Quick question on horns...

[mopardude318]

Hello. Car is 68 Barracuda. I put a new steering column in. Everything is hooked up right. Problem is my horns. Before I put the steering wheel on, I connected the two
contacts with the wire, and the horns worked, they honked.

Then I put the steering wheel on, and connected the wire and they don't honk. All I hear is the horn relay making a "clicking" noise. Everything is grounded properly. I hooked up an electrical tester, the power probe ll, which is quite a dandy little tool where you hook it up to the battery and can add positive or negative supply. I tested the horns themselves, and they don't work.

What could have caused this? Why do all of a sudden do my horns not work? Could I have blown them somehow? Do they "go out" after a while, kind of like a light bulb? I tested another set of horns that I took out of my Dart, and only one horn works, the other doesn't... Why????????

 

[cudajim]

If you're relay is actuating then the problem is not at the steering wheel. The relay switch itself could be bad or the horns could be bad. Take a jumper directly from the positive post of the battery and touch it to the horn connector, it should work right away. If not the horn is bad. If so check the relay.

 

[mopardude318]

If you're relay is actuating then the problem is not at the steering wheel. The relay switch itself could be bad or the horns could be bad. Take a jumper directly from the positive post of the battery and touch it to the horn connector, it should work right away. If not the horn is bad. If so check the relay.

Yes, I checked the horns. I took a jumper to them and they didn't work...But what surprises me is that they worked the day before. How could they all of a sudden, not work anymore?

 

[RedFish]

The wire in the column supplies a ground signal to the relay. The relay in turn supplies power to the horn(s). Hearing the relay click is a good sign but doesn't mean it is good in every case. The horns must be chassis grounded at the mounting hardware also.
They do go bad without a warning , or honk as it were. Flying insects nest in them also if they sit still long enough.