Troubleshooting Horn Problem

Nov 07, 2003 3 Replies

I have a 2000 Mitsubishi Galant, I noticed the other day that the horn no longer works. It doesn't work if I lock the doors (usually blows the horn for a sec) or if I push on the steering wheel. I checked the fuse, looked fine. Changed it just to be 100% sure. Bought a new horn and installed that. No luck. Tested the new horn by jumping a wire to the battery. Horn works. Checked the relay and even swapped the relay out. Still doesn't work. Any other ideas on what I could check? I am at a total loss at this point.



Thanks! Scott



Scott wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@drn.newsguy.com:

On most cars, the horn relay has three wires, one power wire coming in that should have +12V all the time, a thin wire that grounds the relay coil through the horn switch, and a wire going out to the horn. If yours is like this, you could try taking the relay out and using a short jumper to connect the power wire to the horn wire. The horn should blow. I suspect it will, which would mean your problem is in the other wire, the signal wire to the relay. Maybe it is disconnected where it attaches to your alarm system.

I actually did remove the relay and it has 4 contacts. I suspected one of them should be +12V all the time. I checked the voltage on the contacts and none of them have voltage. I was able to put +12V on the contact that goes to the horn and the horn blew. I didn't have a meter to test if the other contacts closed when I pushed on the steering wheel. But I am assuming the lack of voltage coming into the relay must be my problem. Not sure where to go from here other than the dealer, and I just want to make sure I am not missing anything obvious.

Thanks! Scott

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