1940 Buick S40: So cleaning up the original horns. Cleaned up the contacts, metal diaphragm, magnet etc. Put 6VDC and around 2.5 - 3 amps until the magnet engaged. It clicks and makes a very faint sort of horn sound sometimes but mostly just clicks. What am I missing? The horns are available at Bob's automobilia but I'm not understanding why mine aren't working after cleaning them up. They made same clicking sound before I took them apart and cleaned them. Tried both connecting the horns directly to the power supply and through the horn relay on the bench just to see if the relay engages and it does. Not unwilling to send Bob $75 for a horn just not making sense to me why everything seems to be mechanically working but no noise.
What are you using to power the horn when testing it? I found that my battery charger did not provide enough power, had to connect to a car battery. Check this out for a write up on overhauling a older horn: http://secondchancegarage.com/public/198.cfm
I have a variable bench power supply with variable current output. It engages the electro magnet but doesnt seem to get it to actually blow. Thanks for the link.
When a car sits for awhile, bugs, dirt daubers, wasps, hornets etc crawl into things like horns and make themselves at home. Like @garyf said tapping on them with a hammer handle or something can sometimes make them work. You will be amazed at what will fall out when you do this.
J.A. Miller yes I dis***embled and cleaned. Being on the Louisiana Gulf Coast and Atachafalaya swamp it's a never ending battle to keep critters out of my stuff. Had to tear down my generator because mud wasps got inside the timing cover and made the timing belt jump.
Squirrel just back from parts store with fuses, wire, ****ons and switches etc. Just gonna go ahead make a battery mock-up for testing stuff like this.
If the OP has got the horn apart and cleaned the contacts, they may need adjusting for gap. There should be a screw for doing that. The horn should draw at least 5 amps, probably more.
A shot of WD40 in there sometimes helps. Do not point the powered horn directly at your face while tapping & troubleshooting peering intently wondering "Why doesn't this damn thing work!??" Ask me how I know.
Put 12 volts to them while tapping on them I have also found that if you turn the adjustment bolt back and forth, that will clean the threads and will give it a better connection. When putting 12 volts to them when they do come on ...do not have it up near your ears Its going to be very loud. Sent from my SM-T307U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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