I have a 96 850R that I've pick up recently as a resurrection project, I'm putting it on the road this week coming up but can't figure out the horn to save my life.

I have 12v up to the steering wheel and I think 12v leaving. All the contacts in the wheel are good and original but one ting I've yet to locate is the horn switch I believe it is, as shown in the Haynes.

This is the last of many things the car needed and was the least of my concerns in the beginning but now it's the most important it seems.

Any help would be much appreciated...
--
Wallie

Under the steering wheel airbag there's a little contact assembly for the horn.
also there's some plastic insulators that dry up crack and fall out which
I assume will leave the horn on all the time. "Odometer Gears" in
Newport News, VA sells those insulators (They have a website with pictures)
I got the contact assy at the local boneyard, and also a horn, since one of
em went open. The suggestion to test the horns with 12V is right on.

Check the horn connectors and stuff all those connectors with dielectric silicone.

Bill

I've looked at the horn contacts and insulators a couple times already but I'll look again closer this time. I replaced all four of those contacts in a previous 850 from an eBay kit and it's still working fine, wish I still had that car actually but I needed a wagon.

The horns work fine when tested straight from the battery.
--
Wallie

Both horns work with 12V direct from the battery.
Did you try just running the PLUS lead from the battery to the horn
and see if they work (Connectors plugged in) Then if they dont work,
you have a bad/missing/corroded ground connection.

It's a good idea to dissemble, wirebrush , never seez or conductive grease,
and reassemble all of your grounds everywhere in the car.

Bill

I would stop by my very friendly parts person at the dealer and ask to see what a new horn ring looks like. You can test the tension through the wrapper. Bring yours with you...

Klaus
--
Always willing to listen, just not able to take direction.

Did you test the horns to see if they work with 12V from the battery?

There is a horn ring between the air bag and the steering column. Mine only works on the right side of the steering wheel but I am too lazy to fix it.

Removing the air bag is not a MAJOR job, but sometime the torx screws (2) tend to not want to come out and are then easily stripped.

Make sure that you do not turn the key to pos I or II when the bag is disconnected, otherwise only a dealer can turn off the SRS light.

Klaus
--
Always willing to listen, just not able to take direction.

"Removing the air bag is not a MAJOR job, but sometime the torx screws (2) tend to not want to come out and are then easily stripped."

You are not kidding !!!

Did my evaporator recently and dealing with those two screws was the most difficult part of any project I've completed on my 850 (and I've pulled and replaced my engine and completed just about every other task you can complete on an 850). Locating the Torx head with the driver took a good half-hour of blind moving and turning until the Torx driver finally dropped into the screw heads. Then breaking-free each screw required a Vise Grip clamped to the shaft of the driver and a tension-filled few seconds before they broke free.

Re-assembling and tightening the screws was a second horror story. Again, locating the drive in the screw consumed tense minutes of fidgeting.

Since, for reasons that will go unstated, I had to do these procedures three times, I spend two or three hours dealing exclusively with this two screws.

Hi Klaus,

I only have one horn right now that came with the car but I did test it right off the battery and it worked. I have the air bag out and I'll check the horn rings again, they seemed to have good detent in pushing down on them.

I have 12v coming up to the steering wheel and then down at the horn it's grounded out so somewhere it does seem to be grounding out but I can't find it. Do you think it could be the horn rings?
--
Wallie