The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Hot horn relay

Hi everyone, I have a 55 second series truck,while driving yesterday i was checking the horn, upon doing so it would not shut off, so I parked it opened the hood and disconnected the wire going to the horn. I figured it was something in the steering wheel horn switch that got stuck. So today i start the truck and the horn relay was ticking real loud, turned the truck off felt the relay and it was real hot. So i disconnected the red wire to the horn relay thinking i may need another one, well i let the truck sit for a bit and went to start the truck but now it seems the battery went dead. Did i drain my battery cause of the hot relay? Any one know the part number for the relay at local parts store? Thanks in advance.

don't know about the relay number, but I'd do some ohm meter checking before blaming it, sounds like you have something shorted causing the relay to be always trying to blow the horn ... could be the relay is bad, but the way the circuit works is the button puts a ground to the relay, which in turn activates to allow battery voltage to the horn itself, so it might be the wire in the column from the button to the relay

Bill

Matt,

Here's my take on the dilemma...when you pulled the wire from relay to horn you were killing power to the horn proper which is AFTER the relay, this stopped the honking but the problem was further upstream in the actual relay or the horn button circuit.

If indeed the battery is dead I would check the horn button circuit to the relay itself..the relay could be defective and shorting to ground but I would guess it's somewhere between horn button and relay and that is where the problem is. Is this circuit fused..it should be, and the fuse should have blown!

I would look for crispy wires exiting the steering column or going through the firewall..any burning smells in the cab?

If the horn relay was clicking like mad it was probably being told to do so by a shorting wire to the horn ring on the steering wheel.

That's my non-professional take on this. Good luck with the hunt.

Stuart

Good stuff folks. I am listening so I can fix my horn as well. It was doing the same thing before I hangared the truck.