Hi low horn set up on 67 Coronet

[Coronet67guy]

Hey guys,

So I removed my hi low horn set up, cleaned them up and painted them, bought a new horn relay, and now I'm not sure how they went on the car. It just doesn't look right and the horn isn't working. Any tricks to help me diagnose the issue? Can anyone upload a pic of their hi low horn set up for a 67 Coronet 500 with a 318 to compare? I'm third owner of this totally original car. I've included a picture of how the horns are in now as well as one of the car. Oh in case you wonder yes the original radiator is out and at Glen Ray. I can't wait to get it back. It's been a month and still waiting!

Thanks for the help.

Alan

 

[69Runner]

The green wire is positive and from what i can see its wired correctly. Carefully connect a test wire to the positive battery terminal and touch the horn spade connector (remove green wire from horn first!) It should sound. Be careful not to accidentally ground the temporary wire to the body.

*ALSO* On the relay side, you can use a test light from the topmost connector (where green wires are plugged in) to a good ground to see if the relay is working when the horn is pressed. With all that fresh paint, either the relay or the horn(s) might not be getting a good ground.

Nice car! Mine is a 67 but with a black roof. My relay is on the firewall and one horn is missing otherwise I'd include a picture. Same wiring though. You seem to have done a nice job putting it back together, the brackets kind of guide you in placement. BTW I just went through a similar ordeal troubleshooting, but in my case it was an old relay I was able to clean up inside.

 

[Coronet67guy]

Thanks for the input. I suppose if its wired right it wouldn't matter how the horns are on the car they would sound! It's that extra screw hole at the top thats partially showing that has me wondering if it's back on the car correctly. I'm pretty sure the lower horn and relay are in the correct places and theres only so many ways that top horn will fit. I'm not real good with electrical stuff but the tests sound pretty basic, so I'll give them a shot. Could my new relay be garbage? Maybe I should hook up that 48 year old one and see if they work then! Could this just be a fuse issue? As I'm typing this I just realized I haven't looked around in the fuse box yet. I'll keep you posted. Still looking for any pictures of this horn set up to compare mine to. Thanks.

The green wire is positive and from what i can see its wired correctly. Carefully connect a test wire to the positive battery terminal and touch the horn spade connector (remove green wire from horn first!) It should sound. Be careful not to accidentally ground the temporary wire to the body.

*ALSO* On the relay side, you can use a test light from the topmost connector (where green wires are plugged in) to a good ground to see if the relay is working when the horn is pressed. With all that fresh paint, either the relay or the horn(s) might not be getting a good ground.

Nice car! Mine is a 67 but with a black roof. My relay is on the firewall and one horn is missing otherwise I'd include a picture. Same wiring though. You seem to have done a nice job putting it back together, the brackets kind of guide you in placement. BTW I just went through a similar ordeal troubleshooting, but in my case it was an old relay I was able to clean up inside.

 

[69Runner]

I guess anything is possible, new stuff can be defective. It's logical to put the old one back, since you knew it worked, to test out the system.

Another simple check is to get up close to the relay and have someone press the horn. You should hear the relay click. The horn ring on the steering wheel energizes a coil in the relay, which in turn sends power to the horn. The power comes straight off the starter relay. This is a good circuit to learn about, don't be afraid I'm sure there are lots of smart people on this forum who will chime in if you get stuck.

Once again, the relay needs a good ground and the horns need good grounds. Those grounds are through the mounting screws for each which in most cases do the job unless heavily corroded (not likely in your case) or heavily painted (?).

Not trying to overload you with worries but it is also possible there is an internal break in a wire, in which case you test for continuity. Just take one thing at a time, start with the simple checks.