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Wife's 2003 Pontiac Sunfire's horn stopped working. Press steering wheel, no honk.

2002 GMC's horn works. Swap Pontiac's horn with GMC. Both horns work on GMC. Both fail on Pontiac.

Attach test light to the two contacts on the Pontiac horn harness. Press steering wheel, test light illuminates.

Attach jumper wires to horn and battery. No honk. Try same test with GMC horn. No honk. Try both with reversed polarity, still no honk. Try all of that again at the definitely charged battery in the GMC in case the one in the Pontiac's battery is lame or I'm not getting a good connection. No honk. Disassemble one horn partially to get better contacts to connect jumper wires. No honk.

De-pin Pontiac harness horn connector. What comes out is two perfect metal slide connectors that can still be used without the plastic/rubber stuff; they will slide right on to the horn's simple solid pins. Test again with test light to be sure; still good. Try on each horn, still no honk.

Ok, so maybe these aren't traditional horns, but just dumb speakers and the PCM supplies the tone. That would explain why testing them with jumpers on the battery fails, though it wouldn't explain why the Pontiac's harness illuminates the test light. So I look it up in the OEM service manual...nope. The "Description and Operation" section seems to support it being a traditional horn that just takes plain 12v, and the diagnostic tests include my jumpers-to-battery test.

WTF. Maybe something is somehow wrong with the circuit that it can illuminate a test light, but can't move enough current to honk? What about being unable to make either horn honk by applying 12v directly to them, when I know that the horn circuit on the GMC can make both of them honk?

Maybe I'll buy a brand new horn and wire up a relay. Should a Grand Am horn play Dixie?

Spontaneous deafness?

Once upon a time my aunt had a 99 Saturn SC1 whose horn failed. She took it to a dealer and they couldn't diagnose it.

I once heard that whore current draw can be dependent upon the pitch of the honk. Low pitch whores tended to have higher current draws.

I'm also aware that the whore is run off a relay so that the current going to the whore switch in the steering wheel could be kept small.

This makes me think that whores need good, clean connections to power AND ground if they are to honk.

Could it be that although you can measure voltage at the terminals that plug onto the whore electrical contact, that maybe the ground circuit is corroded where it attaches to the chassis and can't flow enough current to support producing a honk?

Try the button on the right, then the button on the left. Whores can be fickle and costly.

Get an air horn instead.

six wrote:Get an air horn instead.

Don't they all work in air?

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Freight train whores pretty loud and moistening.

Rope-Pusher wrote:Don't they all work in air?

The narwhal's horn mostly works underwater.

theholycow wrote:

Rope-Pusher wrote:Don't they all work in air?

The narwhal's horn mostly works underwater.

Fickset

Rope-Pusher wrote:

theholycow wrote:

Rope-Pusher wrote:Don't they all work in air?

The narwhal's horn mostly works underwater.

[censored]

Fickset

Wife's 1999 Voyager horn stopped working. Shop said something about a clock spring. One day it went off by itself, so now the fuse is pulled. I told wife the simplest way to fix is I get a big push button and mount it on the dash, then wire to horn and battery with fuse in line. She does not want a big old button stuck on the dash board. Ha, that is what I did many eons ago with my 1977 F100 and it worked great!

My Ranger horn works but sometimes sticks on and I have to beat the center of the steering wheel to get it to stop. Works better if instead of laying on the horn I just repeatedly tap it, then it does not seem as likely to stick.

I can put the big push button in the Ranger. It will just be one more in a big list of what wife does not like about the Ranger.

InlinePaul wrote:Wife's 1999 Voyager horn stopped working. Shop said something about a clock spring. One day it went off by itself, so now the fuse is pulled. I told wife the simplest way to fix is I get a big push button and mount it on the dash, then wire to horn and battery with fuse in line. She does not want a big old button stuck on the dash board. Ha, that is what I did many eons ago with my 1977 F100 and it worked great!

My Ranger horn works but sometimes sticks on and I have to beat the center of the steering wheel to get it to stop. Works better if instead of laying on the horn I just repeatedly tap it, then it does not seem as likely to stick.

I can put the big push button in the Ranger. It will just be one more in a big list of what wife does not like about the Ranger.

Seams tummy the original Ford escort had a button on the end of a stalk for horn actuation. People abhorred it.

Y not wire the van underhood so that when bright lights (high beams) come on the horn sounds?

Rope-Pusher wrote: Y not wire the van underhood so that when bright lights (high beams) come on the horn sounds?

Good idea. Saves having to work both swiches when some moron is in my way.

Pretty sure that replacing the clock spring is way easier than rewiring the car and adding a button. And by "pretty sure" I mean I know for a fact.