Don't Blow My Horn!!!

B

baba

Member
In Vermont we have an old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Well, I fixed it. The wiring in my 29 coupe looked tired and ratty. got a new harness from Snyder's and installed it. Horn won't stop blowing. Blows even louder when I jiggle the harness at the bottom of the steering column. Otherwise car runs fine. Oh,yes, it is intermittent, blows occasionally when I turn on the headlights, or turn the steering wheel. Any ideas?
 
The horn has two electrical connections: one is an always-on-dedicated-live 6V (or 12V) line. The other is a dedicated-to-ground line that goes inside with the horn button located in the center of the steering wheel. When the horn button is pushed it very simply closes the electrical circuit by connecting these two wires/lines together and thereby the horn starts blowing. A spurious honking of the horn can happen if/when the "dedicated-to-ground" line/wire is inadvertently grounded. In other words you are looking for a "short" somewhere along the "dedicated-to-ground" line/wire.
 
You could have ended up with a problem with the end of the horn/light switch rod when reassembling the light switch. There could also be a problem with the connection of the ground side at the horn terminal block.

New wires shouldn't have any shorts or bad insulation so check the other stuff first. A multi meter set on ohms can easily check isolated wires for cross shorts or ground shorts. I always have one handy.
 
I would say the light rod at contact point to the switch horn contact may be grounded.The contact on my 30 coupe was misaligned and would ground to the steel light housing I think there is a small insulation washer between the light rod and horn end contact that might be damaged the center contact on the wire harness may also ground if it is touching the housing or control fork.
 
Tech support from Snyders suggested the light switch end of the horn rod might be the problem. I will check that with my meter and see if that is the case. If the rod is shot I won't replace it (coupe) and will do an aux horn button.
 
They make restoration kits for the horn circuit. It just may need a few pieces to repair. The kit comes with all the stuff needed to renew the horn switch part of the rod assembly including a new internal routed wire.
 
Well, I’ll probably get some laughs but this is true. I went to McDonald’s, grabbed a straw, cut a little less than 1/4 inch and put it on the end of the horn rod as an insulator. Worked for me, had to redo maybe a couple of times in 8 years. Insulation moderate difficulty.
 
Truth is I learned that somewhere, might have been right here on the Ford Barn. It does take nimble fingers to do the job because you have to hold it on a bit while getting it all together. Please let us know if you try a heat shrink tube, might make th job easier. Thanks
 
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