Horn Problem?

Hey y'all,

Lately the horns on my '05 have been acting kinda funny. Whenever I go to lock or unlock the truck (after leaving the horn alone for a little while), the first "chirp" is either really muffled sounding (almost like a hiccup) or plain nonexistent. Again, this is only after leaving the horn alone for a while (either just leaving the truck for bit, or driving for a little while). Once it's gotten past the first chirp, it'll be all normal again until next time.

What could be the reason for this? Is it a sign that my horns are about to die and I should start poking around for replacements?

Thanks for any help!

 

If the connections at the horn are clean and tight, it's likely the horns dying. The horn relay is also a possibility, and easy to swap with another unimportant (fog light...) relay to see if that changes anything.

 

Hmm, okay. I've never really touched them before, but then again it is a 10 year old truck. Haha. I'll take a look at the connections and such whenever I get a free afternoon (which will hopefully be in the near future).

One thing I forgot to mention is that about a year ago, I removed the metal baffles or whatever those covers are called, just because a read a few threads on here where it helped with volume. I don't think that would've been a hazard to them, right?

 

My baffles have been removed for 3 or more years with no adverse effects. The contacts inside an electric horn do get corroded and / or burnt over time.

 

Gotcha. Is it just around the plugs I should be looking at or is there something else?

 

Hella super tone at 118dB, from Amazon

 

Yeah, I've given plenty of thought to upgrading the horns (even before this). However, like a lot of other folks around here...

 

My horn gave out so I went to the junk yard, got an old chevy and ford horn and wired em up

 

Was the stock harness able to handle them, or did you have to run them through a relay?

EDIT: Just saw you have a 1st gen, so I don't know if the wiring gauges and whatnot would be the same anyway.

 

I hooked both of em up on the original horn wire with no problems

 

Gotcha. I guess if 1st gen wiring can handle it, 2nd gen wiring should be able to as well. I'll take a look at going that route too if I end up needing to replace them. Haven't paid my local salvage yard a visit since I moved on from a Ford. Haha.

 

Im a regular at mine lol I just got half price for a mirror because of it!

 

Haha, I used to hit up my local yard pretty regularly when I drove my old Ford as a DD. Everything I know about auto repair and maintenance is because of that thing. Now with the Taco, it's been so reliable that I haven't had to visit them so much. Not to mention whenever they get a Taco in, it's picked pretty clean in a few weeks tops.

 

Yeah if you dont get to the taco in a week there aint nothinn left

 

I think the lock and unlock chirp device is different than the horn. Under the hood behind the drivers headlight I think...

 

As in in sounds from a different horn? I don't believe so, because when I wired some lights before, I used the main horn fuse with the add-a-circuit for my switch, and it disabled lock/unlock, alarm, etc.

Disclaimer, I could be wrong and it was just coincidence.

 

Also, just to clarify, mine is the older version keyless access (2005) where the horn sounds during lock/unlock (at a slightly quieter volume) at me, not the style that makes the electronic-y sounding beep.