Brendan

i parked my truck in may for the summer and shortly after firing it up again in september, i i noticed that my hazards and horns weren't working. being that they are on the same circuit, i checked the fuse first and sure enough it was blown, but after replacing it, only the hazards work. i've pulled the horns and wired them direct to the battery and confirmed that they are both shot. everything was working fine when i parked the truck and it was stored without the battery. what would cause this? they are fiamm freeway blasters for what it's worth.

Jay351

who wired them up? Toyota uses switched ground, all the aftermarket horns used switched power.

I wired up dual fiamm (from 00 f150) horn setup in my truck, just had to use a relay.

toyospearo

Sounds like your scenario is a bit different than mine but FWIW.. I just fixed mine. I had to take the whole steering wheel off. I put two washers behind the little contact screws behind the horn in order for the contact area to be closer. Works perfect now.

Brendan

i wired them myself. i just split the + and ground each horn individually. worked great for a year or two.

socal_style

My horn is dead now too. I was going to try to work on it right now, but it got cold out there. I'm going to try again tomorrow.

So far, I checked the fuse, and it was good. My Emergency lights work and they run on the same fuse.

What do you all suggest I look at next?

Also, I have never been too happy with the OEM horn, its not very loud. I think my motorcycle has a louder horn. Are most of you on here running stock? Sometime down the line, I would like to get something way louder.

2DoorRunner

Dont mean to thread jack, but can somebody post a pic of the wire that goes to the horn? I bought my 4runner without one, and im planning on putting one in, i just dont know where to wire it to.

The only spots i see are a red spade connector, and a grey plug. Im guessing its the spade.

socal_style

So I checked some stuff off and ruled out possible problems.

First, I checked my actual horn unit and it works if I wire it directly to a power source.
I then checked the plug attaching to the horn and it also has constant power. I reconnected everything, pressed the center of the steering wheel thing it does not do anything. Grrrr.

I then pulled off the center part of the steering wheel and the wire is connected. I tried touching a ground to the wire but nothing happened. This leads me to believe that the ground wire is either broken or missing a connection somewhere from the plug of horn to the steering wheel. GRRRRR!

I don't even know where to go from here. Its dark outside, so I will probably try again tomorrow. I'm thinking of probably starting from the horn and eyeball the wire as far as I can to the fire wall or wherever it goes for any possible problems. Or I may disassemble the steering wheel and try to follow that wire to the firewall.

socal_style

I GOT IT FIXED! This was so easy.

Okay, so I took off the steering wheel. Behind the steering wheel there is this pin that extends through the steering wheel and makes contact with a copper color washer thingy that is attached to the steering wheel. It is held by three phillips head screws. Well this part was warn and not making contact, so I just put little washers underneath it, and presto. MY HORN WORKS NOW!

DIRECTIONS FOR THIS FIX

Sorry for no pictures, but this was very easy. To remove the steering wheel you need to remove the one Philips head screw on the bottom-backside of the steering wheel. This will remove your cover. When the screw is out, pull the cover upwards and remove the wire. Then you remove the 19mm nut. But before you remove it, mark the steering wheel and nut/bolt so that every thing aligns back when you are done. I then used a steering wheel puller that I got as a loaner from Autozone. When you pull the steering wheel off flip it over. You will see that copper looking ring. It is held on by three Phillips screws. Remove them and insert small washers underneath each screw, then reinstall everything back.

If you want to test it before reinstalling everything get a wire with alligator clips. Ground one end and then touch the copper pin at the top of the steering wheel column. It should honk. If it does not, check the fuses, horn or connections.

2Door runner- the only wire visible is about 6" and it runs from the steering wheel cover to the little copper color thing mentioned above. None of this goes past the steering wheel. At least this is the case on the first gen 4runner.

RU55ELL

Looks like this is what I'll be doing this weekend. Argh. Same situation; the horn tested good, the plug on the horn tested good, all the fuses are good, but I don't get anything at the spade sticking out behind the wheel cover.

RU55ELL

I completed the fix this morning. I did the same thing as socal style did. It may have taken 30 minutes, MAX, even with pulling the steering wheel off and reattaching it. Now I have my wimpy horn back.

Brendan

still trying to figure this one out...

bought a pair of replacement horns. installed them both and everything functioned as it should for a very short time. then, neither horn would work and the fuse would keep blowing. after some tinkering, i found that one of the horns is now dead (worked fine out of the box) and when it is removed, the other horn works fine. whats going on???

2DoorRunner

I had the same problem. I got a horn out of a suburban. The problem is that the horn was shorting out where the metal grounded it. I fixed the problem by wrapping it all in electrical tape and ziptieing it to my grill

Im no wiring expert (as you can tell), but it got the job done. I think its just a different type of ground that was causing the problem though. Try a different brand with a different wiring set up.

Jim_M

Glad I spotted this thread. Mine was dead too. Pulled the steering wheel, repaired the contacts as mentioned in post #8. Replaced the kitty fart horn with a Fiamm. As is well.


Jim

BigMike

Remember horns operate on the same principle as car speakers: An electromagnet pulsates at a high frequency creating miniature shock waves whose high friction with the surrounding air produce an audible sound. If they sit around for a long time without use, it is common for dirt or debris to collect on the vibrating diaphragm rendering the horn useless.

One way to test if your horns are "frozen" is to give the horn some power while lightly smacking it. I'd recommend only giving them power for up to 5 or 6 seconds at a time as to not overheat the electromagnet. Hopefully with the 8th or 9th smack the horn will come alive! otherwise it's truly dead

Also because the electromagnets require a good amount of amperage to kick-start their initial operation, you may just be experiencing a bad connection, like a bad ground. Did a squirrel or anything climb into your engine bay and start feasting on some delicious copper wires?

Regarding the repair mentioned in reply number 8, do yourself a huge favor and apply some dielectric grease to the new horn contact and copper receiver plate. This will prevent your steering wheel from squeaking and will prolong the life of the new copper contact.

Regards,
BigMike

LouieLumberjack

is it possible to do this without a steering wheel puller?

87hillbillyoter

uuhhhh, i know your problem. you need one of these

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0xGmKNjP0w

sixstringslut

If you have a good heavy center punch, you can crack the steering shaft a few times with a hammer/ punch. 90/cent of the time will take the wheel off. Make sure the nut is still on the threads when doing this as to keep the shaft from mushrooming, (not necessary but a good habit to get into).

trktwo

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