Horn problems after installing new wheel

zak404 · Addicted!

Horn problems after installing new wheel

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Pressing the horn button provides a ground to the horn relay, which then provides power to the horns. If you hear a clicking it sounds like the horn relay is working, but unlikely both horns would fail at the same time. Were both the high & low note horns working before. I'm not sure where you horn relay is, but I suspect on the drivers side of the radiator support.

zak404 · Addicted!

seventy2plus2 wrote:
Pressing the horn button provides a ground to the horn relay, which then provides power to the horns. If you hear a clicking it sounds like the horn relay is working, but unlikely both horns would fail at the same time. Were both the high & low note horns working before. I'm not sure where you horn relay is, but I suspect on the drivers side of the radiator support.

Yes the high and low beams both work and you are right the horn relay in on the drivers side by the radiator. The car only has one horn.

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

zak404 wrote:
seventy2plus2 wrote:
Pressing the horn button provides a ground to the horn relay, which then provides power to the horns. If you hear a clicking it sounds like the horn relay is working, but unlikely both horns would fail at the same time. Were both the high & low note horns working before. I'm not sure where you horn relay is, but I suspect on the drivers side of the radiator support.
Yes the high and low beams both work and you are right the horn relay in on the drivers side by the radiator. The car only has one horn.

Your car should have been born with 2 horns, a high note and a low note. (this has nothing to do with high & low beam headlights). As indicated, the horn button provides a ground to the horn relay, which then provides 12v to the horns for them to both sound at the same time. The fact your car only has 1 horn, and that you can hear the horn relay clicking, tells me that the 1 horn you have has died (I have no idea what happened to the other horn). Check to see if you have 12v at the horn when someone presses the horn button.

zak404 · Addicted!

seventy2plus2 wrote:
zak404 wrote:
seventy2plus2 wrote:
Pressing the horn button provides a ground to the horn relay, which then provides power to the horns. If you hear a clicking it sounds like the horn relay is working, but unlikely both horns would fail at the same time. Were both the high & low note horns working before. I'm not sure where you horn relay is, but I suspect on the drivers side of the radiator support.
Yes the high and low beams both work and you are right the horn relay in on the drivers side by the radiator. The car only has one horn.
Your car should have been born with 2 horns, a high note and a low note. (this has nothing to do with high & low beam headlights). As indicated, the horn button provides a ground to the horn relay, which then provides 12v to the horns for them to both sound at the same time. The fact your car only has 1 horn, and that you can hear the horn relay clicking, tells me that the 1 horn you have has died (I have no idea what happened to the other horn). Check to see if you have 12v at the horn when someone presses the horn button.

Went out this morning and the horn worked? Went for a drive and it didn't again, checked the lead to the horn and it wasn't getting power but you could hear the relay clicking? Have to love intermittent electrical problems.

hawkeye5766 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Could be burnt/poor contact(points) in the relay.

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

If you hear the horn relay clicking, that's a good sign. The wire from the horn relay to the horns should be green, check to see if you have 12V at the horn when someone presses the horn button. If no 12V, work your way back to see if there's 12V at the terminal of the horn relay where the green wire connects to. I suspect you likely have an intermittent connector at either end of the green wire. And see if you indeed have only 1 horn, or if there's a 2nd one somewhere.

zak404 · Addicted!

seventy2plus2 wrote:
If you hear the horn relay clicking, that's a good sign. The wire from the horn relay to the horns should be green, check to see if you have 12V at the horn when someone presses the horn button. If no 12V, work your way back to see if there's 12V at the terminal of the horn relay where the green wire connects to. I suspect you likely have an intermittent connector at either end of the green wire. And see if you indeed have only 1 horn, or if there's a 2nd one somewhere.

Nope only one horn, works when the car is cold and not when it warms up? I will remove this weekend and try cleaning the contacts etc to see if that helps.

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Check for 12V at the output terminal of the horn relay. If no 12V then yes you've got dirty contacts in the relay. Is yours a 68 or 69? The reason I ask is the horn relay would be different between the 2 years. 69's would have the key minder buzzer in the horn relay.

Also, is there anyone else that can ping in on the location of the 2 horns? I'm not very knowledgeable on the A body cars.

zak404 · Addicted!

seventy2plus2 wrote:
Check for 12V at the output terminal of the horn relay. If no 12V then yes you've got dirty contacts in the relay. Is yours a 68 or 69? The reason I ask is the horn relay would be different between the 2 years. 69's would have the key minder buzzer in the horn relay.

Also, is there anyone else that can ping in on the location of the 2 horns? I'm not very knowledgeable on the A body cars.

My car is a 1968 and the horn works when the car is cold, but once it warms up they don't work and there is only one horn, but who knows what has changed over the years because the wire to the horn is blue and not red. So I get 12 V to the horn when its cold but I think once the relay warms up it doesn't work?

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

The wire to from the horn relay to the horn should be dark green, but as you said "who knows what has changed over the years".

Here's the theory:
The 12V comes to the horn relay directly from the battery (10 guage red wire), and the ground comes from the horn button in the steering wheel (20 gauge blue wire) to the horn relay when the horn button is pressed. (you say you can hear the relay clicking, so that part seems to be fine.) The horn relay then feeds the horns (14 guage dark green wire).