1998 taurus sedan no horn/cruise control

[wrtalaga]

my 98 taurus horn and cruise quit working at the same time. So far I've checked fuses- OK. Put hot wire to both horns -OK. Replaced clock spring still no horn/cruise. Could I have installed it wrong or could it be bad? How can I check it?

[way2old]

Look on the cruise module. Pins 6 and 10 are ground. If a ground is bad, both will stop working. You can jumper a wire in to these wires and see if the horn works. If horn works, cruise will work.

[shorod]

If the test above does not pan out, you might have a bad clockspring since both signals also go through the clockspring.

-Rod

[wrtalaga]

jumper wire to pins 6&10 did not work how can I check clock spring ,i already have replaced it , could it be defective could i have installed it incorrectly

[shorod]

If you can get to the connector for the clockspring, you can test it. How familiar are you with a multimeter and wiring diagram?

At connector C228 for the clockspring, set your multimeter for the continuity test. Connect one lead to the black wire for the clockspring. Connect the other lead of the tester to the Pink/Orange wire of the clockspring. You should see an open circuit. Then press the horn pad and you should see a short circuit.

Then with the one lead still on the black wire, connect the other lead to the Light Blue/Black wire for the clockspring. Now press the "Off" button for the cruise. While the "Off" button is pressed, you should register a short circuit. The short should go away when the button is released.

And finally, if you were to leave one lead on the Light Blue/Black wire and connect the other meter lead to the Pink/Orange wire, then press "On" of the cruise buttons and you should get continuity while the "On" button is pressed.

If the buttons work the way described above, the clockspring assembly is working properly.

You could use a test light to apply ground to the Dark Blue wire of the connector that plugs in to the clockspring (going to Pink/Orange wire of clockspring) and the horn should honk. The horn and horn relay receive power from fuse 19 (15-amp) in the Engine Compartment Fuse/Relay box. Ground for the switches and the horn is provided via terminal 6 of the Speed Control Module. While you have the clockspring disconnected and the multimeter out, verify continuity of the Orange wire at the clockspring connector (mates with Black clockspring wire) to chassis ground. If you don't have continuity to ground, check for continuity to terminal 6 of the Speed Control Module.

-Rod

[wrtalaga]

Checked clockspring as you described and everything checked out fine. When I hooked test light to dark blue wire, the horn did not honk, so i checked it with my volt meter and had 11+ volts. I then checked the orange wire at the clockspring for continuity w/chasis ground and there wasn't any, but when i checked it w/terminal 6there was continuity.

[shorod]

Sounds like you have a wiring issue between the speed control servo (which provides the ground) and the clockspring connector. Not a fun one to troubleshoot, sorry. You might try searching the forum for "TRS" to see if others have experienced similar issues due to a faulty Transmission Range Sensor. A lot of folks have experienced strange electrical issues from the TRS.

-Rod

[yost.josh]

most likely clock spring, i had to replace mine 3 times so far.