Horn goes crazy

[Belchos]

My horn, out of the blue, went off by itself. The pattern was one LONG blare, then honking, then silence, then same pattern. I pulled the fuse. First, does anyone have an idea what the heck that was about? Next, a few days later, after not driving the truck in the meantime, my batteries were dead. I think one of them finally gave out (six years old). Is there a connection? Like the horn signaling low voltage or something?

 

[rbattelle]

These items are likely connected, although pulling the fuse on the horn circuit disables any current draw it would normally have.

There have been quite a few threads on this over the years. Have a look at this recent thread, which includes a link to an older thread.

Ryan

 

[Belchos]

Thanks

Thanks a lot; that should do it. I will get the part and do the change. It should be a recall because the damage to my hearing, I am sure, is permanent. Damn those horns are loud. #@$%!

 

[DDT]

I hope mine never does it, I have train horns (air compresser) tapped into the horn wire. Makes the deer MOVE and some drivers pull there head out to look around.

 

[Belchos]

Update on Crazy Horn ... How?

Turns out that this Crazy Horn syndrome is fairly common to 2004s, and will probably become more common as the '04s age (a fairly dangerous thing in some situations). The fix is to replace the horn pad and airbag thing - they are all in one. QUESTION: HOW DO YOU GET THE AIR BAG CAP OFF THE STEERING WHEEL? I read the manual as best I could, but by the time they refer you back and forth ten times and warn you about disconnecting the battery about a hundred times, it was unintelligible. It looks like it snaps off somehow. There are two holes in the back of the s. wheel, but there doesn't appear to be any nut, screw, torx, etc. , in them. Any help appreciated very much, thank you.

 

[04blackcherry]

On the 2004, there are two 10mm bolts that attach the air bag assy to the steering wheel. You need to turn the wheel 90 degrees to be able to get a straight shot at them. See rbattelle's message above where he links to another thread on this subject. Disconnect the batteries before doing this. HA HA.

 

[Belchos]

OK! I'm on it like stink on dog poop in the morning. I am shaped a little like a mail box, and getting to those two bolts is going to be funny. Thankfully, I will be the only one laughing at me.

 

[Belchos]

Oh, no. Do I have the right part?

Came home with a box for fix on crazy horn. Opened it up and it was the cover for the horn and air bag, the place you would push to sound the horn. Cant find any place for 10 mm screws. Do I have the right part for this fix??

 

[Belchos]

You're probably going to have this problem too.

To take the pad off you have to loosen the air bag by taking out the two 10 mm screws from behind the steering wheel. Then you can unhook all the clips holding the pad on the bag and wheel.

You will not believe what you will find in that $110 cap. The horn electrical conductors are two little printed conductors on a piece of plastic about the same thickness as the plastic on a doughnut box! There is a built in fatigue where two connectors are attached to the plastic film. It merely tore away . . and the horn blares. Wonderful. There should be a whole bunch of these showing up. Really fun. You are sitting in your house fat, dumb and happy, with your truck outside when the horn starts a long loud steady blast (about 2:40 am), that goes on and on until you run out and lift the hood (gets really loud then) and pull the fuse. Then, if you don't drive your truck for a couple days, both batteries will be dead. #@$%!

 

[04blackcherry]

Been There Done That. I have the horn disconnected. What's the part number on that unit, please?

 

[Belchos]

Part Number / Description for fix

The part number / description on the invoice is :



YT70XDV-AB COVER AIR 19030043



You are going to be p'd off a) when you see what you get for $110, and b) when you see how they designed it in the first place.

Like I said above, remove the two screws behind the wheel in order to get better access to the cap/pad.

Of course, you can't ever get away with fixing something without having something else go wrong. I now have the brake-ABS dash lights thing going as soon as I started it back up. #@$%!