Horn/Anti Theft
Thread Starter
Heel & Toe
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
Horn/Anti Theft
I have an 81 corvette and I cannot get the horn to work correctly. It began with the horn button and the car alarm not working at all. I pulled the horn relay behind the steering column out. Then I replaced two blown unlabeled fuses in the fuse panel and now when I put the relay back in the horn sounds off permanently until i remove the relay. all the fuses were checked and all the blown ones were replaced. I believe this means that my horn is grounded well. Where do I start from here.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,079
Likes: 1
From: Niagara Falls ON
How is the alarm relay? Did you test the horn switch? If it is going permanently then something is making contact for it to go off. Check all of the wiring to see if anything is connecting where it shouldn't.
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2000
Posts: 12,399
Likes: 247
From: San Jose CA
The alarm horn and the horn horn are two separate horns (at least they are in my 78).
2 things will cause the horn to go off consistently, 1 is a torn/missing retainer below the hub. This one is a slight bit of work to get at. You'll need a steering wheel puller.
The other is if someone reassembled the upper contact using metal screws rather than plastic rivets. The upper contact is just below the horn button. Pop the horn button off using a screwdriver and you'll know pretty fast.
This is what you should see.
The 3 plastic rivets in the center ring. If any metal fasteners are used, they'll bridge the connection between the upper and lower parts of the upper contact and ground the circuit.
The other piece is deeper in the column and I don't have a good photo of it.
There's a few good writeups on Willcox Corvette's website(www.willcoxcorvette.com) as well as Jim Shea's papers at jimshea.corvettefaq.com
2 things will cause the horn to go off consistently, 1 is a torn/missing retainer below the hub. This one is a slight bit of work to get at. You'll need a steering wheel puller.
The other is if someone reassembled the upper contact using metal screws rather than plastic rivets. The upper contact is just below the horn button. Pop the horn button off using a screwdriver and you'll know pretty fast.
This is what you should see.
The 3 plastic rivets in the center ring. If any metal fasteners are used, they'll bridge the connection between the upper and lower parts of the upper contact and ground the circuit.
The other piece is deeper in the column and I don't have a good photo of it.
There's a few good writeups on Willcox Corvette's website(www.willcoxcorvette.com) as well as Jim Shea's papers at jimshea.corvettefaq.com
Cruising
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 13
Likes: 2
From: Grapevine Texas
I have a 1979 Corvette and I am trying to locate the anti-theft horn. I have replaced the door switch and wire harness and the alarm relay. I can hear the relay click when I lock the driver's door, however I can't get the horn to sound. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I already ordered the flasher just for the heck of it. The car has 46,000 original miles and the anti-theft system worked fine when I got the car in December 2011, it stopped working a few weeks ago.
Joe
Joe
