Horn doesn't work

[Splinter]

I press the steering wheel, and I hear the relay click, but the horn doesn't sound.

All the connections seem to be intact

any ideas?

[Flip_x]

did u check the fuse?

[Splinter]

I checked the one under the left kickpanel, it works fine

Is there another one?

[sillyp]

there are some fuses and relays under the hood as well

[vrg3]

It's a 3-pin relay, so if the relay clicks, the fault has to be in the relay, the wiring, or the horns themselves.

Maybe the horns are failing to ground through their bracket? You could test this by putting a jumper cable between the horn bracket and the engine.

[Splinter]

Where do I touch the jumper to the horn to test it?

I dont want to short the battery

[vrg3]

Just to the horn mounting bracket. If you're unsure, stick a 10-amp fuse in the jumper wire you're using to be safe.

[Splinter]

The horns seem to work, but AFAIK, no voltage is getting to them via the cable. Only when I removed one and connected it to the battery could I get a sound out of it.


Christ, this is bad. I am supposed to take it back to the inspection facility tomorrow and the goddamn horn still isn't working.

[vrg3]

You put a voltmeter between the horn wire and a good solid ground and didn't see battery voltage when the horn button was pressed?

And did you check the ground?

[Splinter]

Yea, I put a voltmeter between the horn connector and the negative terminal on the battery. Squat.


What I've just found is that there's a small two pin brown connector that comes off the main bundle that attaches to the top of the fuse box that isn't connected to anything. It has a red wire with a green stripe, and a red wire with a black stripe the wires going into the (now confirmed working) horn relay are all red with stripes, including one with a green stripe, which I believe is the high current one.

However, there doesnt seem to be anywhere to plug this into the fusebox.

Ideas?

[Splinter]

*sigh*

Finally got the fscking thing working.

It WAS the relay.

The problem was that it only failed to work when triggered electrically (ie when it was in the car) when I took it apart to see if it was broken, depressing the armature worked fine. But when triggered electrically it wasnt quite making the connection.

A little contact cleaner and a slight bend has the horn working like a charm, at least long enough for me to pass inspection tomorrow

[ericem]

Didn't want to revise a old thread. Where exactly is the relay? I relised today my horn is not working either!

[ericem]

Ok update, found relay it is behind the fuse box on the driver side a pillar. The contacts were bad and the coil broke. So got my new relay in today works perfect! Just a heads up for guys who run into a similar issue.

[stonefive]

I just got my dads 1991 awd turbo it has 80,000 miles on it and is great condition. The horns do not work I can hear the relay click but I cant figure out how to get the relay out. Help

[mike-tracy]

Is the emergency flasher button plugged in and functional?

[Legacy777]

I just got my dads 1991 awd turbo it has 80,000 miles on it and is great condition. The horns do not work I can hear the relay click but I cant figure out how to get the relay out. Help

Welcome to the BBS.

Did you get this problem fixed? I'd try applying 12v to the horns directly to see if they actually work or not. Alternatively, you can use a multimeter or test light to check for 12v on the wire going to the horns when you depress the horn button on the steering wheel.