My horn would sometimes get a mind of it’s own and without notice all of a sudden just go off by itself (no kids, car alarm or pranksters involved - happened with the car locked). Quick fix was to pull the CB (or relay, whatever). Took it to a dealer and they said entire air bag assembly and horn had to be replaced. $500 bucks, please, and thank you very little. Then they said they couldn’t even do that because they found out the horn/bag assembly wasn’t even available anymore. It’s just a part time, seldom used vehicle I keep at my crash pad in Atlanta so I probably wouldn’t have spent $500 bucks anyway. But it does bother me not having a horn to honk if I ever have the need. Do you know of any surgery-like procedure I could perform like cutting into the center of the steering wheel and putting in a replacement spring that could keep the horn unstuck. Before I pulled the relay I could make the horn go off by just blowing on it real hard. Any help or advice most appreciated. Thank you.
Replace the relay. The problem may be there. Otherwise, I’d manage a button somewhere convenient and wire it up.
You might try some non-residue contact cleaner on the wheel contacts.
Be vary careful messing around the steering wheel. You could set off the airbag, which would likely ruin your whole day. If this were my car I’d keep the relay in the glove box until the car needed to be inspected, and live without the horn. But then I’m one of those people who never uses the horn.
I would replace the relay and if that didn’t work, rig a horn button somewhere handy. Careful with that airbag . . . like mcp says . . . it can ruin your whole day, big time. A horn button rigging is easy, go to Pep Boys and pick up a generic button and some wire and go to it. Rocketman
Thanks everybody who wrote in. I won’t screw with the airbag/steering wheel stuff then.
I never mess with the wiring in a steering column. As others have suggested, buy a horn button kit. I know that they are available at J.C. Whitney co. in its online catalog. I had to rig a horn button on my 1950 Chevrolet pick-up truck when the center button failed. We didn’t have air bags in those days, but adding this button which clamped to the steering column saved pulling the steering wheel.
The school buses that I rode to school had this problem, and the owner/operators rigged up these buttons that clamped to the steering column. Bus drivers used the horn a lot to make sure students weren’t waiting inside when the bus came. One bus I rode was on a 1939 GMC chassis and the other on a 1946 Chevrolet chassis and both had to have bypass horn buttons. The buses on Ford and International chassis didn’t seem to have this problem. I’m not surprised that your problem is on a Buick–a GM product.