horn not wokring, help?

[bhermes]

OK. Found GW wire tucked in behind some things. Bought both horns. Connected GW to one terminal on the horn and grounded the other terminal to the car. No horn. I am not sure if it maters which horn terminal to connected the GW wire to and which one needs the ground wire. The terminals are a little different in that one is dark and one is light in appearance. I have not tried to jumper to the second horn but it seems that the one horn should at least work.

Looking at the relay next. When I push the horn at the steering wheel I do not hear any clicking at the relay.

One of the previous posts mentined a curved wiper and I am not sure what this is refering to. Something at the steering wheel area but just not sure.

[SteveJ]

Here is an easy, and relatively safe, way to check 12VDC circuits. Take two lantern batteries. Hook up the positive on one to the negative on the other. You now have a 12VDC source. You can connect the horn to the free positive and negative terminals.

To test the horn button, find the connector in the steering column with the Green/Black wire. Use the resistance/continuity setting of the multimeter. Touch one probe to the G/B wire going to the horn and touch the other probe to the chassis. Press the horn button. If you don't have continuity, you have a problem with the horn button. If you do have continuity, put a wire into the dash side of the connector with the G/B wire and touch the other end of the wire to ground. If the horn doesn't sound, you likely have a problem with the fuse or horn relay.

[bhermes]

Alright both horns working. Found the horn relay and for whatever reason it was not plugged in to the connector. Just need to find someway to mount the horns now. No bracketry seems to be available in the car. Not a big deal.

Thanks for the help.

On to the next electrical issue.

[SteveJ]

Whenever the original horns were removed, the relay was unplugged. That way, there wasn't a loose 12VDC+ wire to touch the chassis in the front of the car.

[grantf]

Good deal. It is a safety issue. My horns were not working for about a year and a half. I never realized how often a little beep could prevent someone from drifting into me. Often this would cause me to swerve unexpectedly. Horns are good.

[FunkytownZ]

i need to get my Z inspected after bringing it into Texas.  It's ready to pass, except the horn is not working.

So I started simple. Checked the horns, lo and behold they're not there.  So i bought some original horns off ebay and installed them, cleaned the electrical connectors and have a good ground.

still nothing.  Fuse looks good, relay is installed and plugged in.  so i take the steering wheel cap off.  with the pic below (exploded view of steering wheel assembly and parts list), I'm missing #3 (horn spring) and i'm only assuming missing #16 (comp ring contact).  #19 (the plastic ring - insulator contact) is in rough shape and about to fall apart.

http://www.carpartsmanual.com/datsun/Z-1969-1978/steering/steering-wheel#2

do i need to purchase a whole new wheel assembly?  or just the cap?  any good recommendations on a fully assembled unit I can plug and play?

I didn't take the wheel off (because i don't have a special flat plate tool) but I'm hoping the electrical is still intact.

[SteveJ]

By the way, once the center nut is removed, the wheel pulls off. However, it is good to leave the nut threaded on loosely so that you don't hit yourself in the face with the steering wheel after you wiggle it loose.

Also, if you have all of the other components in place, you can test the horn by putting a jumper wire to the green/black wire on the dash harness near the steering wheel and grounding it. If that does not sound the horn, you could also have a bad/missing horn relay.

[FunkytownZ]

1 minute ago, SteveJ said:

By the way, once the center nut is removed, the wheel pulls off. However, it is good to leave the nut threaded on loosely so that you don't hit yourself in the face with the steering wheel after you wiggle it loose.

Also, if you have all of the other components in place, you can test the horn by putting a jumper wire to the green/black wire on the dash harness near the steering wheel and grounding it. If that does not sound the horn, you could also have a bad/missing horn relay.

ha!  that's what i figured... i pulled on that wheel and it didn't budge, so i stopped out of fear of either popping myself in the face or damaging something.  Good advice on pulling with the nut still installed, forgot about that trick.

and thanks for the trouble shooting tip.