Horn Question

[Big Blue 72]

I have dual horns on my 72 F-250. the passenger side horn always worked. The drivers side horn didn't work, so I went to the local pull-a-part junkyard and found another. That one didn't work either. To make a long story short I've picked up 4 different drivers side horns and NON OF THEM WORK!!

Yes, they've always been properly grounded. Yes the horn relay works. Just in case the wirings been bad I try testing the "new" horn with a jump wire directly to the battery, but still nothing. Am I just running into bad luck picking horns from the yard that are always broken, or am I doing something wrong? I just can't believe 4 different horns can all be bad! Are these horns just prone to stop working? I feel like I must be overlooking something. Any advice or similar problems would be much appreciated. Misery loves company...

[FORDification]

I'd think it would be kinda unlikely that you've got that many non-op horns, but you could just have run into a streak of bad luck.

However, two things come to mind, just checking to make sure:

1) Have you checked the wire going to the horn, to make sure it's got power (when the horn button is pushed) and isn't broken?

2) When you tried hooking the horn directly up to the battery, did you also have the horn grounded?

[fordman]

that is the same thing i thought about also. did you try and smack the side of it to maybe dislodge any wasps nest otu of it that might be up inside of them.

[Big Blue 72]

The passenger horn honks, and I checked the wire going to the drivers side horn so I know they're getting power. I'm sure the grounding issue is ok but it's the only thing I can think of that could be causing the problem. I'll double check the grounds and make sure no creatures are making a home inside of them. There's just no way I could've picked out four horns that didn't work!

[fordman]

ok try turning the screw on the side of the horn and retest them. i know one person on here that tried that and it made the horn work. that screw is a tuner for the sound pitch of the horn

[flyboy71]

Grab an ohmmeter if you have one and measure resistance on the four compared to a working horn. If the coil is burnt out you wont get any reading at all. At minimum you should see some resisitance but it will be low.

Even if its not producing sound you should hear a clicking sound if its trying to do something when you apply power.

There should be an electromagnet inside and a set of contacts that interrupt power to make the sound, so its possible the contacts arent closing to allow it to start vibrating.

[Big Blue 72]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll give those a try...