Horn recently stopped working. I checked the fuse, noticed it was blown. I replaced with a new fuse. Pressed the horn and it had a very short sound and then blew the fuse. What could be causing this?
A short in the wiring to the horn, or in the horn itself. Try disconnecting the horn and see if the fuse still pops.
b
I am prone to driving through puddles with the family. I’ll check the horn (disconnect it) and check the fuse
I disconnected the horn and pushed the button while the car was on. No blown fuse. After connecting everything again, I checked it one more time (I have plenty of fuses) and it blew again. Looks like it’s just a horn issue. I’ll pick one up from the store and keep you updated once it’s installed.
Now all you have to do is decide.
Relocate the horn where it won’t get so wet, or quit making as game out of driving and stay out of the water.
There is a road near me where a father would take his kids and he would fly over the windy hilly road like a roller coaster for the kids. Once the kids began to drive they too would do the same.
Until one day, a huge farm tractor was just over one of those hills. Needless to say the tractor barely got a scratch, but the car was totaled and three kids in critical.
Some day your kids will try this and end up getting washed down some river because they tried to cross the flooded road.
Yosemite
Yosemite is correct. In addition to the huge safety issue, driving through deep puddles could cause water to be pulled into the air intake of the engine, and once that happens, it’s by-by-engine.
b
I agree with Yosemite on this matter. Get water on your ignition coil(s) and you may be stuck in the boondocks for awhile. Get water on your MAS (Mass Airflow Sensor) and you may be stuck in the boondocks with a large repair bill.
Plus…one of these days…you’re gonna be rudely surprised when you car sucks in a bunch of that water…sucks it in right through the air filter, in through the intake and into the cylinders…BAM…hydrolock !
If you insist on driving through deep puddles, maybe you should fit your car with a non electric bulb horn just like early automobiles had. When you squeez the bulb the water will be forced out.
On the subject of car horns, the nation’s 2nd March King Henry Fillmore wrote a march titled “The Klaxon” to recognize the car horn made in Anderson, Indiana. If is a crowd pleaser that our community band always plays on the 4th of July concert.
Happy July 4th everyone.
You people are great. I’ve since long decrease our puddle driving, and although I’m a safe driver (never one accident, major or minor, since I got my drivers license-13 years ago), I appreciate your concern.
Now I have some new issues with the new horn. The wiring to the original factory horn does not look compatible to the new generic horn (Wolo). I’m not the best electrician so I figure I can post the pictures here and maybe get some ideas on how to re-wire this new horn. You should see the two horns together with their ports. The one with my hand in it is the original wiring that I’m having difficulty figuring out how to convert it to the new horn. I also posted a couple of wiring accessories that come with the Wolo horns. Anyone have any success with this?
As an addition, I found this from a Saturn forum about their 3-wire horns. Apparently they went bad constantly. Some wiring info from the original horn
orange/red = constant power
middle black = switched ground for relay (built into horn)
outer black = constant ground
So now it’s a question of how do I connect this into the new horn. Here’s a couple pictures from the Wolo instructions. Again, I don’t have much electrical experience so I’m not going to do this without advice from others.
The old horn had 3 wires because it had an internal relay. The new horn has two connections because it does NOT have an internal relay. they are not compatible.
You need to add an external relay, or get a compatible horn.
You could wire up the new horn without the relay but that could cause the horn switch in your steering wheel to die an early death. In that case just use the two black wires.
edit, correction, use these two:
orange/red = constant power
middle black = switched ground for relay (built into horn)
b
If you aren’t going to get the true replacement horn then I suggest you cut off the original connector about two inches back from the end and save that connector in case you want it later on. Strip about 3/8 of an inch of the wire insulation on the ends of the two wires on the car. You then need a crimp tool to crimp on the new connectors to the wires after they are inserted into the plastic bodies. Connect the ends to the new horn and either silicone the connections or tape then well to prevent water damage to the connections.
@BillRussell I picked up a relay (12v, one that is recommended for this procedure) and followed the wiring specs to connect the after-market horn. Sadley, it still wasn’t working. We (me and my mechanical engineer brother-in-law) fiddled with alternate wiring options as well as constantly checking the fuse to make sure it was still intact. Nothing seemed to work. The wires coming from the car worked (we tested each wire) but couldn’t come up with the result. I’m now at a standstill. I really am stubborn and want to fix this myself, but fear I may have to finally send the car to a mechanic.
here is how to wire it.
The relay should have 4 terminals.
coil +
coil -
contact NO (1)
contact NO (2)
wire as follows:
orange/red = constant power (+12) CONNECT to coil + and relay NO (1), both in parallel
middle black = switched ground for relay CONNECT to relay coil -
outer black = constant ground CONNECT to horn ground (-)
new wire, contact NO (2) to horn +
The two NO connections can be interchanged
b
Good pictures. Good luck.
Well, after doing some more work on it, I have no idea on how to fix this. I took it into a mechanic and after they looked at it, they were stumped as well. He suggested I take it to a store that works on speakers and such to put in an alternative horn with seperate buttons and wiring. I really would like to avoid it. I still would love some help on this if anyone has any ideas.
Who knows what evil lurks in the mind of electricl engineers, I would take the 2 wire horn back, and get a new or used that fits the plug.