whiteNSXs

Hi Guys,
I just installed the 930s steering wheel on my 1987 S4. Now it has a new scratchy noise. I supposed it is from the horn contact and I need to buy some grease. I have done a search before asking this. Someone said he used white lithium grease and it worked fine. My question is: Since this is a electrical contact, is there a certain grease that I should be using? I am just paranoid that if I just use any ordinary grease which might create a poor contact hence affecting the horn function. Thanks.
Steve

dr bob

You can use almost anything --except-- dielectric grease. Lithium is fine, since it has metal in it. Perhaps a moly paste might be better but it stains everything it touches.

My guess is that the horn contact is not the problem. If it is, you'll notice the wear on the ring. If no wear, you need to look elsewhere for the cause of the noise.

Nicole

I had this same problem on my first 928, an 88 S4, with the standard steering wheel.

IIRC, I used graphite to get rid of the scratching noise.

Jerry Feather

Hi Steve. the grease you are looking for is on the self next the the can of prop wash. Or is it next to the exhaust bearing grease. Just kidding!!!

I moved Dwayne's excellent thread about fixing his odometer up front for you. In it toward the end where he is putting it all back together he has some excellent discourse about how you may need to adjust your cluster switch so it doesn't grind or scrape like yours is doing with the new steering wheel. That will be better than the grease, I think.

Jerry Feather, FBA Certified
S4's (6)
KGJT

whiteNSXs

Thanks, Jerry.
You think I need to ADJUST something!!!??? I am just hoping that some elbow grease and lithium grease will do. Oh well, seems like I am fixings thing more than I drive the car.
Next projects for me will be to switch the 2 ducts from my broken bellypan to the aluminum pan before installation, HVAC vacuum/diaphragm, compressor, expansion valve and a leaky AC line, dimmer switch, cruise control, and so on. If I can finish all that, I will call Carl to get the superclamp, SC kit, and perhaps take out anything that I don't use in the car to strip the weight.

I was reading Dwayne's thread and he used "dielectric" grease which I think is quite counter-intuitive. Dielectric grease is to insulate electrical current, not to conduct it, no?
Thanks a million for your help.
Steve

Jerry Feather

Steve, I think Dwayne simply mispoke. I am sure he means some kind of conductive grease. He still gets A++++ for his thread.

What he is talking about is to properly place the three-handle combination switch so that it is neither too tight and scraping nor too far away so it doesn't make contact. I don't think you will have to go too deep into the steering column to get that adjustment done.

When I bought my first S4 I made a list of items it needed that was about 4 pages long, double spaced, I think I still have a few of the items to do, but I have put about 20,000 miles on it in the four years that I have had it.

I have been "doing Porsches" since 1968; and I have always said "Porsche is a tinker car!!!" I haven't found anything about the shark to change that except that the tinkering seems to be at a much higher level than it was with my first 356C.

Jerry Feather

Jerry Feather

P.S. Steve, I think that you might get by for a while with the grease only, but I also think that if you don't make the adjustment the grease will not last long and you will be wearing out the thin copper or brass that you are greasing. I have bought several old style steering wheels on eBay for recovering sometime and too many of them have the copper (or brass) ring worn out with little hope of rebuilding them that I can tell. JF

Dwayne

Jerry, Steve,
Thanks for brining this to my attention. You are right, I intended to use a conductive grease. However, I'm such a noob, I thought dielectric grease WAS conductive!!

I learned something today!! I have updated the thread to remove the reference to dielectric grease. Even though I used it on my horn contact, the horn still works just fine (probably because I used such a small amount). I believe a conductive grease or lithium grease as Dr. Bob suggests above is preferred and that's what I've put in the post update.

I believe Jerry has some good advice here and checking the spring contact pressure on the wiper/cruise/signal cluster after installing the new steering wheel is a good next move. The cluster can be adjusted down the steering column a few mm or the spring contact can be depressed slightly to relieve the pressure and remove the scraping sound - it worked for me.

Thanks again for the info on dielectric grease today!

M. Requin

FWIW, according to a tech bulletin applicable to all models issued November 3, 1992, entitled "Noise When Turning Steering Wheel": "Inspect the horn ring wiper contact on the steering wheel for damage or any trace of lubricant. If the wiper contact has had lubricant on it or is damaged, it must be replaced. (Due to the composition of the wiper contact, it is not possible to clean it.) No lubricant should be used on the contact unit or horn wiper contact."

That noted, I think Nicole's suggestion of graphite is best. There are conductive greases used un the electrical trade (I posted on this before), but Porsche seems to eschew their use.

Dwayne

Very interesting! THANKS!!

I may use this tech bulletin reference in my thread - THANKS for finding this!!

linderpat

Thanks for this post - I had this problem immediately following an alkignment by a shop that didn't use the correct tool below, but used a wheel lock on the underside of the steering wheel.

ShawnSmith

Lithium grease worked great on mine. Exact same wheel, exact same problem.

M. Requin

Dwayne, my pleasure. I'm not sure of the "why" of the factory recommendation, but the wiper looks like a beryllium-copper piece, very common, and googling this use of the material it seems that lubrication is not usually used- it is referred to as self-lubricating, and the most I found (after a quick search) was a recommendation to use mineral oil, "if at all". I was interested because I used a thin layer of conductive grease before I read this, and it is still noisy, so I need to go through the whole service bulletin procedure to see what's what.

whiteNSXs

Thanks for everyone's input. Problem solved. Found a jar of Sta-Lube white grease which is lithium based. Took the wheel off and saw that the horn contact had a bright spot. Put some grease on it. Flipped the steering wheel and there is a golden/brass horn contact circle on the under side. I put the grease covering the entire circle. Put the wheel back on and noise is gone.
Now, I have to do the same for the 911.
Steve

danglerb

I tend to put electricians grease on all contacts, Gardner Bender OxGard. Since the failure mode is the contract wearing through the strip, I'm not sure what harm any type of grease would do as long as the horn still works.