Could BOTH my horns be bad?

-
Frank Mopar said:
Every tool box needs a Power Probe 3.

With the horn on the car you can feed power or ground right to the horn and instantly know if the horn is good.
Click to expand...
Already did that and nada, both while still attached to the mounting bracket and without.
 
Mopar buddy about 20 mins away has a horn possibly two that are known to work. Gonna borrow and see what happens.
I cleaned the brackets with a dremel (mounting area) as well as cleaned up the mounting area on the rad support and still nothing. Leaning heavily towards the horns are bad. We'll see once I get the loaners.
 
Frank Mopar said:
Every tool box needs a Power Probe 3.

With the horn on the car you can feed power or ground right to the horn and instantly know if the horn is good.
Click to expand...
Let me tell you something. When a student does not understand the basics of a two component circuit, a power probe is not the answer
 
Oldmanmopar said:
What usually happens is when media blasted without installing a sponge in the opening the media gets in the horn and works its way to the center of the snail. Take them off an tap them on something while hooked to a battery. Turn the adjuster screw back and forth until the start working. Tap them on a hard surface and turn them in the direction to get the dirt out of the snail style funnel. This worked for me a couple of times. you can adjust the tone while doing this.
Click to expand...
I tried to tell him this in a different way, but, no................
 
I would try to clean and adjust the horns like @Oldmanmopar described. They actually very rarely go bad. They do get dirty, rusty and out of adjustment.
 
ricomondo said:
@Dana67Dart - yes used a small dremel brush wheel and cleaned off powder coat on both the brackets, and the rad support area where they mount. Still nada.
Click to expand...
We're trying hard to help here. We're asking very specific questions, but you're giving very vague answers. His question was did you clean the brackets between the HORNS and the brackets. You did not answer that question. You've already said twice you cleaned between the radiator support and brackets, but that's not what he asked. He's asking about the HORN end. Between the brackets and HORNS, not the radiator support.
 
Frank Mopar said:
Every tool box needs a Power Probe 3.

With the horn on the car you can feed power or ground right to the horn and instantly know if the horn is good.
Click to expand...
Good advice. I’m looking at them right now. Also looks like the 3 is a little more simple than the 4 model. More useful than just using a dvom
 
ricomondo said:
@340wedge - ok, will check at the plug and report back. When you say check the ground? Which ground?
At the bracket on the rad support? The brackets were previosuly powder coated, so perhaps I should take some of the paint off the bracket where it meets the rad support? But will check the two plugs on the harness first.
Click to expand...
A circuit requires a total path from the + batt post to the - batt post. Anything that interrupts the flow of electrons is like an open switch or broken wire. Use a test light in the horn wire terminal and the alligator clamp on the -batt post. Try to blow the horn. The light should illuminate. If it does reconnect the wire and poke the horn housing or braket to get through the paint or powdercoat while someone tries to blow the horn. If it lights now the horn has no ground to the body. You could use star washers under the mount bolt heads to provide a connection. If the horns finctionrd before they should function now, unless they did end up in the oven by some mistake. What is the resistance through the horn? Compare to a known finctioning horn.
 
ricomondo said:
@Demonx2 - well I am getting power at both plugs when the horn button is pressed - test light illuminated with each horn press. I'm just confused as I ran a wire from the battery to each horn terminal and nada.
Click to expand...
The horns still needs to be grounded to work from the battery direct. Remove the coating from the rear of the mounting bracket and set to a ground.
 
ricomondo said:
@Swinger 340 - did that and still nada - removed the powedercoating with a Dremel tool(brush) see next post.
Click to expand...
****SOLVED****

First; THANK YOU to everyone that took time to help diagnose this issue. Been away for a few days for baseball and wanted to report back.

While working with these horns, accidently dropped one on the garage floor and when I picked it up, there was a chunk of crud on the floor. Shook the horn and sure enough it had a bunch of media that had hardened from when it was blasted prior to painting. Same with the second horn when I gave it a whack with a soft mallet. Even after that, still no "honk" after blowing compressed air in it and through the adjuster screw hole and bolting up with the cleaned up mounting brackets.

Lastly, borrowed a set of working Sparton horns from Mopar buddy and that did the trick. Soon as they were bolted up, they worked flawlessly. After that bought new set of Sparton horns and bolted those up and same thing, working flawlessly! BUT, after getting both sets of horns bolted up, came to realize that one of the original horns was not working to start. It was nowhere as loud as it is now with working horns. So, I was only working with one working horn to start and then that one gave up the ghost. ** We did try jumping the old horns once again after the media was discovered inside them and they just will not work.

Thanks again for all the good advice and diagnosing techniques, it was all very much appreciated!! :)
 

Could BOTH my horns be bad? Yes! If you have power to the horns through the harness and a good ground, the horns are probably bad. Unbolt them and jumper them to the battery terminals to test. WOW!​

 
Wanted to chime in just to say, even though I have a fsm and tested some things already, this thread helped me figure out my issue.

Horns didn't work, car sat a long time, mostly just cleaning up connections and having good grounds solved everything.

Cleaned up the horn relay and horns worked, loud too.

Then horns stopped working. Traced each wire and ground each section from relay to column.

Problem was the copper ring on the steering wheel was just too dirty to make connection.

I had cleaned up any connections that needed attention and installed a dedicated ground hub next to the battery to ground everything, lights, blinkers, reverse lights, etc.
Just never thought to clean up the steering wheel, I'm dumb.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top