Horn randomly sounding/honking coninuously

[rechinca]

Whew been a long time, too long in fact, since I have been on! Life, but Have been driving it as much as possible.

Now for the weird. About an hour ago, my horn suddenly started sounded on a solid/continuous honk. I unplugged it (the horn), but I cant find any issues that would be causing it. I plugged it back in and pressed the button a few times, but it did not stop.

I did replace the guts of the column when I rebuilt it about 18 months ago. All of the engine harness and headlight harness are new at that same time (AAW harnesses), but I did not replace the dash harness. (I know, I know I should have done that one too)

Only other thing odd was that last week I replaced the courtesy light inside. Now I don't know if its a coincidence, but about the same day I was flagged down that my tail lights/ brake lights were not working. I had a blown fuse on that circuit. Replaced the fuse and it has been working just fine.

Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?

[TC71C10]

Horn contact in steering column may be grounding out. Disconnect electrical connector for turn signal switch on lower column, reconnect horn to see if its still honking. If its not, problem is in column. If horn still blows, then horn relay may be stuck or wire is shorted to ground in another location. Horn relay should be mounted to lower left side of fuse block. If problem is in column, i
I would start by removing horn button on steering wheel and work your way down to turn signal switch. Hope this helps

[rechinca]

Originally Posted by TC71C10

Horn contact in steering column may be grounding out. Disconnect electrical connector for turn signal switch on lower column, reconnect horn to see if its still honking. If its not, problem is in column. If horn still blows, then horn relay may be stuck or wire is shorted to ground in another location. Horn relay should be mounted to lower left side of fuse block. If problem is in column, i
I would start by removing horn button on steering wheel and work your way down to turn signal switch. Hope this helps

Good call, I am going to check it out here in a few. Thanks for the direction. Trying to not get any projects with an upcoming surgery that will sideline me for the summer project wise. Derailed my plans to finally install the rear lowering kit this summer so hopefully this is simple.

[rechinca]

Well, disconnected column wiring and no horn. Took off horn button and reconnected column and no horn. But even with key off and I hit the turn signals I can hear the signal relays clicking. I will pull the wheel tomorrow and see what disaster we have going. I am thinking turn signal switch/wiring has taken a turn for the worse. I'll probably order one up in the mean time and dive into it tomorrow.

[bwl101]

I had same issue with my horn. Turns out I had the little metal disc on wrong. The piece I'm talking about is the metal disc with the holes for the three phillips head screws to go into. I had it concave, but it needs to be bulge toward driver so when you push the horn it makes that disc flex to ground out to make the horn sound. Maybe that could be your issue? Mine would sound if I even slightly pulled the signal arm toward myself and it would sound the horn and sometimes it would stay on. The good thing is you can disconnect the horn wire at the horn and you can still listen for the relay to know if the horn would be going off without aggravating yourself with the constant horn going off.

My turn signal switch was nasty inside and a new one fixed a lot of my rear lighting issues. This is the one I ordered, they also carry one for a tilt column if yours is a tilt one:

Non-Tilt:
https://www.classicparts.com/1967-72...tinfo/53-509A/

With Tilt:
https://www.classicparts.com/1969-72...tinfo/53-510A/

[bwl101]

Originally Posted by rechinca

Well, disconnected column wiring and no horn. Took off horn button and reconnected column and no horn. But even with key off and I hit the turn signals I can hear the signal relays clicking. I will pull the wheel tomorrow and see what disaster we have going. I am thinking turn signal switch/wiring has taken a turn for the worse. I'll probably order one up in the mean time and dive into it tomorrow.

Just noticed with you saying you can hear the signal relays clicking, they don't work on mine if the key isn't in on position. You might be hearing the horn relay clicking which would signal that it's grounding out. My turn signal arm moving would cause my horn to go off when I had that disc in the wrong way.

[rechinca]

Originally Posted by bwl101

Just noticed with you saying you can hear the signal relays clicking, they don't work on mine if the key isn't in on position. You might be hearing the horn relay clicking which would signal that it's grounding out. My turn signal arm moving would cause my horn to go off when I had that disc in the wrong way.

You just jogged my memory. About two weeks ago I bumped the signal lever and the horn honked. But I thought since I was turning maybe I bumped the horn too. Yeah I’ll pull that wheel off and get down to the bottom of it in the morning. Bet that dang switch had an issue. Thanks for the info.

[PbFut]

I just had my steering wheel off. The PO had a piece of electrical tape over the screw that attaches the turn signal lever. Seems it may be a common issue. I removed the tape. No issue but the head of the screw was very close to the contact ring for the horn. Any play would likely create a ground activating the horn. Might be a good starting point to check.

[FleetsidePaul]

Maybe your truck is just horny.

[rechinca]

Got it all apart. As I was pulling the switch, I could hear the relay clicking when I tilted it to remove it. I am hoping it is just a junk switch at this point as it has been working fine for over a year. If that is not it, I cant see what is causing it to ground out otherwise.

[rechinca]

Alright, took me a bit but I got the new AAW turn signal switch in. I found a HUGE difference in the catalog one I had installed and this one. The metal plate on the back of the catalog one had a large circular pattern to it. It protruded past the edge of the switch inner plastic far enough that movement and time allowed it to make contact with the column and sound the horn. The AAW one on the other hand had just a small strip of metal on the back of the switch horn contact. Nothing to work it's way to grounding at the column. Ran the new one in and perfect.

Best part, for my birthday this week my wife bought me the smaller 15" diameter original style wheel. Paired with my large frame and quick ratio steering gearbox makes it fantastic! Highly recommend if you are looking for an upgraded wheel or replacement for the cracked, worn out and oversized original steering wheels!

I was also able to locate a package of the rubber washers that go on over the plastic one at the top of the column. They were NOS on ebay. Mine was pretty flattened so I replaced it and it finally took out the last of the play in the column. Much better! I will try and add some pics in a few for reference.

[rechinca]

If you look here my index finger is pointing you can see the circular metal cover protruding. That little bit of contact was causing the issue. I should have just filed it off, but the quality of the AAW one was better all around and I already had it in hand by the time I really discovered the issue.

[rechinca]

If you look, you will see how much the older rubber bushing was compressed over the years. I found a package of NOS ones on eBay. Paid more than I wanted, but it was for 4 of them and they are hard to find. The plastic washer was in good condition and I couldn't find a replacement one anyhow. One thing for certain, the new bushing took out that last little bit of play I could not seem to adjust out of the column.

As a bonus, the wife went shopping on my Birthday list and bought me the smaller 15" diameter steering wheel. Made a HUGE difference. Plus my original wheel had a ton of cracks. I will need to get a new horn button still, but I don't have turn my leg sideways and try to jam my long legs between the wheel and seat. It also is a better match with the quick ratio steering box.