Can't toot my horn!

[Fred K-OR]

No it is my 29 Huckster's horn that is not tooting.


Just a few comments about it's situation:


1. Use to toot OK when the motor was reved up.
2. Now does not do anything-will not even show anything on amp meter.
3. Attached battery charger direct to horn-worked great.
4. Both wires going into horn show maybe around 4 volts
5. Horn button when pushed shows it works when grounded at bottom of shaft.
6. Center thing in wiring bundle (bottom of shaft button contact) shows some grounding but not complete ground. (see picture)
7. Could be a bad ground??? on where horn hooks to light bar??? or ???


Please guys and gals, do you have any other ideas of things to check.


Thanks

[Gary WA]

Make sure brush contact area is clean i use carb cleaner to clean on a rag hand turn horn.

[SeaSlugs]

horn does not use headlight bar as ground (hence the 2 wires) its hot at all times and the horn button controls the ground path for it. Sounds like you got a poor ground somewhere if the horn sounds great with direct power.

[Fred K-OR]

Originally Posted by Gary WA

Make sure brush contact area is clean i use carb cleaner to clean on a rag hand turn horn.

Forgot to mentioned it, but I did do this. Thanks Gary.

[Fred K-OR]

Originally Posted by SeaSlugs

horn does not use headlight bar as ground (hence the 2 wires) its hot at all times and the horn button controls the ground path for it. Sounds like you got a poor ground somewhere if the horn sounds great with direct power.

Any suggestions as to where the ground may be a problem? Could it be where the steering column attaches to the frame? Lights work OK. Just trying to think of where to look for the problem. Appreciate any ideas.

[Chuck Sea/Tac]

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The actual wire connections to the horn clips can get dirty and corroded. Even though you hooked a battery to them, that was a good fresh connection. I use a small round brush like for cleaning inside of tubing to scrub corrosion off. It is obviously a wiring/connection problem. You just have to figure where.

[Fred K-OR]

Originally Posted by Chuck Sea/Tac

The actual wire connections to the horn clips can get dirty and corroded. Even though you hooked a battery to them, that was a good fresh connection. I use a small round brush like for cleaning inside of tubing to scrub corrosion off. It is obviously a wiring/connection problem. You just have to figure where.

Will have to give that a try. Thanks. Something like this could be the problem, because it did work awhile back. But this is old rainy Oregon!

[Fred K-OR]

I did what Chuck mentioned above, that is scrub the horn clips. Also put some stuff on them I use to get my ball on my trailer to connect up when pulling it. Still no horn tooting.


So to recap things again:
1. Pushing horn button and checking it to bottom of horn rod shows no problem there.
2. Registers 6 volts on each of the horn clips and on armature.
3. Grounding horn (anyplace on it) to the motor shows good ground.
4. But, does the bottom of the horn rod connect to the light switch horn connector in the center of the light switch wiring harness?????? This I do not know!!!


The only way I see to check this would be to take the wiring harness off the steering post, pull the bottom end away from the connectors inside of it and measure current from the horn connector to the horn. If this is good, then it would seem like the bottom of the horn rod does not connect to this connector inside of the wiring harness. Does anybody have an easier way to check this?
.

[cpf240]

Originally Posted by Fred K-OR

...
4. But, does the bottom of the horn rod connect to the light switch horn connector in the center of the light switch wiring harness?????? This I do not know!!!


The only way I see to check this would be to take the wiring harness off the steering post, pull the bottom end away from the connectors inside of it and measure current from the horn connector to the horn. If this is good, then it would seem like the bottom of the horn rod does not connect to this connector inside of the wiring harness. Does anybody have an easier way to check this?
.

The blue/yellow wire at the horn is the one that goes to the light switch.


You could disconnect it from the horn, attach a continuity tester to it and a good, clean, frame ground. Then push the horn button and see if there is continuity.


Perhaps oil/grease has leaked from the steering box into the switch assembly.

[Fred K-OR]

It sounds like you have a great idea. Will have to give it a try.

[SeaSlugs]

also remember just because the continuity meter or test light shows a path of flow doesn't mean its a good path. It must be able to pass at least 4 amps of current.

[Badpuppy]

Pull the connector out of the bottom of the column, you should see battery voltage coming back through the horn. Hook a wire under a frame screw and touch the other end to the center contact - carefully avoiding the battery contacts, of course. The horn will sound, or it will not. Divide and conquer.

[burner31]

Originally Posted by Fred K-OR

Does anybody have an easier way to check this?
.

Don't know if it would be easier, but it would be more fun to watch.
1. Fimly ground yourself to the frame
2. Take the hot horn wire, and using your tongue...carefully...AUGGGGGGGG

[chap52]

Yeah Keith, I remember in High School Auto Shop we would charge condensers on the distributor testing machine, leave them on the desk and ask someone to please hand it to you.
Maybe I should share this memory with my therapist? Chap

[Fred K-OR]

Hey, I can toot my horn again!!!!! (that is the huckster's horn)


What I finally found, with the help of you all, is that there was a loose connection on an extended piece of wire, I put on the blue/yellow wire going to the horn. (see picture) Don't know why this character (FJK) did this sort of thing when he put the huckster together. But the wire in the picture was plugged into the end of the blue/yellow wire and then into the horn. I think maybe I put this extension on because at the time I had another horn I was using and it was wired different.


Anyway, I took the extension off, plugged the end of the blue/yellow directly into the horn and WOW. It worked better than it ever did.


Thanks you all for your help.

[cpf240]

Great news! Thank you for your report on the solution!

[SeaSlugs]

ahh good - probably corroded inside. Thanks for posting a follow up!