Eric Sakai

Corvette Forum:

How can I tell if problem is horn relay or horn?

When pressing the horn button I can hear a small sound coming from the horn relay.

Over period of 14 years, I have new horn contact switch/main wire harness/horn relay/horn. All installed at different point in time and horn is cheap plastic reproduction.

Could it be that I need a true vintage horn relay to match ohms?

Thank you,
Eric

Nowhere Man

To test a horn make sure it's grounded to hook 12 volts right to the plug. It should blow. If not you either have a bad conection or the horn insides are rusted and they need rebuilt. For the horn relay if you can open up the cover and file the points that should help them

65GGvert

Double check the ground at the horns. Put 12v on the hot wire to the horn. If it blows, the horns are good. You could also have a problem with the wire in the steering column that grounds the horn relay to activate it, or the horn button itself may not be grounding, or your column could not be grounded. And as Nowhere Man said, the points or coil in the relay could be bad. If you hear a click, it's probably the contacts in the relay, or the horns aren't grounded.