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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Maintenance and Repair / November 2006

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Low voltage at horn - half a volt

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zirconx9@yahoo.com - 08 Nov 2006 04:51 GMT
My horn quit working the other day on my '92 Bonneville.  Tonight I
hooked up my voltmeter to the plug that connects to the horn (two
wires), and I only get about half a volt when I press the horn button.
I can hear the relay clicking somewhere under the hood.

I'm guessing the next step is to find the relay and check the voltage
output there.  But I was wondering if anyone had encountered this
problem before and had any advice.

All the horns I've dealt with previously had only one wire, and were
grounded through the chassis.  Am I right in guessing I should have 12v

across the two connectors in the horn plug?

Thanks,
-Ryan
Mike - 08 Nov 2006 05:48 GMT
> My horn quit working the other day on my '92 Bonneville.  Tonight I
> hooked up my voltmeter to the plug that connects to the horn (two
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> Thanks,
> -Ryan

 Are you checking for voltage at the connecter with it unplugged from the
horn? It needs to be unplugged for a proper reading. One wire is a ground
(black) and the other wire is power ( green). If you connect your meter
across both wires you should have 12 volts when you press the horn button.
If you are getting half a volt with the connecter unplugged from the horn
then you have a problem. It can be on the power or the ground side of the
cicuit. A quick check would be to ground your meter at the battery negative
post and check for voltage at the power side of the horn connecter. If you
now have 12 volts you have a bad ground. If you still have only half a volt
the problem is on the power side. I would remove the relay and inspect the
terminals for corrosion. You can also check the relay socket to see if you
are getting 12 volts to the relay. There will be 4 terminals in the relay
socket, you should have 12 volts on 2 of them, they are both fed by the same
wire.
zirconx9@yahoo.com - 08 Nov 2006 22:14 GMT
> > My horn quit working the other day on my '92 Bonneville.  Tonight I
> > hooked up my voltmeter to the plug that connects to the horn (two
[quoted text clipped - 27 lines]
> socket, you should have 12 volts on 2 of them, they are both fed by the same
> wire.

I was checking it at the plug, with it disconnected from the horn.  I
tested the ground, it was good.  Then found the relay (thanks to
bonnevilleclub.com for help in finding the right relay), and swaped it
with another relay - success!   Before I went down to buy a new relay,
I put the old one back in - still works.  Must have been a problem with
the connections at the relay.

Thanks,
-Ryan
 
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