'41 Horns

[mattimuss]

The horns on the car were disconnected when I picked it up.  My uncle told me that early one morning, he stressed very early, he heard horns going off down by the barn.  When he got there he found that the horns were blowing continuously so he disconnected the hot wire to the horn relay.

 

I have pulled both horns, cleaned and painted them, and put them back in.  I ran new wires to the horn relay, and new wires from the relay to the horns.  When I hooked up the battery the horns seemed to be blowing continuously, but they were very weak sounding.

 

I disconnected the hot on the horn relay again.  I took a jumper wire and went from the positive terminal on the battery to each horn, no joy.

 

I am not real familiar with the positive ground system, but if the horns were good shouldn't they have sounded off?  Am I missing something here?

 

As always, all help is greatly appreciated!

 

 

[_shel_ny]

Initially it sounds like your horns are grounded out by the wire that goes up through the steering column. Either the wire is grounded in the column, or at the horn ring. That is how the horn works, by that wire providing a ground to energize the horn relay.

 

 

Next thing. Positive ground system. If you run a wire from the positive terminal to the horn, you are not applying any power.

[Dodgeb4ya]

Could be the the horn contact points over heated ... need to clean and file the contact points in the proper way... don't change the contact point adjustments.

Possibly you have lost a good ground for the horns when you R&R'd the horns and painted them. Use a jumper test lead for a temporary ground to see if they will then sound .

Bob

Edited March 30, 2015 by Dodgeb4ya

[jeffsunzeri]

Some test procedures you may find helpful:

 

1.) Test each horn individually. Disconnect wires at the horn. Using a fully charged battery and 2 test leads, momentarily connect the positive lead to one terminal on the horn and the negative lead to the other terminal. The horn should beep at full volume. Some horns have only one terminal, and are grounded by the mount. In that case use the mount as one of the terminals.

 

2.) Test the relay individually. Disconnect the wires going to and from the relay. Using the same battery and leads from the horn test, clip the positive lead to one of the input terminals. Touch the negative test lead to the other input terminal. You should hear the relay switch make contact. To make sure the contact is good, connect your volt meter to the outlet terminals on the relay confirming a full 6 volts. Sometimes relay input/output terminals are not marked and you have to do some testing to determine what terminals require ground and power.

 

While the relay is disconnected, use your ohmmeter to check continuity of the wire leading to the relay from the horn button or ring. You should see continuity to ground only when the button or ring is pressed. If you see continuous ground, you have a short in the horn wire from the button or ring.

[mattimuss]

Hey Everyone,

 

Thanks for the info!  I will use it this weekend and let you know the results.

 

I purchased the correct, complete repair manual and am hoping to find diagnostics guidelines like this in it.

 

Thanks again!

[_shel_ny]

bump

[mattimuss]

What does "bump" mean?

[Plymouthy Adams]

_{you have hit something that has resistance to movement...}

 

_{a means to take the subject matter back to the forefront}

Edited March 29, 2015 by Plymouthy Adams

[mattimuss]

Thanks PA for clarifying!

 

Yep, I know definition #1, so I get 50%.

 

I am assuming that definition #2 means that the 'bumper' wants the 'bumpee' to give a status report?

Edited March 29, 2015 by mattimuss

[mattimuss]

Hey All!

Last night I finally got to work on the car again.  I decided to try to figure out the horns.

 

They are trumpet horns.  The long one doesn’t have contact points [that I can see], the short one does.

 

When I pressed the horn ring all I got was a clicking sound of the relay.  I was happy that the relay still worked as replacements are getting expensive.  I pulled out my new, complete service manual, but there isn't a lot of info on horns in it.  This is when I came in and searched the forum for info and reread my previous post.  I soon discovered that Bob is correct and my nice clean paint job was part of the problem.  I cleaned all the grounding points and Voilà, the long horn started to work.

 

I then remembered that when I took the short horn apart to clean it I had noticed that the contact points were fused together so I pulled them apart for cleaning.  This is where my "novice" skills got me in trouble.

 

When I pulled the two screws that hold the points together I did not have a solid hold on the stack and it feel apart.  I quickly regretted not taking a picture before removing the those screws.  I cleaned the points and put the stack back together in what seemed to be to best arrangement based on how things fit, but I am pretty sure it’s not correct.

 

While adjusting this horn last night I could see sparks across the contact points, and twice I heard a faint warble like the horn was trying to work, but mostly got just a clicking sound.

I have attached a picture of the stack in its current configuration and am wondering if anyone can confirm if it is correct, or if someone can compare it to their horn.

 

As always, thanks in advance for any/all help provided!

 

[mattimuss]

Hey All,

 

I have been thinking about this horn all day long.  When I got home from work I went out and took two more pictures hoping they will help in identifying the problem.

 

I have never worked with this type of horn so this is all new ground for me...but my gut tells me it is something simple.

 

Thanks in advance for any help offered...

[mattimuss]

Got 'em working!

 

I found another 6volt horn, harvested the internals, put them in my freshly painted horn and Voilà!

 

I really do like the sound of these old horns, the ol' girl sounds like a tug boat!

[Redneck Coronet]

Hey All!

Last night I finally got to work on the car again.  I decided to try to figure out the horns.

 

They are trumpet horns.  The long one doesn’t have contact points [that I can see], the short one does.

 

When I pressed the horn ring all I got was a clicking sound of the relay.  I was happy that the relay still worked as replacements are getting expensive.  I pulled out my new, complete service manual, but there isn't a lot of info on horns in it.  This is when I came in and searched the forum for info and reread my previous post.  I soon discovered that Bob is correct and my nice clean paint job was part of the problem.  I cleaned all the grounding points and Voilà, the long horn started to work.

 

I then remembered that when I took the short horn apart to clean it I had noticed that the contact points were fused together so I pulled them apart for cleaning.  This is where my "novice" skills got me in trouble.

 

When I pulled the two screws that hold the points together I did not have a solid hold on the stack and it feel apart.  I quickly regretted not taking a picture before removing the those screws.  I cleaned the points and put the stack back together in what seemed to be to best arrangement based on how things fit, but I am pretty sure it’s not correct.

 

While adjusting this horn last night I could see sparks across the contact points, and twice I heard a faint warble like the horn was trying to work, but mostly got just a clicking sound.

I have attached a picture of the stack in its current configuration and am wondering if anyone can confirm if it is correct, or if someone can compare it to their horn.

 

As always, thanks in advance for any/all help provided!

If you  pull to cover off the horns you will see a small screw with a lock nut. This is the horn adjustment. Loosen the lock nut and SLOWLY turn the screw in or out to get the horn sounding off. Mine did not work on my 50 Coronet and this is how my brother fixed them. He saw it on a show on tv. Howeverf just looking at your picts and the horns are different than my 50.

Edited June 21, 2015 by Redneck Coronet

[Plymouthy Adams]

properly setting these will require an inline amp meter....