Hi Guys,

Hopefully someone can help me, pretty frustrated that what I thought would be a simple project has been such a royal pain.

I have had my car since August and the horn has never worked. Also the steering wheel was in bad shape and the horn button emblem was cracked. My steering column was also really ugly, with corrosion on the column by the ignition. So I figured this would be a easy project to squeeze in while I am saving for a new 383 crate engine. I ordered a new steering wheel, horn emblem button kit, and horn contact kit and planned to repaint the steering column.

Getting the old steering wheel off went very smoothly. Had a hard time trying to decide on whether to pull the steering column or tape off the interior to paint it. Decided to leave it in the car which turned out to be a good decision because it was very easy to paint while in the car. Everything got painted and looks brand new.

So now on to reassembly and were it started going south... There is a metal pin with a head on one side that slides into a spring with a plastic cap. The previous owner had this in backwards and it was no where near touching the arm on the horn contact. Great figured this is why the horn didn't work. I inserted the spring first into the hole, then the pin (head side first), and the plastic cap over the pin to hold it in the grove. (Credit to another thread on this forum) Mocked up the contact by hand without screwing it in and was excited to hear the horn blow. (Note: i used the old pin instead of cutting down the new pin that came with my kit)

After reassembling everything but the horn button the horn was still working. Then went to push the horn button cap onto the steering wheel but it was fighting me and hit it a few times with my hand to try to force it on but it would not snap on. Probably should have disconnected the battery while i was doing this as I was pressing and holding the button. At this point the horn stopped working and all i could hear was the horn relay clicking. Took steering wheel off a few times and everything seemed ok, so the pin hadn't come out.

Checked all the fuses and they looked good. Ran down to the auto parts store and got a new horn relay but still only clicking... Hooked the voltmeter set it to 20v and attached to the power connection directly on the horn and pushed the horn button and I saw < 1 volt. So must be the horn since it is getting power?

Anyways at this point finally got the horn button snapped on even though all it did was click when pressed. Figure I would order some new horns. Decided to go for a quick test drive to see how the new steering wheel felt. Noticed the horn button was very touchy and was going off a lot as i turned the wheel so went back to the house after a few minutes. Went to disconnect the horn relay and it was very hot, so hot it was burning my fingers. Got scared and immediately disconnected the battery and later got if off with some gloves.

Not sure how to proceed at this point.

 

Did you disconnect the wire from the horn when you measured the voltage? If not, you're just measuring the voltage drop across the horn. Disconnect the wire (or wires, aren't there two horns?), reconnect the battery, and see if you get 12v at the wire that connects to the horn. If you get it only while pressing the horn button, then the horn is most likely bad. If you get it at all times, disconnect and reconnect the ground wire on the horn relay and see if that makes it click. If so, then the ground wire between the relay and the horn button is grounded somewhere. My guess is that you have both problems. The relay got hot because it was activated all the time but the horns are bad so they didn't sound.

 

You can also test each horn by running a clean ground from the battery to the horn and a clean wire from the positive of the battery to each horn. If the horn sounds, it is OK and you have other issues such as the relay, wiring or contact switch. Jerry

 

Thanks for the replies guys.

Correct there was two horns, one horn had a wire that mounted to the frame the other had a wire coming from the wiring harness and this is were i measured the voltage. (with wire disconnected) I was grounding the voltmeter to the ground on the alternator.

Going to stop and get some wire and alligator clips and try testing directly from the battery to the horns as Jerry said. Hopefully that works.

If the horns still don't work I will try measuring voltage again and check the ground wire on the relay.

 

There are shims available for the horn contact to make it less touchy.

 

I think the horns are dead. Removed them from the car and connected wires directly to each one and nothing. Each horn only has one connector which looks to be the positive connection and then it grounds with the bracket onto the frame? Is that correct.

Here is some pictures of how I connected them, also moved the ground clip to the bracket but still did not work. One of the horns was full of crap.




Any good aftermarket horns? The ones here seem a little pricey. Looks like all the newer ones would require me to run a ground wire?
http://www.ecklerscorvette.com/corve...1953-1982.html

 

Your horns do appear to have a good deal of corrosion on them. However before I would write them off, I would ensure good contact on the horns by using some contact cleaner or even a piece of light sandpaper on the positive terminal (should appear copper colored and shiny when cleaned) and a spot on the bracket near where the bolt attaches it to the radiator support.

If after establishing good contact (with your pumper wires) they still don't work it may be time to look for new ones.

Good luck... GUSTO

 

Good tip GUSTO, did not help on these ones though they are done.

Hooked up the new horn and went to plug in the horn relay, and the horn went off without pushing the horn button. So it seems like the horn contact in the steering column is stuck in the on position and explains why the relay got so hot?

Should I try adding some more spacers to the horn contact?

 

Removed the horn button, and now the horn only goes off when pushing the horn button contact.

So the problem seems to be the horn button cap. I noticed when I took it apart that the horn contact had 2 spacers on steering column side and one on the horn button side. I left the one on the horn button side off? Maybe it was there for a reason?

 

Added a 3rd spacer to the backside of horn contact facing the steering column and it is now working properly. Not sure why the previous owner has it on the other side, that is why I left it out because it seemed useless there.

Looks like LB66383 was right about bad horns and it being on all the time.