Horn issue

[Fuzion]

Well some jackass cut me off and almost came to a complete stop in the middle of an intersection... as I hit my horn to try to wake him up... the horn wouldn't turn off... just stuck... little miss sunshine style.

I had to pull the fuse in order to make it stop.
Anybody know where to start diagnosing what went wrong in the circuit?
Thanks in advance.

 

[HISSIN50]

Your horn pad might have shorted. They're known for doing that. You can test the wires in the column (it's a 3 wire/pin harness for the horn and CC). If the horn wire has continuity to ground with no one touching your horn button, this is probably the case.

Otherwise, I would access the horn relay and see if it latched.

Good luck.

 

[Fuzion]

Hissin, I noticed during the week that the horn pad was really delicate. Like when my jacket sleeve touched the pad as I was turning the wheel the horn would toot. Is that a sign of the pad being shortened? If so would it have to be replaced? Thanks

 

[Fox8950]

I had this happen to my old stand as well and found out what was wrong was not all that hard to fix. When I pulled my horn button apart there are 2 copper disks inside with foam in between them so they don't contact, when you press on the horn it smashes the foam and presses the 2 plates together to complete the circuit. Well I did the same as you and punched my damn horn when some a$$hole tried to merge into me and it dented the top copper plate so that it was smashed through the foam at all times and stuck the horn on. All I did to fix this was take it all apart, find some foam the right thickness, clean out the old crap (mine was all smashed and old is why I changed the foam) you could probably get away with just taking it apart and straightening out the disks.

 

[trbkrb]

In your 87? Most likely the foam padding in between the two horn plates has deteriorated and is no longer keeping the plates apart. Mine used to honk on left turns, and eventually went off in the garage late one night!

Just pull the horn pad from the center of the wheel, disconnect the wires and put the fuse back in. Then test the horn by connecting the wires momentarily. if it works normal, then you know it is the horn pad. Remove the center part from the outer vinyl cover, pry the two copper parts apart, remove what is left of the foam, and replace it with some new foam. I used a piece of foam like headliner material I got at a fabric store, and cut out holes at the bumps on the bottom plate. Others have used like a thin scrub sponge or something. It can't be too thick, or it will not let the parts connect and complete the circuit. It is a $2 fix or less, much cheaper than a new horn button, if you can even find one.

Good luck!

Edit: Oops, Fox8950 posted while I was typing!

 

[Fox8950]

LoL! Gotcha!

 

[Black1987Stang]

they beat me to it, but I just used little pieces of folded up paper in a few of the corners since I couldn't find any foam, works fine, and it happened to my brothers 90 stang it went off at like 1 in the morning and my neighbors lincoln out of nowhere. That was embarrassing lol

 

[Fuzion]

Thanks a lot for all the replies guys.. now i just have to wait for better weather to go out there and get this done. winter sucks

 

[corvetteguy]

Junk Yard pad costs $1