Horn help please--1973 Options

[914xr75]

Hi everyone, I've gone through the horn posts and tried to do everything correctly, but I still cannot get my horn to work. I purchased the horn contact ring from Sierra Madre. I've added nylon insulated washers to the Batwing. I have switched out the relay from a working headlight. I have also put in a new fuse. When I touched the horn contact ring female spade terminal to the steering wheel nut I can hear something electrical making almost a clicking sound. When I check it with a meter I am getting 12 + volts when I touch the nut with the terminal.

I pulled the horn and checked it on a battery and it works. I sanded down the horn contacts and added dielectric grease. I am not an expert with the multimeter but I did hook up a negative and positive to the leads that connect to the horn and when I touch the nut I was getting a very small amount of current less than a half volt. I did drive it without the Batwing connected to the wire and the turn signals did not cancel. However they did not cancel before I got the new Sierra Madre contact ring. question about the area where the wire comes out of the steering wheel. Is the hole supposed to be on the top left side or the bottom right side? You'll see in the picture that mine comes out of the bottom right side.

When I purchased this car it had an aftermarket steering wheel. I bought a 914 wheel and batwing off of Craigslist and it fit. what am I doing wrong? Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

[FlacaProductions]

Have you checked that your horn actually works? Can you get 12v directly to it? Do you have one or two? Can you see it/them behind the front fog light grills?

[914xr75]

I removed the horn from behind the bumper and hooked it up to a battery. It does work. I have a single horn.

[michael7810]

There is a horn relay that gets actuated (closed) when the horn contact in the steering column is grounded. You should be able to hear the relay click when you ground the horn contact. Also check the fuses.

[FlacaProductions]

I'm betting on the relay being bad.

[914xr75]

I've got a new relay coming from 914rubber.com in a couple days. Maybe that will do the trick.

[StarBear]

Had that problem recently, too. Bad relay, but only half-bad -- clicked but did not make full contact. Also, the diagram in Haynes is not always correct; it showed the horn relay as the first (or second?) one from the left, but on mine it was the THIRD one from the left. Apparently the fellow who worked on Thursdays wired the relay panel more in line with the wires' layout orientation than the spec...

[dr914@autoatlanta.com]

yup sounds like a bad relay

[914xr75]

Put the new relay in. Checked all the fuses again and lightly sanded the fuse connection. Still nothing, but I can hear the relay clicking when I touch the cancel ring terminal to the nut. Then I noticed the brown wire coming off the relay had been connected together at some point and the connection was loose. My hopes went up way high at that point as I reconnected the brown wire. Didn't work. Thought maybe someone put an alarm system in it at some point since they cut and reconnected the brown wire.

I'm out of ideas. What am I missing?

[porschetub]

Have you tested for continuity (or 12v ) from the output side of the relay to the horn,reason I asked is that if the relay is energizing it should work if the power is getting to the horn.
Edit as I (IMG:style_emoticons/default/type.gif) ,you mentioned you had a small amount of power,some horns don't function on very low voltage,you could try running a spare short piece of wire off the relay to the horn as it seems the original wire is damaged/faulty.
Good luck.

[914xr75]

porschetub you are my hero. I went to hook up test wire and when I connected it to the brown wire from the relay the relay stopped working. Must be an input wire. I was about to give up when I looked at the horn again. Saw the two pigtailed wires and female spade terminal that I believe go to the optional horn. Unplugged one of my female Spade Terminals and plugged in the one that was not connected. The horn works now. The p.o. did a number on me. Your last reply porschetub gave me the boost to give it one more shot. Thank
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[FlacaProductions]

Good news - now if it were me, I'd plug the "old" relay back in and see if it's really ok...just for grins.

[frostyf]

Right similar daft question and wasn't sure if I should have started a new thread but its largely a similar problem - I've got the same batwing fitting on a 73 2.0L (its actually a Nov 72, but the VIN is a 73);

Can I verify the switch 91434783201 is only for 72 and earlier?

Just want to treble check I'm not missing something obvious. The wire coming from the wheel fitting had tape wrapped around it and despite testing that against the batwing or wheel fittings I still can't get my pick n pull horns to sound (they've been back to backed against the battery and work fine direct).

Would you suggest its likely the horn relay??

Thanks
Nick