Intermittent horn

[darth_linux]

Hi. In my '66 Newport the horn has recently been only working intermittently. At the moment, it's not working at all. The FSM only describes how to check functionally of the horns themselves, and their relay, all of which work properly. My guess is "wear" in the horn button assembly itself.

I couldn't find anything in the FSM about disassembly and testing of the horn button, so I'm wondering if the collective experience of you all here could assist. Is there something that "wears out" from repeated use that actually makes the horn sound?

Also, to remove the center of the horn button, do I just compress and rotate?

Thanks in advance!

 

[mgm1986]

I want to follow along here to see what the experts say. My horn only works if my wheel is turned to the left 45 degrees.

 

[72RoadRunnerGTX]

I want to follow along here to see what the experts say. My horn only works if my wheel is turned to the left 45 degrees.

Definite slip ring/contact issue there.

 

[Gerald Morris]

Hi. In my '66 Newport the horn has recently been only working intermittently. At the moment, it's not working at all. The FSM only describes how to check functionally of the horns themselves, and their relay, all of which work properly. My guess is "wear" in the horn button assembly itself.

A good guess. I got our '66 horn button working by using copper foil on the worn out horn switch. It honked plenty good after that.

Also, to remove the center of the horn button, do I just compress and rotate?

YEP! EZPZ. Then you will want a fine flat blade screwdriver to remove the 3 little 6-32 screws holding the rest of the switch stuff down.... Take some pics of your work.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Gerald Morris]

I want to follow along here to see what the experts say. My horn only works if my wheel is turned to the left 45 degrees.

THAT suggests a wiring issue in the column. Prepare for surgery!

 

[darth_linux]

So what am I looking for? I don’t see anything obviously wrong.

 

[Sixpactogo]

When you push the horn button you are sending a ground to the horn relay. You are losing your ground intermittingly. Does your car have a rag joint above the sector? Sometimes that is the culprit.

 

[Gerald Morris]

So what am I looking for? I don’t see anything obviously wrong.

View attachment 736419

View attachment 736420

Try jumpering the horn lead directly to the steering wheel shaft in the middle. See if it consistently honks your horn. If so, then remove the contact ring, then inspect the little copper rod on a spring from the turn signal switch. Clean off the copper surface of the contact ring also. Is it dirty? Greasy? Dirt and grease on that copper sheathed plastic will interrupt the circuit.

If your horn beeping remains intermittent when jumpering the lead to ground, then your problem lies under your hood. Try jumpering the tab on the horn relay. Does the horn beep consistently then? If yes, then check around the rag joint. There should be a spring connecting the bolts from the upper half of the joint to the lower half. This assures the path to ground for the steering wheel shaft in the column in the passenger compartment. If this spring is missing, make some sort of conductive jumper between the top and bottom of the rag joint, to insure that the steering wheel shaft IS grounded.

If the horn relay works properly, try hot wiring each horn. Old horns sometimes fail intermittently before failing forever. Check them.

Back to the steering column: If everything above the momentary contact disc assembly works well, then inspect the turn signal switch and how well its wired. Is the connector near where the column penetrates the firewall sound? Do all the wires make good contact there? Finally, the bulkhead connector might be less than perfectly clean and shiny. Check it.

 

[Sixpactogo]

Pull the black wire connector off and touch it to the steering shaft. If it honks every time, then the horn contactor is dirty or otherwise not making a good ground when you push the horn ring. I had the one in my 60 Dodge fail that way. It was just not grounding the way it should. I replaced it and solved the problem.

 

[300rag]

I had a similar issue . My solution was a ground wire jumper across the coupler...

 

[Gerald Morris]

I had a similar issue . My solution was a ground wire jumper across the coupler...

Yes, I used a nice bit of #12 copper wire across my rag joint. Horn worked very well with that. Alas, it didn't stop the psychopath c**t insurance fraudster from deliberately pulling out in front of our '66 4 yrs ago. I since that keep a running watch on this evil creature, confirming my initial assessment of her character and motives in my case. I was utterly right, but that too didn't save our '66. Still, the horn blew well!

 

[darth_linux]

I had a similar issue . My solution was a ground wire jumper across the coupler...


View attachment 736502

is that wire just going from one side of the hockey puck to the other?

 

[darth_linux]

View attachment 736501


Pull the black wire connector off and touch it to the steering shaft. If it honks every time, then the horn contactor is dirty or otherwise not making a good ground when you push the horn ring. I had the one in my 60 Dodge fail that way. It was just not grounding the way it should. I replaced it and solved the problem.

Touching the wire directly to the nut didn’t do anything. I’m gonna try a jumper wire to confirm. I’ll also recheck the horn relay. It worked a month ago, but this problem started when I removed the horn relay to clean up the firewall. The relay checked out and the horn worked but then it started getting flaky.

I’m gonna cleanup the mild corrosion on the horn button and put it all back together.

 

[300rag]

is that wire just going from one side of the hockey puck to the other?

Yes, just to get past the big rubber donut to bond the two pieces of the shaft. Sometimes the bolts don't give a good ground path.

 

[Big_John]

Yes, just to get past the big rubber donut to bond the two pieces of the shaft. Sometimes the bolts don't give a good ground path.

There is a grounding wire that the factory put there. Of course, it probably gets lost when the coupler is changed most of the time.

It's the wire sticking up in this pic. IIRC, it was a this loop, then a coil like a spring and then another loop on the opposite side.

 

[darth_linux]

UPDATE 9/28/25

I cleaned up the horn "button" and metal plate it sits (just some light corrosion) - no change. Seems like the button does "button" things correctly, so I don't know if that is the problem. It's springy and moves freely throughout it's range of motion. Is there a way to test off the vehicle with an ohmmeter? Grounding the H3 wire directly to the steering wheel NUT did not sound the horn, which if the button was the issue, I would think the horn would work doing this.

I shorted the "S" terminal of the horn relay to ground and the horn sounded. The FSM states that this means there is either a problem with the horn button itself, the wiring from the horn button through the bulkhead connector to the relay, or a bad ground in the steering column.

I added an extra wire from one side of the rag-joint "hockey puck" to the other after cleaning things up with a wire brush and brake cleaner. The horn still did not sound when the button was pressed.

My next steps (I guess) are as follows:
1) disconnect bulkhead connector on engine side and ground the H3 wire (at connection W) to see if the horn sounds [tests wire from bulkhead to the relay]
2) ground the H3 wire just before it reaches the bulkhead connection to see if the horn sounds [tests connection THROUGH the bulkhead connector]
3) test the H3 wire from where it connects to the bulkhead to horn button for continuity - if none found, tear down further to find break in the wire [checks integrity of wire from horn button down the steering column to the bulkhead connector]

Am I missing anything? Have I misunderstood the horn circuit in some way?

Please advise! I have a busy week, so I probably won't get to doing any of this until next Saturday morning.

 

[3175375]

UPDATE 9/28/25

I cleaned up the horn "button" and metal plate it sits (just some light corrosion) - no change. Seems like the button does "button" things correctly, so I don't know if that is the problem. It's springy and moves freely throughout it's range of motion. Is there a way to test off the vehicle with an ohmmeter? Grounding the H3 wire directly to the steering wheel NUT did not sound the horn, which if the button was the issue, I would think the horn would work doing this.

I shorted the "S" terminal of the horn relay to ground and the horn sounded. The FSM states that this means there is either a problem with the horn button itself, the wiring from the horn button through the bulkhead connector to the relay, or a bad ground in the steering column.

I added an extra wire from one side of the rag-joint "hockey puck" to the other after cleaning things up with a wire brush and brake cleaner. The horn still did not sound when the button was pressed.

My next steps (I guess) are as follows:
1) disconnect bulkhead connector on engine side and ground the H3 wire (at connection W) to see if the horn sounds [tests wire from bulkhead to the relay]
2) ground the H3 wire just before it reaches the bulkhead connection to see if the horn sounds [tests connection THROUGH the bulkhead connector]
3) test the H3 wire from where it connects to the bulkhead to horn button for continuity - if none found, tear down further to find break in the wire [checks integrity of wire from horn button down the steering column to the bulkhead connector]

Am I missing anything? Have I misunderstood the horn circuit in some way?

Please advise! I have a busy week, so I probably won't get to doing any of this until next Saturday morning.

Your approach is good!

 

[GregG48203]

slip ring/contact issue

This ring and contact typically get dirty and corroded. A simple test is to turn the wheel and press the horn at the same time. These contacts are under the steering wheel; you would have to pull the wheel to get to them.

 

[Gerald Morris]

UPDATE 9/28/25

I cleaned up the horn "button" and metal plate it sits (just some light corrosion) - no change. Seems like the button does "button" things correctly, so I don't know if that is the problem. It's springy and moves freely throughout it's range of motion. Is there a way to test off the vehicle with an ohmmeter? Grounding the H3 wire directly to the steering wheel NUT did not sound the horn, which if the button was the issue, I would think the horn would work doing this.

I shorted the "S" terminal of the horn relay to ground and the horn sounded. The FSM states that this means there is either a problem with the horn button itself, the wiring from the horn button through the bulkhead connector to the relay, or a bad ground in the steering column.

I added an extra wire from one side of the rag-joint "hockey puck" to the other after cleaning things up with a wire brush and brake cleaner. The horn still did not sound when the button was pressed.

My next steps (I guess) are as follows:
1) disconnect bulkhead connector on engine side and ground the H3 wire (at connection W) to see if the horn sounds [tests wire from bulkhead to the relay]
2) ground the H3 wire just before it reaches the bulkhead connection to see if the horn sounds [tests connection THROUGH the bulkhead connector]
3) test the H3 wire from where it connects to the bulkhead to horn button for continuity - if none found, tear down further to find break in the wire [checks integrity of wire from horn button down the steering column to the bulkhead connector]

Am I missing anything? Have I misunderstood the horn circuit in some way?

Please advise! I have a busy week, so I probably won't get to doing any of this until next Saturday morning.

Have you examined the underside of that horn button ring? How about the little copper rod in the spring from the turn signal switch. THAT is THE MOST LIKELY FAILURE POINT! Show us pictures of that turn signal switch and the bottom of the horn button ring. The FACT that grounding that top wire doesn't do anything tells strongly its in the turn signal switch to horn button ring interface.

 

[darth_linux]

Have you examined the underside of that horn button ring? How about the little copper rod in the spring from the turn signal switch. THAT is THE MOST LIKELY FAILURE POINT! Show us pictures of that turn signal switch and the bottom of the horn button ring. The FACT that grounding that top wire doesn't do anything tells strongly its in the turn signal switch to horn button ring interface.

I think I need to pull the steering wheel to get to that turn signal switch area. Pictures above show the horn button and contact plate before cleaning. If my other tests "check out" then I'll pull the steering wheel and keep going down the rabbit hole . . .