horn

[mwilk1]

okay before I go ordering horn parts willy nilly does anyone have any idea as to why my horn blows at will?? It blows when it wants when i turn corners. It doesnt do it all the time and days it wont do it at all. Im just embaressed when it does it in parking lots or when the little filly around the corner happens to catch its attention. Usually its at embarresing times. I went to the car wash the other day and this black guy was bending over scrubbing something and it sounded off. He understood its an old truck with problems still and let it go. Mike

[cookster4495]

You might be at wits end,,but it's still funny to me

[willy3486]

I hope I am remembering this correctly. You should have a horn relay I think on the side close to the voltage regulator. You will have one wire from your horn. This wire will be a grounded wire if I remember correctly. My guess is you may have a bad relay thats sticking, a wire in the steering column grounding itself out or the steering wheel has something going on under the chrome horn button. You could take the horn button off the steering wheel and see if it still has the problem. if not it may be something with the steering wheel.

[Slick Fan]

a wire in the steering column grounding itself out or the steering wheel has something going on under the chrome horn button. You could take the horn button off the steering wheel and see if it still has the problem. if not it may be something with the steering wheel.

This is my guess too. I bet the contact button under the steering wheel is messed up somehow, or the plastic holder is cracked & grounding intermittently.
I'm guessing it's not the relay. I could see the relay sticking on after pushing the horn button, but not coming on by itself.

[shawns fords]

okay before I go ordering horn parts willy nilly does anyone have any idea as to why my horn blows at will?? It blows when it wants when i turn corners. It doesnt do it all the time and days it wont do it at all. Im just embaressed when it does it in parking lots or when the little filly around the corner happens to catch its attention. Usually its at embarresing times. I went to the car wash the other day and this black guy was bending over scrubbing something and it sounded off. He understood its an old truck with problems still and let it go. Mike

you shoulda just waved and winked at the guy

[Greg D]

My 67 Mustang fastback used to do the same thing, used to get me in trouble with my X wife all the time.

[DocDave]

My 67 Mustang fastback used to do the same thing, used to get me in trouble with my X wife all the time.

Obviously got you in enough trouble if she's your ex

Yep, sounds like a grounding problem in the column. Had a 47 that did that once when I was backing out of a looonnnggg driveway. The girl just kept waving bye for about 10 minutes of honking, I never saw her again!
I must have looked pretty silly to her.
Dave

[mwilk1]

Here is what I see. I pulled the wheel and looked close, tell me what you think. under the horn button you pull the nut and contact brush. The hole the brush is in is in good shape and well insulated. (pull nut and then wheel) The plate screwed to the bottom of the wheel is in good shape and well insulated. Next youre looking at the turn signal cancel switch. Opposite that is a contact button that is supposed to be hard wired to the horn wire as it runs out of the column to the horn relay via this that and the other thing. To me it looks like maybe that plastic (im going to call it a holder) holder looks like it may at some point gotten hot and bent. Currently its angled toward the steering shaft and causing the button to rub the blinker cancel bump on the wheel when I turn the wheel. If all this is correct where do I get that lower plastic part to make my contact stand up straight? The other question is what do you call that piece?

[mwilk1]

putting it back together i noticed 2 things. One i had about a 1/2 in gap between the wheel and the column. Adjusting that fixed my blinker cancel problem i didnt know i had. (I didnt know this truck had that feature) While putting the horn button on I noticed that the plate that the horn button locks into was bent. I tweeked it a little then finished reassembly. When done I turned the wheel several times and no horn blowing however like I said some days it doesnt do it at all. Time will tell. Mike

[winr]

My Dads horn (65 F-100) wouldnt blow and He put a wire around the rag joint parts, then the horn would blow.

I guess it grounded the column or something.


Richard.

[mwilk1]

I went over to Rodgers and got his lights working. Seems nothing I did for my horn however did any good. I pulled the horn button and brush and still have a problem. Im goning to pull the little button under the wheel and see if it still does it though it will be a couple of days before i do that. Mike

[61 Merc]

I would say you have a short in the wire going to the button adn it is making contact with the shaft or column when you turn. Check it with a multi meter before pulliing it all apart.

[Slick Fan]

The plastic holder for the one under the wheel is supposed to hold the button straight up toward the wheel. If it's bent over towards the steering shaft, that's more than likely the source of your problem.

[Garbz]

Adjust the collum for 1/16" gap.

Over the years the cab mounts sag rot rust or just are not there.

Do your truck a favor and purchase a FACTORY manual....Adjust the collum.

Early rag joints have a jumper but are no longer avalible so the late model units do not have them and a jumper is needed.

Garbz

[mwilk1]

my 64 doesnt have a rag joint. At least not that ive seen. I do need to check the wires in the column but hadnt yet and for metering them they would check fine until it shorts thus blowing the horn. mike

[Garbz]

On your 64.

The steering box and shaft are integral the horn wire in the collum is the ground. It grounds the horn relay.

Adjust your collum to 1/16" between the steering wheel and shift collar. then unplug it buy the bottom of the collum. test for continuity between the wire and a ground if its has contuinity the issue is in the collum.

From there you can additionally solve the problem.

Or the horn relay may have some critters in it or just rusted or case loose causing a ground condition.

I just had this happen on a 57 sedan delivery we were working on the horn realy was a new one but the outter case was loose and the horn would honk...little pressure on the mounting tabs and fixed.

Garbz

[mwilk1]

okay i know its not the relay Its new (like that means something) but you have to turn or hit the wheel to get the horn to blow so i know its in the column. I pulled the wires out of the column (not something I recommend for the fun it it. Putting those wires back in was no picnic. But the wires were in good shape. There were no bare spots anywhere on them. I did find the original brush that belongs in the plastic holder and adjusted the replacement to resemble the original. I have yet to put it back in yet so I dont know if that helped any. Yall keep saying to adjust the column to 1/16 the best i can get is about a 1/4 which is better then the 3/8 that didnt let the blinker cancel work. How do i get that gap closer?????

[Paul Merrell]

I to adjust the column you loosen the screws that fasten the steering column tube bracket to the lower side of the instrument panel. Then you remove the floor panel section or you may be able to get to the clamp from under the truck. But you need to loosen the clamp at the top of the gear box then you should be able to pull the column tube up to get the 1/16 inch clearance between the top of the column and the steering wheel the tighten the clamp and the clamp bracket at the bottom of the dash.

[blackagatha]

I don't really think the column gap is the problem. I believe your demon lies right in front of you; living right under your horn button.

Now, I don't even know how the stock horn button/contact ring assembly works because it was smashed off the wheek when I got the truck.

But I had a similar problem with a Grant 3 bolt wheel. the button snaps onto a fiber and aluminum contact plate that grounds to the face of the aluminum wheel. It came with a spring, but it made the cap jump off. Also supplied were little blocks of foam rubber to use in place of the spring. These worked fine for a while, but occasionally in hot weather, the foam would sag and the button would contact. The horn would honk for hours if I didn't come back; and it pissed off all the kids in the dorm.

One of the times, one of my friends found that I had forgotten to lock the door (like the only time that ever happened), and he somehow figured out that it was the button at fault. Most surprising to me was the fact that he was actually ballsy enough to yank off the button... More foam fixed the problem.

SO, I suggest that you cram a little foam under your button and see if that doesn't fix the problem.

Also, check for a big crack in the plastic on the steering wheel, where the button might be hitting metal where it shouldn't... (random thought)

[mwilk1]

The fix appears to have been that the button i used to replace the original horn brush was too large a diameter. I ground it down to about the same size as the original and have put several miles on the truck today without any further embarrassment. Mike