this:

Batt/Fuse(+) -> Horn(+)

Batt/Fuse(+) -> Relay(85) == Relay(86) -> Outer Column -> Horn button -> column center wire -> Steering Box Ground.

Horn(-) -> Relay(30) == Relay(87) -> Ground.

If it is, then if the coupler was conductive or the column otherwise grounded, your horn would be constantly on.

I found this illustration a few days ago.

I think the way I have it wired, using the CMC harness, corresponds to the first option - 12 volt "switched".

I haven't started sorting out the horn yet. My current concern is being able to switch between high and low beams. If the steering column is grounded the high-low switch on the turn signal lever won't work.

Your dimmer relay is also suppose to have a ground connection. when i wired my turn switch, I put the wires in a plastic sheath from the switch to a hole under the dash to make it cleaner and free of ground risk. you have wire grounding off that switch somewhere.. If it has the Vw code colors Brown is ground.

My diagram was the "Ground Switched" version but it works the same. Do you have Relay(85) connected correctly to the outer tube of the steering column? If you do and the coupler was very conductive, your horn would be blowing constantly. If not, my guess is the issue is elsewhere.

Justin, thanks for your interest. Again, I haven't started sorting out horn issues. I am trying to get the head light dimmer switch to work.

Barry, I do have the wires in heat shrink tubing. There are two brown wires connecting to either side of the dimmer switch. One goes to directly to ground and one goes to the dimmer relay. This second wire should only connect to ground when the lever is pulled back. But it is now grounded all the time because the lever is designed to touch the metal piece that is screw mounted to the housing and my housing is getting grounded by the steering column tube.

When I disconnect the switch from the column tube the second brown wire is no longer grounded.

Then your dimmer switch mechanicals or internal switch wiring isn't insulated properly.

And the steering column tube and shaft should be at +12V when the horn button is not pressed. That's why it has to be rubber isolated at the coupler, the firewall, and the upper mount.

It turns out that my couplers were Type 2 VW Bus couplers.

An ohm meter showed that they were somewhat conductive.

I got some fabric reinforced Beetle couplers. They seemed to be slightly conductive too, although less so than the Bus couplers.

I originally used red urethane couplers in my double coupler setup. After reading about how they tend to split I replaced them with the Type 2 couplers.

The urethane couplers were quite stiff and I didn't have excess movement with 2 between the shaft and box.

The Type 2 couplers were still almost as stiff as the urethane.

The Type 1 Beetle couplers are much more flexible and I had too much movement with two.

Today I made a Delrin disk to replace one of them. With the Delrin disk the shaft no longer lights the test light.