For the most part the car’s been fantastic. However the other day a less-than-proficient driver required a minor reminder she wasn’t the only one on the freeway as she, unaware, nearly merged her Prius into my Crown Vic. I went to give my horn a little toot… and nothing happened. Likely because the horn was probably previously wired to the siren when the car was on the Police payroll - and I don’t have the siren.
So how do I get the horn’s functionality back? I’m not sure what I’m looking for, but while poking under the driver/passenger dashboard I didn’t see any snipped wires or any disconnected wires. All relevant fuses are in place, although I’m not exactly sure how to check if they’re “good”. And that’s the extent of what I can think to check. I’ve poked around crownvic.net and could probably get help there, but my multiple attempts to register have been waiting ‘approval’ for weeks and their ‘contact us’ is non-responsive - and I’m not the only one. I even attempted to contact the department where my car was in service, but haven’t gotten anything back yet.
That’s why I’ve come back here. To see if anyone may have suggestions for what I can check, diagrams to reference, cables to look for, horn-things to inspect, whatever (???). I’m half-expecting I’ll find some “oh hey, this should be plugged in” somewhere, but I’m not sure where to look.
Thanks to searching, I actually read through that one. But the thread didn’t mature enough to get anywhere, and of course I can’t follow up with the OP since I can’t register (eyeroll).
Well, first of all, have you checked to see if the horns are actually there? They should be under the front bumper.
If the horns are there and have a wire harness connected to them, here are some troubleshooting steps and wiring diagrams from an older Crown Vic that may or may not be applicable to your 2009:
Even if the wiring is slightly different, you should be able to do some of the troubleshooting steps like applying 12 volts directly to the horns to verify they work, and testing the horn switch and relay.
I do not have a wiring schematic in front of me so my comments are general based on prior Ford familiarity and may not be 100% correct.
If the horns are present with wiring intact then verify the horn fuse is good.
If the fuse is good then locate the horn relay. There will be 4 terminals. Two of those terminals should have power at all times.
One of the 2 remaining terminals goes to the horns and the other goes to the clock spring assembly in the steering wheel.
If power is present at 2 terminals you can run a jumper to the terminal going to the horn and verify whether or not the horns are good.
The next step would be to verify the terminal going to the clock spring assembly grounds when the horn pad is depressed.
If it does not ground then the problem is in the clock spring assembly.
A test light and/or voltmeter would be needed to do the above.
If the problem turns out to be the clock spring assembly under the horn pad, my temptation would be to bypass the wiring and the clock spring in the steering column and buy a horn button that mounts on the side of the column. It won’t look stock, but it does work. Years ago, the Chevrolet and GMC school buses had horn buttons in the center of the steering wheel. These buttons often gave problems, so the drivers had the auxiliary horn buttons mounted on the side of the steering column. The other buses on Ford, International, Diamond-T and Studebaker chassis didn’t seem to have this problem. I had the same problem on my 1950 Chevrolet pickup truck. Being the lazy cheap skate that I am, I took a hint from the bus drivers of GM buses and installed an auxiliary horn button.
I like that theory @Triedaq , my column on my 75 ford (automatic) is just for steering and blinkers now, my horn is mounted on the side of it now , as you suggested, and my shifter is a pc of 5/16 round rod with a structural 3/4 washer welded to it that comes thru my floor bends in a kind of s shape, with a nice wood handle that my hand sits on when I drive. I was planning to buy an after market thru the floor shifter, but the thing I made worked so well, I put the wood handle on it and left it be
The guys on www.crownvicnet.net have a great forum and you should find some answers there…I have purchased several former Colorado State Patrol cars and their horns all worked as designed…