The Horn Works !

[Chucks Stude]

I just replaced the battery in my 62 GT. The old one must have had a dead cell. When I hooked up the battery, the horn started blaring, causing my head to hit the hood[B)]. The question is, can the horn relay be reworked, or are they available anywhere? The wiring on this car has been replaced, and I don't want to go cutting on it to fit something else in.

[52-fan]

Talking about hitting your head on the hood brings back memories of my old 62 GT. Hope it wasn"t the safety catch you hit. More to the point, you should be able to get relays and the like from most auto parts stores.I would take in the old part because unless you are lucky enough to have someone like my brother on the other side of the counter, saying the part is for Studebaker may confuse them.

1952 Champion Starlight since October,1971. 1962 Daytona
since May, 2007.Searcy,Arkansas

[Chucks Stude]

Na, when you mention Studebaker, they do not get confused. Their eyes glaze over, and drool begins running out of the side of their mouths. They then begin to twitch uncontrolably. Then, the ones that still have some self control run to their computer, which gives some validity to them saying that they don't have it.
Best to walk in and say, " You got one of these............?"

[DilloCrafter]

Horn Relay. That thing's purpose is to enable you to trigger the horn by pressing the horn button, but without the need for ALL that current that powers the horn to run through the entire circuit (battery -> horn button -> horns -> battery). By having a relay in place, you actually are splitting the circuit a bit, so that the horn button closes the circuit to the trigger side of the relay, in order to close the power side of the relay, drawing current from the battery to the horn. Those amps of current then do their thing with the horn without traveling through the horn button part of the circuit.

Are you sure the horn button isn't grounding out and activating the relay even without the horn button pressed? If that's okay, then perhaps the relay is internally shorted, but I don't know if that happens very often. I would remove the relay first, and do some testing with a volt-ohm meter. The relay may be good. If it's bad, the local autoparts store will have plastic housed solid state relays that will work fine.

[img=left]http://rocketdillo.com/studebaker/misc/images/Avacar-hcsdc.gif[/img=left]DilloCrafter

1955 1/2 Ton Pickup
The Red-Headed Amazon
Deep in the heart of Texas

[Chucks Stude]

Closing the hood stops the horn. Hitting a bump causes it to activate. I will test all of the items, but it seems to be the relay.

[showbizkid]

Oh, you must have the rare AC-9471 Engine-Theft Prevention option


[img=left]http://members.cox.net/clarknovak/lark.gif[/img=left]

Clark in San Diego
'63 F2/Lark Standard
http://studeblogger.blogspot.com - my blog
www.studebakersandiego.com - San Diego Chapter website

[Chucks Stude]

Good one !!!!!!!!

As easy as these things are to break into, anything is an improvement.

[Tom Bredehoft]

There should be a wire coming out of the end of the steering box that goes into a single wire connector. Unplugging that should solve the "grounded wire in the steering column" problem. If not, the relay must be stuck, but slamming the hood wouldn't solve that. Unplug the wire and replace it.

[img=left]http://www.alink.com/personal/tbredehoft/Bothcars1.jpg[/img=left]
Tom Bredehoft
'53 Commander Coupe
'60 Lark VI
'05 Legacy Ltd Wagon
All three Indiana built OD cars

[rockne10]

It may also need a tension adjustment in the horn ring. I would put my money on the wire through the column. Easiest way to replace it is to bullet connect a new wire at the bottom and pull it through. If you remove the old wire first you'll have a dickens of a time threading the new one through.

Brad Johnson
Pine Grove Mills, Pa.
'33 Rockne 10, '51 Commander Starlight, '53 Commander Starlight

[Chucks Stude]

The humidity has changed(lowered) and maybe that changed some tolerance in the steering wheel horn ring. I will look into all that. Thanks Guys.

[DEEPNHOCK]

I agree...
I wired my truck up without the horn relay.
With the steering wheel/horn button I have you actually get a little shock when you honk the horn.
(I'd fix it proper like, but it is so much fun to ask the little kids (and pretty girls) who set in it to honk the horn and watch them jump and jiggle when they get shocked[}])..
Jeff[8D]

quote:Originally posted by DilloCrafter

Horn Relay. That thing's purpose is to enable you to trigger the horn by pressing the horn button, but without the need for ALL that current that powers the horn to run through the entire circuit (battery -> horn button -> horns -> battery). By having a relay in place, you actually are splitting the circuit a bit, so that the horn button closes the circuit to the trigger side of the relay, in order to close the power side of the relay, drawing current from the battery to the horn. Those amps of current then do their thing with the horn without traveling through the horn button part of the circuit.

[mbstude]

Thanks for the warning, Jeff.

Matthew Burnette
'59 Scotsman
'63 Daytona
Hazlehurst, GA

Cruising the Proving Ground Test Track