daveSanborn
Active Member
My horn upon initial build was working flawlessly...... now it's not working at all.
I checked both (high and low) horns by running a jumper wire directly to them from the starter solenoid. They both work great. Back-tracking, I removed the steering wheel/horn button and taped the two horn contact wires together (at this point they're both black, but underneath as part of the columns wiring harness they are BK/YL and YL). Back under the hood, I put a test light on each + wire and nothing... no power is getting to the horns.
Working from the column now, I disconnected the two previously taped together BK horn contact ring wires. On the column harness, the BK/YL wire has constant + and the YL wire only gets + as the 2 BK horn wires are connected. So far, so good here. I traced the YL wire down to where the column harness connects via an electrical disconnect and the YL wire still gets + when the 2 BK wires are connected. I then put my test light on the Painless BK/RD wire, which connects to the YL wire via the connector and I'm still getting +. The Painless BK/RD wire then feeds into the backside of the fuse box wherupon I lose it.
With no schematic (thanks Painless!), I'm guessing that this BK/RD wire connects to the Painless horn relay that's part of the fuse box. The horn fuse is getting power, but how do I check the little 4 prong relay? There are 2 relays side by side above the two banks of fuses.... one marked "horn relay", the other marked "accessory relay". Both of these relays have the same PN printed on them. I swapped the relays and it made no effect whatsoever. I seriously doubt that both relays could be bad.... I don't think I ever used the "accessory" wires that Painless provides for wiring up an aftermarket stereo, so this relay should definitely be good.
According to the very weak Painless wire diagram (I refuse to call it a schematic), the BK/YL wire coming out of the fuse box is the horn + wire. I'm getting no power to this wire out of the fuse box.
Is a horn relay necessary? I hate to start butchering the Painless harness, but if I could run a jumper wire from the previously mentioned BK/RD wire (which is hot when the horn is activated) right before it goes into the fuse box (and I surmise connecting to the horn relay).... over to the BK/YL wire coming out of the fuse box, in theory, the horns should work. I'm just uncertain of the horn relays function.... is it designed to boost power?
Of course Painless customer service can help with this in the AM when their phone lines open, but I thought I'd throw it by you guys first.
I checked both (high and low) horns by running a jumper wire directly to them from the starter solenoid. They both work great. Back-tracking, I removed the steering wheel/horn button and taped the two horn contact wires together (at this point they're both black, but underneath as part of the columns wiring harness they are BK/YL and YL). Back under the hood, I put a test light on each + wire and nothing... no power is getting to the horns.
Working from the column now, I disconnected the two previously taped together BK horn contact ring wires. On the column harness, the BK/YL wire has constant + and the YL wire only gets + as the 2 BK horn wires are connected. So far, so good here. I traced the YL wire down to where the column harness connects via an electrical disconnect and the YL wire still gets + when the 2 BK wires are connected. I then put my test light on the Painless BK/RD wire, which connects to the YL wire via the connector and I'm still getting +. The Painless BK/RD wire then feeds into the backside of the fuse box wherupon I lose it.
With no schematic (thanks Painless!), I'm guessing that this BK/RD wire connects to the Painless horn relay that's part of the fuse box. The horn fuse is getting power, but how do I check the little 4 prong relay? There are 2 relays side by side above the two banks of fuses.... one marked "horn relay", the other marked "accessory relay". Both of these relays have the same PN printed on them. I swapped the relays and it made no effect whatsoever. I seriously doubt that both relays could be bad.... I don't think I ever used the "accessory" wires that Painless provides for wiring up an aftermarket stereo, so this relay should definitely be good.
According to the very weak Painless wire diagram (I refuse to call it a schematic), the BK/YL wire coming out of the fuse box is the horn + wire. I'm getting no power to this wire out of the fuse box.
Is a horn relay necessary? I hate to start butchering the Painless harness, but if I could run a jumper wire from the previously mentioned BK/RD wire (which is hot when the horn is activated) right before it goes into the fuse box (and I surmise connecting to the horn relay).... over to the BK/YL wire coming out of the fuse box, in theory, the horns should work. I'm just uncertain of the horn relays function.... is it designed to boost power?
Of course Painless customer service can help with this in the AM when their phone lines open, but I thought I'd throw it by you guys first.
