98 Escort Horn Problems

My horn recently quit working and I am wondering what the best way to trouble shoot this problem is. The horn sounds when I arm the alarm and I've already checked the fuse.

Well since you know the horn itself does work, you should start by checking the horn button. It is probably not getting grounded.

Well since you know the horn itself does work, you should start by checking the horn button. It is probably not getting grounded.
Ok, cool. Sorry to sound like such a neophyte, but how do I check that? Open the steering column and then what do I need to do?
Specifically, I'm looking for something someone might have done to disable it. It's a long story, but my water pump seized up and didn't want to bother replacing it myself so I had it towed to a mechanic. I get the car back and the horn doesn't work, I thought it might've just been a fuse or maybe a dirty connection, but all that seems to be ok. It's a little to coincidental, especially since my car passed inspection a few days ago, but I don't have my new tags yet. So my thought is this guy might've disabled it to make some extra cash thinking it hadn't been in for inspection yet. Then again, it may just be because the car is getting old. Anyway, thanks for any help you can give

More than likely it is the horn pad switch on the steering wheel. Since you will be working around the air bag disable it by removing the negative terminal of the battery for 5 minutes and then leave it disconnected.

To remove the air bag take the 2 scews out from the back. Disconnect the connectors for the air bag and horn.

Check for continuity on the horn button by placing the Volt-Ohmeter leads to the connector for the horn
on the component side of the circuit. With the horn pressed it should show continuity on the Ohm-meter. If it doesn't replace the horn switch pad. Take the 2 phillips head screws out on the side to remove horn switch pad.

ok, thanks. I'll definitely check it out.

Ok, I checked the horn switch and it is getting grounded. What's the next thing I can check, and how do I check it?

Here is what we have. Current from fuse to horn relay. Switch from alarm and switch from steering pad to horn relay. From the horn relay the wires go to the horn. Since the horn honks when the alarm is set, everything is working except the connenction from the horn switch pad to the relay. It is a green wire with orange stripes. It goes to a SLIP-RING assembly which connects steering wheel components to the body harness. Either the wire is bad or the SLIP-RING assembly is bad. I don't know how to check them other than tearing everything apart which I don't think you want to do. If you think your mechanic is pulling a fast one on you check for a clipped green wire with orange stripes under the left hand side of the dash. I know the relay is all right because the horn works with your alarm. How often do you use the horn? I always get flipped off. Seriously, I know you need it for inspections. I wish I could help you more. later, Dave

Here is what we have. Current from fuse to horn relay. Switch from alarm and switch from steering pad to horn relay. From the horn relay the wires go to the horn. Since the horn honks when the alarm is set, everything is working except the connenction from the horn switch pad to the relay. It is a green wire with orange stripes. It goes to a SLIP-RING assembly which connects steering wheel components to the body harness. Either the wire is bad or the SLIP-RING assembly is bad. I don't know how to check them other than tearing everything apart which I don't think you want to do. If you think your mechanic is pulling a fast one on you check for a clipped green wire with orange stripes under the left hand side of the dash. I know the relay is all right because the horn works with your alarm. How often do you use the horn? I always get flipped off. Seriously, I know you need it for inspections. I wish I could help you more. later, Dave
I use it enough. I've needed within the past couple of days. I called the mechanic and went to go see him, just in case it's something I've overlooked and he didn't do anything. He claims the alarm system bypasses the horn relay. Does this sound accurate to you? I still think he did do something..I just can't shake the feeling but I could be wrong. I told him it had just passed inspection so the horn must've worked and that the horn switch had been checked. He said it was probably the relay, and what gets me is he immediately ordered a relay from some guy without asking me if I wanted this done. So whatever, but there's no way I'm using this guy again. Anyway, how would I check the horn relay physically, just to eliminate that possibility.

He's wrong about the alarm system bypassing the relay. The horn switch and the alarm converge into 1 wire going into the relay. The horn relay is on the left side of the steering wheel underneath the panel that the dimmer switch is on. Panel has to come off. No, I'm sure the relay is all right. If the alarm will honk the horn the relay is all right. If you want to check it out it has 4 terminals going into it. IT has a green wire with yellow stripes that is supposed to be hot all the time and another green wire with yellow stripes that is supposed to be hot all the time.. It has a green wire with orange stripes that goes to the horn switch. It has a orange wire with blue stripes that goes to the horns.The center terminal is not used.

I know what you mean about having second thoughts about having someone work on your car. If I can help it I never let anybody work on my car. Once I had an electric window fixed in a Mercury. The mechanic insisted that he would deliver the car back to me. I said I'd pick it up, but he said he would be more than glad to deliver it. The next day the transmission wouldn't shift out of low. I investigated it and he had pulled the vacuum line off of the shift modulator. Vacuum lines don't just come off. Anyway I took it back and told him what it was doing. He said I needed a new tranny. I popped the hood and said look here, the vacuum line came off the modulator. I gave him a dirty look. He started stuttering and wouldn't look at me. No. Nobody works on my car except me.

Ok, so I checked out what you said about the relay and I found it. None of the wires appear cut. However, just playing out a hunch earlier I decided to check to see if the cruise control buttons work. Surprise, surprise, they don't. Is there something that connects all these? I noticed some electrical connectors directly underneath the stearing column. One of these connectors has a green wire with an orange stripe. Is this the wire that leads from the horn switch to the relay? Once again thanks for any help.

Yes, the green wire with the orange stripes is the hot wire from the horn switch pad to the relay. It is supposed to be hot. The only thing the speed control has with the horn is that it goes through the slip ring assembly from the steering wheel. That allows current to flow from controls on the steering wheel. The speed control has a 10 amp fuse marked ASC and a 15 amp fuse marked STOP. Are these fuses blown? Later, Dave

Yes, the green wire with the orange stripes is the hot wire from the horn switch pad to the relay. It is supposed to be hot. The only thing the speed control has with the horn is that it goes through the slip ring assembly from the steering wheel. That allows current to flow from controls on the steering wheel. The speed control has a 10 amp fuse marked ASC and a 15 amp fuse marked STOP. Are these fuses blown? Later, Dave
ok, so I finally got around to this. Neither of the fuses are blown, the 15 amp is instead a 20 amp, but other wise it is marked "STOP". I checked the green wire with orange stripes for current and voltage and got zero. I know it physically capable of completing a circuit from the connector under the steering wheel to the relay because I can measure a resistance between these two points, just no current or voltage. Also I noticed there are two green wires with orange stripes going into the same terminal on the horn relay. I don't know if this has any bearing on what we're discussing, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Right on two green wires with orange stripes going into the relay. One comes from the horn switch and the other comes from the alarm. I'm looking at the picture of the horn relay and it's wires. The green with orange stripes wires aren't supposed to be hot.They come from the alarm and horn switch. There are two green with yellow stripes that are supposed to be hot at all times. Does this make any sense? If the horn relay isn't too expensive I would go ahead and change it out. Maybe your mechanic was right. It's hard for me to diagnose your problem without being there and being able to check it out.
Assuming all the wires are all right, the only thing it could be is the relay. The reason I assumed the relay was all right before was because you said the alarm worked but the horn didn't. They both go into the relay at the same place -2 green wires with orange stripes.. I don't know why the alarm would sound and the horn not sound. It may seem I am doing a 180 , but I would like you to get your horn fixed. Later, Dave

Just checked out the cost of the relay from a major retail parts store and it is $16.99. Later, Dave.

Right on two green wires with orange stripes going into the relay. One comes from the horn switch and the other comes from the alarm. I'm looking at the picture of the horn relay and it's wires. The green with orange stripes wires aren't supposed to be hot.They come from the alarm and horn switch. There are two green with yellow stripes that are supposed to be hot at all times. Does this make any sense? If the horn relay isn't too expensive I would go ahead and change it out. Maybe your mechanic was right. It's hard for me to diagnose your problem without being there and being able to check it out.
Assuming all the wires are all right, the only thing it could be is the relay. The reason I assumed the relay was all right before was because you said the alarm worked but the horn didn't. They both go into the relay at the same place -2 green wires with orange stripes.. I don't know why the alarm would sound and the horn not sound. It may seem I am doing a 180 , but I would like you to get your horn fixed. Later, Dave
hmm...weird...yeah, I may just try a new relay. But I still find it odd my cruise control is out as well. Anyways, thanks for all the help. At least I learned something new.

I know this post is extremely old, but I thought I'd follow up in case anyone else has a similar problem. Ok, I finally had the time to look at the horn problem and it is now fixed.

The problem appears to have been the wire that is supposed to connect to ground. This wire is a red wire with a blue stripe coming out of the steering column. However within the steering column going into the wire harness it is a black wire with white stripe. I tried getting to where the wire connected to ground, but this wasn't possible without removing the entire dash.

Solution:

I cut the ground wire, spliced into it and just connected it directly to the negative battery terminal. Hey, whatever works right?

Hey Thanks for the follow up. I was wondering how it came out. Look for the easiest, most simple fix first. I need to take some of my own advice. Dave

Since the horn doesn't work at the switch and the cruise control doesn't work I wonder if these two share a ground coming off the steering column? Just a wild guess.

I don't trust too many mechanics. Reader's Digest & 60 Minutes have done some great work exposing these frauds. My favorite was on 60 minutes where they filmed a 'mechanic' shooting oil onto the shocks of someone buying gas. Next thing you know they are getting four new ones. The mechanic tells them,"I wouldn't drive much further....." and they are ripped off.

Reader's Digest did an expose' where they disconnected a spark plug wire and took it to a shop. It would cost them hundreds of dollars to get it 'fixed'. Sometimes the mechs wouldn't even find the loose wire! To RD's credit they mentioned a couple garages that put the wire back on and said, "No charge". I think those days are gone:frown:

Since the horn doesn't work at the switch and the cruise control doesn't work I wonder if these two share a ground coming off the steering column? Just a wild guess.

I don't trust too many mechanics. Reader's Digest & 60 Minutes have done some great work exposing these frauds. My favorite was on 60 minutes where they filmed a 'mechanic' shooting oil onto the shocks of someone buying gas. Next thing you know they are getting four new ones. The mechanic tells them,"I wouldn't drive much further....." and they are ripped off.

Reader's Digest did an expose' where they disconnected a spark plug wire and took it to a shop. It would cost them hundreds of dollars to get it 'fixed'. Sometimes the mechs wouldn't even find the loose wire! To RD's credit they mentioned a couple garages that put the wire back on and said, "No charge". I think those days are gone:frown:

Yeah, that was the problem. At the time I made the post I wasn't quite sure if the guy had disconnected something or which wire was the common ground. I haven't had a lot of time up until recently to diagnose this problem. Basically all I did was take apart the steering column and tested as many connections as I could with inexpensive multimeter. Once I thought about what could be going wrong, since none of the wires in the steering column appeared to be damaged, it was an easy fix.

Like I said in my original post, it's just a little weird that I took it to this guy and suddenly the horn doesn't work, where as it worked two days before when it passed inspection. He was quick to diagnose it as the horn relay despite the fact that I demonstrated to him the horn and relay worked fine. If he or someone else messed with it, I could find exactly what they did. Oh well, lesson learned. I feel kind of stupid because the water pump is an easy fix.