48 p15 special deluxe horn

[bigred48]

I recently bought a 48 sedan. it is a great runner and i love it. but the horn is not hooked up. today i was trying to get i to work. is there any reason the the reley needs to be hooked up to the ammeter? i have a diagram but i cant figure out which posts the wires hook too. any input would be helpful thanks.

[1948Skip]

BigRed48

The horn should be hooked up via the coil which is hooked up the ignition switch.

Skip

[greg g]

to test it yu can jumper it from the battery. There is a wire coming out of the bottom of the steering box. there is a push connector in the area. Make sure you have a good sonnection there. Tis is what grounds the circuit. Essentially the circuit should be hot with ignition on, and the horm button through this wire grounds and completes the circuit. If you look closely at the wiring schematic, you will see that most of the electrical system passes through the horn relay. Why??? Don't know, maybe cuz there ain't no fuses and the relay works like circuit breaker.

[Plymouthy Adams]

the horn relay should be a three prong where coil voltage and load supply contact share power and when the relay coil circuit is completed to ground through the steering column wire..the electromagnet is now energized and puts power/current to the horn which in itself must have a good clean mounting to the body for to complete its own electromagetic coil to ground.

The relay is nothing but a low power circuit completing a high power path to the load.

[bigred48]

my relay has four prongs: one to the coil, one to the horns, one to the horn ring, and the 4th is supposed to go to the ammeter (or so it shows on the diagram). i do know that my horns work. is there any way to test if the relay is good or bad? I saw a 46 at a car show and that one had a three prong relay directly below the horns but mine is on the right fender.

[Plymouthy Adams]

If you have a four prong relay..that mean that the activation power in and ground are independent of the high current contacts...if you have an ohm meter, you should read a resistance across two terminals..this is the internal coil. This is where the suppy power and the horn ground wire will connnect..the other two prongs are power in and power out (line and load if you will) This will connect the horm supply wire and the other to the horn itself...

The only difference in the 3 and 4 prong is the shared input power line...

[Norm's Coupe]

If you gently clean off the bottom of the relay where the connectors are connected, you should find that each pole is labeled. May be hard to read but they are there. It's stamped in the board that the pole is attached to.

[bigred48]

Thank you for your help. Hopefully I will be able to finish it up tommorow, at least without anymore problems. thanks again.

[BobT-47P15]

Wiring diagram.....I followed what it said....horn works fine.

[BobT-47P15]

Big Red.....is your car a Special Deluxe or Deluxe??

This is the works of the horn in the center of steering wheel for the Spec Dlx.

(also have another pic for Dlx)

That wire down the middle of the steering column can be replaced if necessary if you take the steering wheel stuff apart.

[bigred48]

my car is a special deluxe i already pulled the ring apart to run a new wire. the diagram is helpful though thank you

[steveplym]

I recently ran a new wire in my horn too. The previous owner had a button taped to the steering column as the end of the horn wire was worn and touching metal. Soldered a new wire on. Easiest rewiring I did on the entire car.

Your car looks nice Big Red. Where are you from?

[bigred48]

I'm from minnesota so im lucky with the amount of rust on the car. i finished the job this afternoon. the whole project cost me only 59 cents. it will be great to have the horn next summer. thanks for your help. this would have taken me a lot longer without the forum. And thank you for the compliement. what color is your car steve. it looks great in the sun? I need to repaint mine eventually and Im searching for a new color. that is closer to origanal. red was only on the convertibles.

[steveplym]

I'm from minnesota so im lucky with the amount of rust on the car. i finished the job this afternoon. the whole project cost me only 59 cents. it will be great to have the horn next summer. thanks for your help. this would have taken me a lot longer without the forum. And thank you for the compliement. what color is your car steve. it looks great in the sun? I need to repaint mine eventually and Im searching for a new color. that is closer to origanal. red was only on the convertibles.

Car is blue, 64-66 chevy truck blue. Not sure on the name of the color. Original color was cruiser maroon. My grandfather who restored the car in the mid 70's decided he liked blue better than the maroon. It's been in the family for 32 years. Car needs repainted and some spot bodywork done. Hoping to get the drivetrain rebuilt this winter and maybe do some bodywork next year. Just enjoying driving the car right now.

I did a complete rewiring of the car recently. Thought it would be difficult, but was not too bad. I had a lot of 10 and 12 gauge wire a friend gave me from a factory he was working at that closed. All I had to pay for was the solder and connectors. Also redid the brakes this summer as well.

Do a little as I go along to make it safer and more fun to drive.

[bigred48]

I've done my front brakes too but other then that i repainted the trunk lid and cleaned it up. we have been taking it to shows just for fun and cruise nights just driving the car for fun.

[Brendan D25]

both your cars look pretty good, and it's good to hear that you both are driving and enjoying your cars while doing the needed repairs and updates, that's what it's all about. Welcome to the forum bigred48. Brendan.

[steveplym]

Wow brendan nice car! Who says 4 door sedans are no fun.

Driving these cars is what it's all about. Working on them is fun, but not as fun as flying down the highway.