1973 Thing Horn, revisited

[elandem]

Just got '73 Thing. Learning on the fly. Got all electrical working to get it inspected by the great state of TX. Only thing lacking is the horn. I may be doing some dumb stuff, but here's what I've tried:

Took horn off of Thing, attached to 12V battery - get nothing. (Does that mean the horn itself is dead? Read on)
Attached 12V battery and check voltage at terminals on horn - nothing.
Remove one connection from 12V hookup above, and get 12 volts
Took off horn button on steering wheel - wire connected
Checked all fuses. Other electrical component that runs off (what I believe is the proper fuse) work. (I figured all fuses out by seeing what quit when I took out fuse)
With horn in Thing, turned on car, push button, check voltage - nothing.

What magic am I missing to get the horn working? Shouldn't the horn work by just hooking it up to as battery directly?

Can't get inspection without horn. Can't register the car until the horn works. Can't drive until registered.

[yellow73kubel]

[Pimpi]

Maybe your horn is like mine. When I first purchased it, I hit the horn and nothing happened. I just figured it was due to the PO putting an aftermarket wheel on. Maybe they did not hook it up.

I thought this until me and my wife were driving behind Costco and I was goofing around in the thing and I hit the horn and this loud "HONK!!!" came from our Thing. When I parked and looked under, I had the accessory I believe they are called "Sports Horn" hooked up, and apparently working. Since then, it's worked fine.

The point of the story is, try the horn behind Costco, it may, but don't count on it, work.

[elandem]

Yes, VW's are new to me. I showed my 16-year-old son the car online and he decided he wanted one. So we got one. Nothing like impulse buying of a 35 year old car, eh? (thanks Brian)

Ok, more knucklehead tries on the horn.

Removed horn from car. Rigged up a wiring scheme to the Honda battery. When directly attached to car battery, it makes a noise of some variety. Not pretty, but noise. (I was using a simple 12V battery before, not a car battery - didn't work that way)

1. I have not tried it with the car actually running. Should that be necessary for any reason? We do always turn the car to ON when we try it.

From checking voltage at the horn wire terminals, it doesn't appear that power is getting there.

2. From trying to chase wires, what is the connection on the steering column that operates the horn? Is it one of the 2 single-wire connections? or is it in one of the 2 cluster connections?

3. Is there some sort of grounding plate or something in the steering column causing the problem?

4. Could I just run a temporary wire from the fuse box to the horn so that I know that power is getting there? Press the horn button and see if the problem is in the steering wheel area?

5. What else?

BTW - We don't have a Costco. Will Sam's Club maybe work?

[yellow73kubel]

The battery could make a difference. If you weren't using a car battery to test it, that is probably the problem.

By "on" do you mean both red lights on, but the engine is not on? That is what you want to use for testing lights, horn, etc., as all should work then.

I am assuming you have a multimeter for testing this? If so, attach it to the horn wires, and have someone else turn the key (both red lights, but not start the engine), then press the horn button. It should be reading the full battery voltage. If not, your problem is in the wiring. First I would try cleaning the contacts off (high-grit sandpaper or similar) at the horn end. Then, pull the horn button off of the steering wheel and clean the four spring joints (they are the switch contacts, and probably have a layer of corrosion). See if that works.

Also, check to make sure no fuses are blown, if you haven't already done so. Cleaning all of their contacts and the fuse box (steel wool or high-grit sandpaper) may help too. Especially if you have those original '70s fuses still in there, they have a tendency to corrode and snap.

That is one way to buy a Thing. Very good cars to learn on, you won't have to worry much about speeding, and they are fairly reliable once tuned up correctly.

[elandem]

I really should have waited to do some of these posts, as I try something, learn something, try something, learn something....but alas.....

Yes, used multi-tester - get no voltage when horn button is depressed. Yes, now using car battery to test. Yes, on where red lights come on. Fuses changed. put on 2 different horn buttons (have a spare). same result.

Lunchtime project today: wired around the existing wiring. If I jump a wire from the fuse box around the car to the horn, and jump a wire from the other terminal on the horn to the chassis, turn the key to on, it "blows".

However, if I attach the ground side to anything under the steering wheel horn button (ground wire, metal, etc.), then I get nothing. One thing i didn't try was jumping the hot, attaching the ground jumper to the wire under the horn button, and ground that to the steering wheel. hmmmm...

The wire appears to be not be broken or cut from the horn to the area behind the fuse box.

Tells me it's a wiring problem could be somewhere in the steering column. What will I find when I take off the wheel? Or is there really nothing in there? Any idea how the hot wire from the fuse is directed? I can't see well under there, so i can't tell if it goes directly from the fuse box to the horn, or if it goes into the steering wheel and travels with the ground wire back to the horn (that is my best guess since I can see a single "wire" which has 2 wires inside coming from the horn to the dash.) .

Thanks for your input and patience.

[DUSTY BUS]

My Thing when i bought it the horn wiring was disconnected. So i hooked up the wiring voila the horn worked. i went for a ride around the block and everytime i step on the brakes the horn honks. this really sux. i disconnected the wires. Has this happend to anyone. Im guesing this would only happen to me.
_________________
It's always fun trying to break stuff until something breaks.

[sdwalter]

Check the jumper wire at the steering coupler.

[[email protected]]

check the ground at the bumper, make sure there is metal to metal contact where it bolts on, not rusty, also there is an adjustment on the horn, adjust with screwdriver

[Lance1970]

Hi all-

12 volts from the ignition switch (on), through the fuse for the horn should appear at one of the horn electrical terminals. The other terminal is hooked to the horn button via a wire that runs up through the center of the steering column and gets grounded when you press the horn. The ground for the horn is via the steering box and a wire that jumps the coupler from the box to the column. The standard VW horn does not need to be "grounded" as the terminals are not connected to the body of the horn.
BTW as an aside, some horns that do not "blow" when connected across 12V but have continuity between the terminals are usually full of crud that jams the actuator in side. Smacking the horn carefully with a light hammer, pliers, etc. while sending 12V to it can free it up to work again.

Hope this helps

-John
_________________
1977 Thing (Latin America Safari)
1970 Std Resto
'74-based 2L Cobra Jet buggy


If you don't know what you are doing, please don't do it at my place without asking for help!

[bigbussur]

Your steering wheel will have a grounding ring attached to it,(look at the bottom of it, there is a ring with 3 screws in it) it will contact another grounding ring that is riveted to the top of your turn signal switch, when everything is bolted up, these two components do go bad. I had to replace them on mine, i went to the scrap yard and found a turn signal switch off a beetle cant remeber the year and the copper ring was good on it and I swapped them and everything works. Usually there is a beater steering wheel around that you can salvage a ring off of as well. But yeah the other problematic wire is the wire that jumps your steering buffer(jumper wire), lower down the steering column, that you can see if you look in through your driver side wheel well up and follow the column,as was posted in the above post. Then just trace everything down or up. Good luck anthony

[Pimpi]

[elandem]

Conquered it !!

Thanks for all of the input.

The problem was in the copper piece that is in continual contact with the ring on the back of the steering wheel. Holes had worn completely through it over 35 years. We adjusted the piece a little - little bend here, little bend there, and voila! The horn blows.

I appreciate the input and encouragement as we are now ready to inspect, register, and drive.