horn issues on 97 vette
Thread Starter
Advanced
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 93
Likes: 0
From: Center TX
horn issues on 97 vette
Strange problem. Horn will not work from steering wheel, when I lock the doors, or hit the panic button. The horn relay is on all the time and 12v is present at the connector that plugs into the horns. I tried jumping 12v directly to the horns and they still don't work. Am I dealing with multiple problems with this issue?
Thanks for the help, my inspection sticker is out and I can't get the car inspected without the horns working.
Thanks for the help, my inspection sticker is out and I can't get the car inspected without the horns working.
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 97,155
Likes: 1,471
From: Calgary, AB. There's a reason why white was the only color offered on every year Corvette. Proud Canadian German Jamaican!
St. Jude Donor '09, '12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17
You'd probably get more answers if you post this over in C5 Tech. Good luck.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 6,835
Likes: 302
From: Columbia SC
Here is the schematic. Sounds like the ground is the problem if you have 12 V going into them. The horns are in parallel so if one is bad the other should still work. Rig up a temp ground and I bet they work.
Thread Starter
Advanced
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 93
Likes: 0
From: Center TX
Thanks for all the help.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 2,332
Likes: 31
From: Silver Spring MD
Before buying horns test them FIRST
It's a simple matter to take a wire from the plus side of your battery, jack up or put the front of the car on ramps and remove the cardboard splash shield, and try activating the horns by taking the end of the wire on the lead that normally goes to the plus terminal on the horns. If they are good they will sound. If you want to remove them I think it is a single nut holding the bracket for both horns. I had mine out when one of them wouldn't sound. Replaced it with a junkyard horn with the same tone and installed an AOOGA horn along with the other two. I added a relay so I can use just the original horns, the AOOGA horn or all three at once.
Checking the grounds is a good idea too.
My membrane in the steering wheel was shorted and sounding the horns all the time. Removed the top of the steering wheel, (after first disabling the airbag) and was going to replace the membrane. Fooling with it fixed it so I did not have to replace it (YET). I added a switch that goes to the wire that the membrane shorts to ground to activate the horns. If the membrane fails again I can just disconnect it and use the almost invisible black button switch I installed near the left DIC area. Don't waste $100 on horns you don't need.
Checking the grounds is a good idea too.
My membrane in the steering wheel was shorted and sounding the horns all the time. Removed the top of the steering wheel, (after first disabling the airbag) and was going to replace the membrane. Fooling with it fixed it so I did not have to replace it (YET). I added a switch that goes to the wire that the membrane shorts to ground to activate the horns. If the membrane fails again I can just disconnect it and use the almost invisible black button switch I installed near the left DIC area. Don't waste $100 on horns you don't need.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 6,835
Likes: 302
From: Columbia SC
Tried grounding the horns but they still don't work. I think the diaphragm in the steering wheel is shorted keeping the relay latched. Also the horns don't work. I took them out and put 12V to both of them and neither one will honk. I'm not sure how the horns went from working on day to short circuited and burned out the next. I going to order a diaphragm and 2 new horns and see if that doesn't fix the problem.
Thanks for all the help.
Thanks for all the help.
