Very unusual problem...(horn related)

[Big Red Suburban]

My horn is faintly honking about twice a second and won't quit. Even when I shut of the engine and take the key out. I've had the horn fuse pulled out for sometime now to prevent it from draining my batteries. The noise is barely noticable with it running. If I open the hood or turn off the engine it is noticeable. I would really like to have the use of the horn again!

This problem started or I first noticed it right after I had the wiper motor ckt board replaced (Recall). After this work was done, they had the suburban sitting outside running, when I walked up I could hear it making the noise. I asked the technician about it and he claimed the horn and the work he did on the wiper thing are not related at all and I must have a problem in the horn wiring somewhere.

Any thoughts?

[ 07-07-2004, 06:13 AM: Message edited by: Big Red Suburban ]

[Cowracer]

Blind-assed guess would be something in the alarm system. See if you can disable the alarm (pull a fuse, etc.) and if that stops the horn "pulstations"

I my experience, most 'weird' problems can be traced back to a funky ground (on DC systems) or neutral (on AC systems)

Tim

[Big Red Suburban]

No alarm system on it. Not even a remote door lock/unlock.

I think I might try to remove the wiper motor board thing and see if that stops it. If so, back to the dealer I go.

[65turboman]

you might check the panel that pushes onto the front of the steering wheel if you do not have air bags. My 95 2500 pickup just starting honking the horn one morning and it turned out to be the steering wheel panel with the 2 wires. The button had collapsed enough to activate the horn.
_________________
1995 C2500 Reg. Cab 6.5LTD

[HowieE]

If the problem is only while you are driving. Try replacing the horn relay located in the electrical panal under the hood. If the spring in the relay has failed road vibrations may be causing the relay contacts to touch.
If not Look to the horn switch. If you can locate the 48 wire connector to the left of the steering colume near the bulkhead the black wir at postion **1 is the ground wire that goes into the steering wheel. This connector has 5 rows of wires and the A row has the most wires in it.
If you cut this wire and the problem stops you know the problem is in ths steering wheel either the spacing between the contacts has been shortened or something conductive is in there.
These look to be the only 2 components that could cause this type of problem from components in the horn circuit.
If this doesn't solve it you have to start looking for a shorted in the black wire I mentioned above.

[Big Red Suburban]

The problem happens all the time, driving, not driving, running, not running, until I pull the fuse out. The truck does have an airbag, can I get the center portion of the steering wheel off without risking the bag exploding in my face?

[HowieE]

Sorry for the type O as to the location of the ground wire on connector C266. The wire you need to cut to insure the problem is in the steering colume is located at postion A 11 on this connector.
If you look at the connector the row with the most wires is the A row. The black wire is in the 11th position. To check this if you count from the other end of the row the 11th wire will be light blue. Postions 8, 9, 10 are not used and position 12 is gray.
If this does isolate the problem you will have to go into the steering wheel. Make sure you disconnect the batteries first.

[Big Red Suburban]

Problem Solved!!!!

Thanks HowieE for the info. I found the black wire you were referring to. It seems as though the previous owner decided to splice into this wire for a ground for a cellular phone antenna booster. For whatever reason, when I unplugged this splice connection, the problem went away! I've been meaning to rip that box out from under the back seat and now I have all the more reason to do it!

Thanks alot, I can finally use my horn again... ;)

[Cowracer]

See! What did I tell 'ya...

Funky ground! tongue.gif
Do I get credit for an assist?

Tim