I've got the horn!!

wannab-x · Post by **wannab-x** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 7:23 pm

Right then, I've spent 5 hours under the car, and I have no progress to report!!

It's taken me 4 hours to get the inner arch panel even partially off, and I still don't really know what I'm doing!!

What I've seen so far:

2 white wires coming out of some trunking behind the LH headlight, and going thru a grommit into the area by the horn. One of these wires then goes straight to a bracket on the chassis - earth? The second wire ends in a connector which clips onto the horn. In this connector, there is another white wire which ends in a connector attached to... thin air. (I tried cutting the end off this wire & attaching it to the chassis, but there was only me & nothing happened when I pressed the horn control, so not sure...)

There is also a green wire ending in a green connector sitting loose behind the headlight, but this & the spare white connector don't seem to be able to clip together.

There were plenty more things, like losing one of the bumper bolts into the fan housing on the radiator, and being unable to lower the spare wheel down to get at the jack, as it's not got any clearance behind the tow bar, but we won't talk about those...

Any advice/tips/offers of help? Thanks to Sleepy so far for his help - still didn't manage to get the bumper off. Oh, and I don't have a multimeter, so low-tech solutions please!!

wannab-x · Post by **wannab-x** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 7:30 pm

Oh, and I checked the fuse box & the fuse seems to be okay (although it seems to be a 30amp rather than 20amp one, which I'll change when I find my spare fuses...

roscoe · Post by **roscoe** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 10:29 am

The lead that clips onto the horn itself should have 12V when you press the horn button in - best way to test this is hook up a long lead to an ordinary 12V bulb and plug that into that connector, earth the other side of the bulb (I use a normal 12V testlamp/probe that only cost a couple of £ or so), press your horn button and see if the lamp lights up. If it does, your circuit is all OK, that means it must be the horn itself. If that's the case, take a straight lead from the + terminal of the battery through a 30 amp fuse and touch that straight onto the horn terminal - it should blow your ears off - if you only get a click or a weak buzz, then the horn is duff and will need replacing (or a good whack with a persuader!). I wouldn't worry about the other connectors hanging free - there are lots of them all over a BX and I haven't found a use for any yet...

wannab-x · Post by **wannab-x** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 5:53 pm

Right. It's done.

I took the car over to my wife's cousin & we tried various things. Turned out to be the horn itself - replaced the horn & everything's fine!

All set for getting the MOT tomorrow, hopefully...

Doz · Post by **Doz** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 8:53 pm

roscoe wrote: (or a good whack with a persuader!).

Curtis & Moore?

Well done .... that's another on the road for 12 months

wannab-x · Post by **wannab-x** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:00 pm

And it's done! 1 twelve month ticket pressed into my eager little hands earlier on. Just have a trim off a few pounds of flesh for the tax, and I'm back on the road!! (legally...)

Although I have a feeling I *may* have been caught speeding this morning - they were hiding in a driveway & I didn't notice them until quite late. Clock was reading somewhere in the lower half of 30-40mph, and it was a 30 zone. Fingers & everything else crossed!!

Doz · Post by **Doz** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 12:31 pm

According to my GPS, my spedo reads about 33 when I'm doing 30 ... +/- wobble of course....