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My horns were working recently but have stopped. When I press the horn I can hear the relay clicking but no sound. Any suggestion? I had a spare horn relay but don't recall if it was good or not and it did the same thing. I am confident the horns are fine. The horns are connected.
My horns were working recently but have stopped. When I press the horn I can hear the relay clicking but no sound. Any suggestion? I had a spare horn relay but don't recall if it was good or not and it did the same thing. I am confident the horns are fine. The horns are connected.
thanks,
Steve
Start with this. Take the connectors off at the horns......with a test light connected to a known good ground, insert a test light into the horn connector . Honk the horns and look for light. If it lights, your horns are either not working or have a corroded ground where they bolt to the body.
Or you can just jumper the output side of the horn relay to 12v. If the horns activate, then it's probably the relay.
Good start, but you jumped to a conclusion.
Look the horn circuit is pretty simple, as is troubleshooting. Don't replace parts until you are sure of the problem. I just went though this on my new 69 Cutlass wagon.
1. Disconnect the green wire from the horn relay and jumper it to 12V. If the horns work, they are fine. If not, fix the horns.
2. Reconnect the green wire, disconnect the black wire, and jumper that terminal on the relay to ground. If the horns work, the relay is fine. If not, check for 12V on the junction stud. Clean all those terminals. If this still doesn't fix the problem, replace the relay.
3. If the relay tested good, the problem is in the black wire between the relay and the horn button. Reconnect the black wire. Disconnect the turn signal connector at the base of the steering column and jumper the black wire in the connector to ground (third wire in from the end - some have two black wires). If the horn works, the problem is in the turn signal switch or the horn contact in the steering wheel. If the horn doesn't work, find the open circuit between that connector and the horn relay - very likely in the firewall connector.
4. Reconnect the turn signal switch connector. Remove the steering wheel, lock plate (if 69-newer), and cancel cam. Short the horn contact button on the turn signal switch to the steering shaft. If the horn blows, the problem is the cancel cam or horn button. If not, the problem is the turn signal switch.
I literally just did this last weekend for my 69. The problem turned out to be a bad cancel cam.
It is definitely a possibility that one was bad but I just bought them from someone on the site a year or so ago. I guess they just didn't have much life left in them. I just wondered if a power surge or something would do that. Not that I can see that happening.
My '66 Toronado had a non-working horn when I first got it. It took me about 5 mins to find that I had a dead horn relay. Not only that, but I only had the high note horn when I jumpered the feed to the horns. Not long after, during my testing, I lost the high note horn as well so they do go bad. I guess mine had been out of commission for so long that when I actually put power to them, the only working one started to malfunction as well.
I popped the top off the horn relay to find that the little coil inside was just floating around inside the case so I knew that needed to be replaced. I removed the horns and put them on my bench power supply hooked straight to 12V. One was completely dead and the high note horn would only honk when I wacked it with a rubber mallet.
I drilled out the rivets and separated the halves to find that the insides had corroded. The horns use a set of points to operate and they were terribly corroded but that was easily cleaned up with some De-oxit and a bit of emery paper. It was a bit tricky getting them back together as you have to get the gasket thickness correct. I had to use two paper gaskets sandwiched together and a small amount of RTV and used screws to put it back together. Adjusted them on the bench using the method in the manual and they work perfect once again after I replaced the horn relay.
Corroded points Cleaned up, reassembled, painted. Used screws to reassemble.
Last edited by ourkid2000; Apr 9, 2024 at 06:41 AM.
I never thought about what's inside a horn, not much. I'll give that a shot, I've got nothing to lose. Buying another set of used horn may give me the same problem in 6 months.
thanks,
Steve
I never thought about what's inside a horn, not much. I'll give that a shot, I've got nothing to lose. Buying another set of used horn may give me the same problem in 6 months.
thanks,
Steve
Yeah, once you have the screws in there and figured out the gasket, they become very serviceable afterwards.
Interesting. We primarily use Torq-set fasteners on space hardware.
Bombardier used those on the 900's (or Crj900 I should say). Not a Phillips or a Triwing to be found on those things. I've got tons of Torq-set in my box as well. I guess the Canadair arm decided they were better than tri wing for whatever reason but it makes it a pain to service due to the variety of fasteners on the different aircraft we fly.
Last edited by ourkid2000; Apr 9, 2024 at 02:09 PM.
Look the horn circuit is pretty simple, as is troubleshooting. Don't replace parts until you are sure of the problem. I just went though this on my new 69 Cutlass wagon.
1. Disconnect the green wire from the horn relay and jumper it to 12V. If the horns work, they are fine. If not, fix the horns.
2. Reconnect the green wire, disconnect the black wire, and jumper that terminal on the relay to ground. If the horns work, the relay is fine. If not, check for 12V on the junction stud. Clean all those terminals. If this still doesn't fix the problem, replace the relay.
3. If the relay tested good, the problem is in the black wire between the relay and the horn button. Reconnect the black wire. Disconnect the turn signal connector at the base of the steering column and jumper the black wire in the connector to ground (third wire in from the end - some have two black wires). If the horn works, the problem is in the turn signal switch or the horn contact in the steering wheel. If the horn doesn't work, find the open circuit between that connector and the horn relay - very likely in the firewall connector.
4. Reconnect the turn signal switch connector. Remove the steering wheel, lock plate (if 69-newer), and cancel cam. Short the horn contact button on the turn signal switch to the steering shaft. If the horn blows, the problem is the cancel cam or horn button. If not, the problem is the turn signal switch.
I literally just did this last weekend for my 69. The problem turned out to be a bad cancel cam.
Have also no horn when pushing the buttons in the steering wheel. Owner before me cut the green wire
at the horns and took a new cable to a pushbutton under the dash. This test maybe works in my -65 also ??
Horns work with the pushbutton under the dash.
Have also no horn when pushing the buttons in the steering wheel. Owner before me cut the green wire
at the horns and took a new cable to a pushbutton under the dash. This test maybe works in my -65 also ??
Horns work with the pushbutton under the dash.
If the horns are wired directly to a pushbutton, then all of the factory wiring is bypassed, so nothing I wrote applies until the wiring is put back to original. If the prior owner bypassed the relay and ran the horn wire directly to the button, he was also an idiot.
Yes , i would also the horn should work like original with the buttons in the streering wheel , should test this
tomorrow , thanks. ( and when it works as it should remove the other parts )
