I hit my horn a little too hard and the horn stuck blaring. I have a 1995 Volvo 850 and I pulled the fuse, but the fuse serves both the wipers & horn. So I pulled the wires under the hood to the horn, thus I have wipers and no horn, I know a safety hazard. I have been told the wires behind the air bag may have been stuck together? I would like to know, am I able to buy just another used steering wheel & swap them out? I have no mechanical ability, so I am going to have to hire a mechanic to repair the horn. I have been told twice I may need to purchase the whole steering assembly and hire someone to change them out. Down the road this car is gonna need a clutch and brakes. This is my only car and a daily comfortable commuter at 30 mpg. Any suggestions, ideas would be helpful. Am I better off just looking for another car?
Thanks
Mike
Are You Sure That You Hit It Too Hard?
If it was really more just a normal push on the horn, then maybe the horn relay “stuck” internally.
I’d find the relay (Look in the Owner’s Manual.) and if the part number is the same as another relay, I’d try swapping them. Then I’d momentarily reconnect the horn(s) and see what happens.
You could actually do your investigation with a continuity test light, instead.
CSA
If you damaged the horn switch in the steering wheel, there is a cheap way out. You can purchase a horn button kit at J.C. Whitney and probably any auto parts store. The mechanic can bypass the wires to the horn switch going through the column by running the wires to the horn button on the outside of the column. The new horn button mounts on the side of the steering column. The wire from the horn relay to the original horn switch in the steering wheel is clipped off. The new lead is run to the new horn button mounted on the side of the steering column. One wire goes to the relay from the button and the other goes to the chassis (ground).
I had to install this arrangement on my 1950 Chevrolet pick-up truck years ago because the horn button in the center of the steering wheel wouldn’t work and I didn’t want to pull the steering wheel to fix it (I paid $120 for the truck so it wasn’t worth putting a lot of money into it). This set-up worked just fine. The owner/operator of the school bus that I rode to school did the same thing. The horn on the school bus got a lot of use and the original switch wore out.
I appreciate all the helpful advice. I hit the horn to let 2 pedestrians who ran in front of me know I was right on top of them. (I shifted from 3rd to 4th and they made all 4 lanes of traffic clear, thank god!) I hit the horn so hard the telscoping steering wheel went in, so does that tell you how hard I hit the horn? Thanks for the replies, I will try to see what I can do!
Comprehensive Insurance?
You “vandalized” your own car. This sounds pretty convincing with your story about the pedestrians. My comp covered my blowing the rear window out of one of our cars when a shot a rock while weed whipping.
How well do know your agent. I’d make a serious inquiry.
CSA