Help! Horn not working.

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Zane Murray

Junior Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2020
Posts
5
Reaction score
4
Location
Oregon
First Name
Zane
Truck Year
1982
Truck Model
K20
Engine Size
383
I know everyone loves questions about horns but here is my issue. I've had this pickup (82 K20 Scottsdale) my entire life and the horn never worked and it never had the stock wheel. About a year ago I rebuilt the top end of my steering column replaced all electrical in the column as well new wheel install kit, ignition switch, and wiring harness just under the wheel. As i was installing the steering wheel I got from LMC Truck the horn randomly sounded off. Yay! I completed the ground and "had" a functional horn. The following morning I hopped into the truck and drove it down the road a bit and punched the horn button and nothing!

So I checked the fuses nothing was blown then I just left it and here I am a year later trying to figure it out. I replaced the relay, manually checked both horns (high and low tone) and only the high tone works. So I ordered two new horns and they are on their way. When I touch the ground wire to a source nothing happens. There is no clicking coming from the relay.


Suggestions?

You must be registered for see images attach


You must be registered for see images attach
 

Poppy 87

Full Access Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2019
Posts
1,074
Reaction score
1,923
Location
Bloomingdale GA
First Name
John
Truck Year
1987
Truck Model
R10 Silverado
Engine Size
305
I would look at step 2 in the pinpoint testing. The dreaded ORANGE wire may be the culprit! Wiggle that wire while monitoring your test light or preferably DVOM
 

Zane Murray

Junior Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2020
Posts
5
Reaction score
4
Location
Oregon
First Name
Zane
Truck Year
1982
Truck Model
K20
Engine Size
383
I would look at step 2 in the pinpoint testing. The dreaded ORANGE wire may be the culprit! Wiggle that wire while monitoring your test light or preferably DVOM
Yeah I did that and didn't have a light in any of the connections at the relay. I have never worked on this part of the system so maybe that's my issue.
 

SquareRoot

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2017
Posts
3,694
Reaction score
6,674
Location
Arizona
First Name
Mike
Truck Year
85
Truck Model
K20
Engine Size
350
Recently upgraded my cute sounding 1980 era factory horns. Now I make distracted (texting) driver's **** thier pants. It's the little things in life

You must be registered for see images attach


You must be registered for see images attach
 

82sbshortbed

Fuckemall!!
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Posts
14,784
Reaction score
48,975
Location
SE Texas
First Name
Doug
Truck Year
1982, 1984
Truck Model
1500 shortbed, 1500 longbed
Engine Size
454, 305
Haha my horn is missing and I've been thinking about doing these air horns. Now I've decided to go with them after all. What ones did y'all use?
 

Shorty81

Baby Boomer
Joined
Mar 19, 2018
Posts
2,866
Reaction score
5,101
Location
North West ohio
First Name
Darren
Truck Year
86
Truck Model
K20
Engine Size
496
Haha my horn is missing and I've been thinking about doing these air horns. Now I've decided to go with them after all. What ones did y'all use?
Hell yeah!! Mine are electric marine horns. Air horns are louder with better tone in my opinion. I think mine are 125db.
 

clendon1

Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2017
Posts
32
Reaction score
29
Location
Polk City FL
First Name
Butch
Truck Year
1976
Truck Model
c10 stepside
Engine Size
468 BB
When I was hauling boats with a Chevy dually I mounted 155 decibel air horns under the box behind the cab and installed 2 200 psi electric compressors feeding into a 10 gallon air tank, what a great way to stop on ramp cars trying to cut in front of you getting on the highway !!!!!!
 

86ChevyMT

Junior Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2020
Posts
13
Reaction score
15
Location
Montana
First Name
Matt
Truck Year
1986
Truck Model
Scottsdale
Engine Size
Small Block 400
Recently upgraded my cute sounding 1980 era factory horns. Now I make distracted (texting) driver's **** thier pants. It's the little things in life

You must be registered for see images attach


You must be registered for see images attach


Son of a....now that's some funny S*&# right there! lol.
 

nujac

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2014
Posts
16
Reaction score
5
Location
texas hill country
First Name
bruce
Truck Year
1982
Truck Model
k20
Engine Size
350
My 82 truck horn worked fine for just about 40 years and just stopped on the morning it needed to be inspected. I took the steering wheel grounding ring and sanded and wire brushed off all of the rust. Put it back together and no beep beep. Noticed that if I took a wire to the dash screw to the steering wheel grounding ring I had a working horn. I have no idea how my steering column became ungrounded but added an extra ground wire from the steering column mounting bolt to the body of the truck. No problems after that. Also replace the two 40 year old horns with the two for $10 Harbor Freight horns. Sounds more like a big truck now.
https://www.harborfreight.com/2-piece-12-volt-electric-horn-set-99911.html
 

BronzeBomber

Junior Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2019
Posts
4
Reaction score
8
Location
Southern California
First Name
Jon
Truck Year
1984
Truck Model
K20 Suburban
Engine Size
6.5
Just out of curiosity, where is the horn relay located? My 84f K20 Sub doesn't seem to have much in the way of a "Convenience Center". Thanks!

Sorry, just found it hanging up under the dash.
 
Last edited:

Scotty D

Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2019
Posts
43
Reaction score
41
Location
Convoy, Ohio
First Name
Scott
Truck Year
1979
Truck Model
C10 Bonanza Big10
Engine Size
305
I can’t get my horn to work- with the horn button on the steering wheel.
If I take a screwdriver and jump from the horn contact in the column to the steering shaft, it works - so there is something wrong in the steering wheel itself.
Anybody else have that happen?
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
42,029
Posts
907,655
Members
33,521
Latest member
Laqota
Top