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I got a mostly restored 81' from my brother-in-law. However, it does not have the horn hooked up. In Louisiana you need a working horn for a state brake tag.
I have been doing some research and found that most of the 81s have 2 horns by the headlights. There are none there, the horn is positioned at the very front
of the nose. Was easy enough to take off, but can't find a wire for it. Any help would be appreciated on where the wire for the horn would be.
Here's the sheet from the 81 Assembly Instruction Manual that shows the horns' electrical connections.
It appears the wires for the 2 horns leave the forward lighting harness just past the left side headlights.
I'd look for wiring in that area.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan
Here's the sheet from the 81 Assembly Instruction Manual that shows the horns' electrical connections.
It appears the wires for the horn leave the forward lighting harness just past the left side headlights.
I'd look for wiring in that area.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan
Thanks!!! Yes, I saw some wires for the lights and where they were located. I will give this a try. Great illustration of where I found the horn.
[QUOTE=Alan 71;1597034762]Hi Luke,
Welcome!
First Post!!!
Here's the sheet from the 81 Assembly Instruction Manual that shows the horns' electrical connections.
It appears the wires for the 2 horns leave the forward lighting harness just past the left side headlights.
I'd look for wiring in that area.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan
I do not see any wiring coming from the wiring case that would be going anywhere except to/from the lights. I can only assume that the previous owners may have redone the horn wiring, that is why I found only one horn and now wires attached.
Guess I am in some deep doo doo to get this rewired!!!
Thanks for the help.
I do not see any wiring coming from the wiring case that would be going anywhere except to/from the lights. I can only assume that the previous owners may have redone the horn wiring, that is why I found only one horn and now wires attached.
Guess I am in some deep doo doo to get this rewired!!!
Thanks for the help.
Luke
Luke,
You are aware that GM also installed the horns in another area....and NOT in the area that is shown in the GM assembly manual like Alan posted.
So if your horn wires are at the outer areas of each headlight door. They were mounted on the support gusset that is connected to your header beam.
Servicing the horns ..or at least the way I do it..is by removing the plastic shields by your front bumper side marker light from under the car to gain access to the horns....or you can also take off each front wheel to gain access to the plastic panels.
Luke,
You are aware that GM also installed the horns in another area....and NOT in the area that is shown in the GM assembly manual like Alan posted.
So if your horn wires are at the outer areas of each headlight door. They were mounted on the support gusset that is connected to your header beam.
Servicing the horns ..or at least the way I do it..is by removing the plastic shields by your front bumper side marker light from under the car to gain access to the horns....or you can also take off each front wheel to gain access to the plastic panels.
DUB
Thanks - Will try that today!!! I see the wires coming from the horn relay and then they were gone when I looked in the front!!!
The red circle is where the horn can be on the drivers side...and the same holds true for the passenger side.
DUB
Thanks.
I took the wheel off to see better inside the wheel well. I could not find where I could undo the wheel well cover. It looks like it is almost glued or tarred in. There were only 2-3 screws and they did
not appear to be the kind to hold something up. I can only assume that is where the horns are. I will have to get someone that knows more about cars than me, which is plenty, to give me a hand
in getting to the horns. First I will try to find & buy a new fuse and horn relay. Then I can narrow down from there.
Photos of a 1981 I have in my shop to show that the assembly manual is NOT always correct.
You can see that there is a ground wire that is also being installed at the same point that the horn is bolted to the gusset.
This is the view of the drivers side looking into the front of the wheel opening. You can see your light socket for the side marker light. The three red circles is what is holding on the black plastic shield to your fiberglass inner skirt and you need to remove or move to gain easy access to the horns form UNDER the car.
Part # 4 is the plastic shield that needs to removed that is circled in red.
Photos of a 1981 I have in my shop to show that the assembly manual is NOT always correct.
You can see that there is a ground wire that is also being installed at the same point that the horn is bolted to the gusset.
This is the view of the drivers side looking into the front of the wheel opening. You can see your light socket for the side marker light. The three red circles is what is holding on the black plastic shield to your fiberglass inner skirt and you need to remove or move to gain easy access to the horns form UNDER the car.
Part # 4 is the plastic shield that needs to removed that is circled in red.
DUB
SUPER THANKS!!! I am going to go back out this morning and do some more ' investigating '!!! I was also going to try and run some tests on the horn relay.
Maybe it is bad. I will keep you updated.
Found the ground wire right where the picture showed it. I did not go into the wheel well yet. Now that I know I have horns, I checked
the horn relay. I am no electrician and have been you tubing a lot. On the 3 prong horn relay(14029600), I notice that when I touched
the terminals, only one side of the 2 show continuity. It is the black wire coming from the steering wheel. The other 2, blue & white,
connect to a green & orange wire that heads out to the engine. It is the blue lead to the relay that does not beep when engaged on
the multimeter. Bad horn relay?
I need to buy some wires & clips and make some contraption that will supply power to horn and
see if I get a toot.
The horn relay connector has three wires. One is ORANGE, one is DARK GREEN and the last is BLACK. And the horn relay is located near your fuse panel area.
The ORANGE Wire will ALWYS have 12 volts on it.
The BLACK wire is coming form your steering column area and that is what is a supplying a ground to the relay to make the relay switch and make your horns sound off.
The DARK GREEN is what is going to your horns. SO if you apply 12 volts to the DARK GREEN wire for a half second or so...IF your horns are good...they will sound off.
Do you know how to use or have a voltmeter??? I prefer it over that of a test light....but a test light can work in this scenario.
The horn relay connector has three wires. One is ORANGE, one is DARK GREEN and the last is BLACK. And the horn relay is located near your fuse panel area.
The ORANGE Wire will ALWYS have 12 volts on it.
The BLACK wire is coming form your steering column area and that is what is a supplying a ground to the relay to make the relay switch and make your horns sound off.
The DARK GREEN is what is going to your horns. SO if you apply 12 volts to the DARK GREEN wire for a half second or so...IF your horns are good...they will sound off.
Do you know how to use or have a voltmeter??? I prefer it over that of a test light....but a test light can work in this scenario.
DUB
I have a multimeter(Greenlee DM-20). Yes, the white & blue wires I described go from the Horn Relay to the orange & green wires. I have a 12volt tractor battery. I will
have to make some wire connections with clips that will go from battery to green wires. Will any gauge wire do?
Try to use the SAME wire gauge. Bigger is better....but I would not use a smaller gauge wire.
As for the battery charger. I do not think 1.5 amps is going to do anything to make the horns sound off. They need more amps than that
SOEMTHING IS WRONG...In your horn relay connector the ORANGE , DARK GREEN and BLACK wires should be clipped into it. There are NO blue and white wires.
A good photo so what you have going on in that area would be great.
Do you have or has an aftermarket alarm been installed in this car????
I put on a new relay and appear to hear it actually click when pushing the horn on the wheel. I do not remember that before. Horn still did not work.
Here is a picture of what was there before:
I may try to put the new relay on the green & orange wires. Maybe they added these wires to get to the relay easier.
As for the really 'clicking' now when you press the horn button. That is GOOD.
But now is the fun part and now you need to get to the horns and see if they are good or IF you are getting 12 volts on the DARK GREEN wires that goes to your horns...or IF the BLACK ground wire that is bolted with your horns is actually grounding them...which is an easy test on that with your voltmeter.
I bought a 12v circuit tester. The wires from/to the horn relay are good. Now I have to track down the wires into the horn. But, since I can't get
to the horn. I might just buy another horn and put it in the first place I found the other horn. Then I will splice into the green & orange wires and
try to make one horn work. Not sure what else to try.
04-19-2018, 03:55 PM
81 Horn install?
