Horn stopped working

Anyone have their horn stop working? Need tips for a fix!

 

Spiral cable/clock spring is likely.

Try honking the horn while rotating the wheel.

Also check to see if cruise control works.

Start with visual inspection of horn and fuse as first steps.

 

I did a visual inspection everything works. Haven’t tried it while the wheel is turned but that would make sense for why it randomly worked when I bumped it while turning. Also know what fuse it is?

 

There's also little flexible contacts for the horn under the airbag if you live in a humid climate sometimes the corrode and can be cleaned up with sand paper.

Usually though if that's the issue you can get the horn to chip or beep slightly by pushing quite firmly on the airbag and wiggling it up and down a bit it can kinda scrub the contacts some.

Alternatively, pull the plug off the horns and use some leads to see if the horns themselves haven't had the diaphragm seized up.

Otherwise do as was previously stated above, check fuses etc. etc.

 

If it randomly works a little bit at all it ain't the fuse.

 

I’m in arizona so no humidity but I will check everything!

 

I haven’t been able to get it to randomly work since then so I’m not ruling anything out

 

Well it is also a 12-year-old truck, just age alone can corrode them especially if you don't use your horn often.

 

Are they factory horns or have you put in something like Hellas that will pull more amperage?

 

It’s factory. I just went out and turned the wheel and it worked. So not the fuse. As stated above it sounds like the clock spring may be bad.

 

If it works the wheel turned it's definitely the clock spring, basically when you're turning the wheel you're pulling the clock spring ribbon tight and wherever the connection is it's then getting enough pressure on it to make it.

 

Is it difficult to replace? I feel dumb asking considering I can do full long travel on the truck yet no idea how to fix a clock spring XD

 

Don't feel dumb, everybody learned something for the first time sometime, it's really pretty easy you need a T25 bit to take the two screws out of the side of the airbag and the airbag will kind of wiggle out careful not to pull on the connector for that it's got a white clip you got to push one side and pull the other side at the same time to get that to disconnect then it's a 3/4 inch or 19 mm nut to hold the steering wheel on the steering wheel comes out and the clock spring should be right there behind it with its own connector there and I believe it's held in by 2:00 or 4 Phillips head screws it's really easy the hardest part is the sticker shock at the dealership buying a new clock spring.

 

Haha okay I’ll brace for that price tag then! Thank you so much

 

I can't remember off my head if on the second gen you have to separate the column covers as well or not in order to get the clock spring out but you might have to add that to it somewhere, either way it's only like six pieces of hardware three plugs you should be able to do it no problem in less than an hour.

By all means feel free to tag me or send me a DM or whatever if you're stuck on something while doing it.

 

Sweet, I appreciate it! Idk when I’ll be doing it but I’ll keep that in mind

 

Only other thing I can add is that if you've never had your steering wheel off before that 19mm nut can sometimes be a bitch to get loose, if you have a four-way tire iron that works great as you can get torque on both sides rather than just one on a breaker bar or better yet an impact gun, I think I had to use my half inch air impact the first time I took mine off it does not need to be that tight I believe the torque spec is only something like 35ft lbs pounds, you'd have to check the torque spec guide on here to know for sure it's just that the two metals kind of chemically bond to one another because they never get taken apart for years.

It's best to use a tire iron so your forces are equalized or an impact that way you're not pulling on the steering wheel shaft as the shaft is intended to either collapse or bend in an accident to prevent it from injuring the driver bodily so it's kind of soft steel and if you apply too much side load to it you make bend your shaft.

As for getting the wheel off similar to the nut the steering wheel splines and the steering shaft splines tend to kind of bond together the best way I've found is to just grab it 11 and 1 on the wheel or 12 and 6 on the wheel and just rock with all your body weight while you're sitting in the driver seat and eventually it'll come loose you'll be able to pull it off hopefully without hitting yourself in the face with it.



Don't ask me how I know.

 

Hahaha sounds like you had an experience and a half with this!

 

I've done it a few times on a few cars and trucks.

 

Is there threaded holes and a divot on the shaft for a steering wheel puller? I have one made by Gearwrench that’s pretty hefty.

I’ve seen the same issue, the nuts never been removed yet & put on supper tight at the factory and difficult to looosen. Then the wheel is really on there. One was so stuck on wrenching down on the puller mushroomed the shaft so the nut wouldn’t go back on. Another issue I’ve had is when someone before me stripping out the threaded holes. Fixed by tapping out to the next bigger size.