In the DC Metro area the horn is VERY necessary! The problem is that it stops working intermittently. If I disconnect it and reconnect it works again for a few days but then stops. I took it to the dealer and they disconnected it reconnected it and told me that there was nothing wrong. I need a stable consistent horn for the texters and makeup artists on the roads, HELP!

aadadams wrote:In the DC Metro area the horn is VERY necessary! The problem is that it stops working intermittently. If I disconnect it and reconnect it works again for a few days but then stops. I took it to the dealer and they disconnected it reconnected it and told me that there was nothing wrong. I need a stable consistent horn for the texters and makeup artists on the roads, HELP!

I had a weird thing happen the other day on my rear blower motor that might be related.

Try replacing the fuse for the horn. In my situation, the rear blower stopped working. I thought "Great, there goes $200 on a new blower, it must be burnt out." But I followed through on the standard diagnostic procedures. What I found was an overheated fuse. Over time, fuses are exposed to a fair amount of external heat, and I guess it must have deformed the 15A fuse for the rear blower. I took it out, examined it (it was not blown) and replaced it with a new one, and voila! no more issues. The fuse was actually deformed from all the heat it had been exposed to.

Anyways, try that, and see what happens. I think there is a horn relay too, so check that as well.

t

disallow wrote:

aadadams wrote:In the DC Metro area the horn is VERY necessary! The problem is that it stops working intermittently. If I disconnect it and reconnect it works again for a few days but then stops. I took it to the dealer and they disconnected it reconnected it and told me that there was nothing wrong. I need a stable consistent horn for the texters and makeup artists on the roads, HELP!

I had a weird thing happen the other day on my rear blower motor that might be related.

Try replacing the fuse for the horn. In my situation, the rear blower stopped working. I thought "Great, there goes $200 on a new blower, it must be burnt out." But I followed through on the standard diagnostic procedures. What I found was an overheated fuse. Over time, fuses are exposed to a fair amount of external heat, and I guess it must have deformed the 15A fuse for the rear blower. I took it out, examined it (it was not blown) and replaced it with a new one, and voila! no more issues. The fuse was actually deformed from all the heat it had been exposed to.

Anyways, try that, and see what happens. I think there is a horn relay too, so check that as well.

t

I will replace the fuse today, but how do I check the relay? I measured the voltage by putting my fluke in the loop. When the horn is engaged the voltage increases, when disengaged the fluke drops to near zero. The relay clicks whether the horn blows or not when the horn is pressed. Is there a way to actually check it though...

aadadams wrote:I will replace the fuse today, but how do I check the relay? I measured the voltage by putting my fluke in the loop. When the horn is engaged the voltage increases, when disengaged the fluke drops to near zero. The relay clicks whether the horn blows or not when the horn is pressed. Is there a way to actually check it though...

Sounds like your on the right track. Continuity between horn switch and relay, and continuity between relay and horn. Should help you track down either a component failure (horn switch, relay, or horn) or a wiring problem (wire rubbed through, poor connection).

I think that about covers it... Let us know what happens!

t

I have no idea what's going on with this darned horn. Anyone know how to check a relay's functionality? When I reconnect it, it works, so I can't check it without repairing it, it seems. Confused, yeah, me too. Basically I think that putting th probes in completes the circuit repairing the horn when I attempt to test the points leading to it. I actually want to buy an air horn, but don't want to if it is not going to work...

aadadams wrote:I need a stable consistent horn for the texters and makeup artists on the roads, HELP!

Only way to fix some things is for it to completely go ka-put.

My suggestion to you, better than the horn, is a BULLHORN. That way you can tell them what to do and where to go. ;o)

Here is a question. When you press the horn and it does not work, can you hear a clicking noise? Keep your car off and open the hood and listen. If you press the horn on the steering wheel and you hear a clicking noise, then everything works, (horn Switch, relay) and your horn would be the problem. If you don't hear a clicking noise, could be the relay. I would look into swapping the horn relay with another relay under your hood to see what that does. MAKE SURE they are the same relay. If that does not fix it, then it's not the relay. Could possibly be the horn switch. I doubt that. I'm more inclined that it's a bad ground at the horn that makes it work half the time. try cleaning up the wire connection, or possibly just buy a new horn at an auto parts store, 15-20 bucks and hook it up.

Since you “use” your horn a lot and using some electrical logic here, I would question the integrity of the horn relay.

The horn button on the steering wheel is a low current switch. The horn relay has high current contacts that becomes pitted over time (usage). After a while those pock marks on the contact pads don’t pass the current required to activate the intended device. The horn itself is contains a high current/amperage coil designed to handle that amount of current. The terminals and plugs that are in that circuit could become contaminated or overheated and give trouble. Since a horn is not on continuously, overheating is not a likely problem.

Two areas I would consider most likely are (1) Look closely at the integrity of the terminal connection that was disconnected in the testing procedure. Is it a loose fit or discolored? (2) The horn relay. Perhaps tapping it with the back of a screwdriver while the horn is on will cause it to go intermittent.

One would think that a dealer would know what is commonly replaced. A true “troubleshooter” is harder to come by. I do admit that “intermittents” are a pain.

DISCLAIMER: I’m not an auto tech

Whether a sound is produced from the horn or not, the under hood click is present when the horn is pressed. Assuming that it is the horn connection, I will check into replacing the connectors that attach to the horn and cleaning the leads on the existing horn while I order this.

Edit: Thanks for the advice CPLTech. Will do!

Like mentioned before, if the click is there under the hood, then it's not the relay or the switch. It would be the connection at the horn, or the horn itself.

you can test the horn itself by running jumper wires directly from your battery to your horn terminals (by-passing the rest of the circuitry)

Try a new horn. They do fail.. I had hours of fun with one chasing wiring when after all that it was a duff horn.. whodathort that

elpeede wrote:Try a new horn.

that can be an expensive experiment

try a "new to you" horn from the breakers yard then

elpeede wrote:try a "new to you" horn from the breakers yard then

you may be right, but........
my point is that by simply testing the component with a direct power source & ground, one may save time & effort & money by diagnosing the problem, rather than by throwing new or used parts at it to find the problem
as a service manager for 35+ years, i've seen too many (expensive) attempts to solve (or diagnose) a problem by parts replacement
sometimes it's unavoidable, but this is just a horn with a simple circuit........