horn

anyone know what color the horn wire is coming out of the steering column??

that would depend largely on what year XJ you have.
Please remember to post year, motor and trans information whenever you ask a question.

Okay, If he won't then I will: Same question...

I've got an 89 Sport, 4.0 auto.

When I bought it the horn didn't work, and I didn't really miss it. So when I pulled the bumper, I threw the horn away with it.

Now I miss it. I can wire a new relay and horn, but I'd like to reuse the stock button. I don't know which wires to tap into, my wiring diagram doesn't show it, and I can't get the steering wheel off to check the back of the switch...

So can any of the gurus here save me? Again?

Thanks much,
Robert

My '88 FSM shows a black wire in the column. It connects to a grey-red wire that goes to the horn relay.

The wire coming out of the horn switch ought to be gray-red. it's black from the switch the the slip ring.
that's what my 87 is anyway, I hope that it's the same for you.
The wire that goes to the horns was gray, and the wire providing power into the relay was brown.

Sweet! Thanks for the quick replies!

I was expecting two wires, but I guess it's using the ground as the common.

So if the switch is working right, that red/grey wire should short to ground when the horn is depressed, right?

Thanks much!

Robert

I believe so, I didn't put a meter to it, but that's how it appears in the wiring diagram.

Damn, no dice.

I hung upside down under the dash til I saw spots, and could only find one red n grey wire.

It's shorted to ground with the key off, and open to ground with +12V with the key on. Playing around with the horn switch made no difference in those readings.

So I don't think that's my guy... But thanks for the quick replies anyway!

Robert

seems silly that they changed the wire color, but they must have.
did you find the horn relay?

87manche said:

seems silly that they changed the wire color, but they must have.
did you find the horn relay?

Click to expand...

Two months later I finally got back to this.

I couldn't figure out which relay under the hood was for the horn, so I decided to trace backward.

I dug around behind the left headlight til I found the lead I had pulled off the horn -- a thick grey wire. Just like 87 Manche said.

I chased that through the firewall, to the relay under the dash, duh! It kinda threw me cause it only had three legs, but when I saw the grey, brown, and red-n-grey wires, I knew that was it.

12V on the brown checked good (though only with the key on, not what I expected.)

12V diff from red to brown checked good with the button depressed, and went away when I let off.

Continuity checked good from the relay plug to the opposite end of the grey wire.

Finally, I plugged in the relay, and got 12V switched by the horn button, out at the end of the grey wire. Nothing was wrong with any of it. All this dikkin around, and all I had to do was plug in a new horn!

So thanks for your help guys, you were right, it was red n grey. Moral of the story is keep it simple, check to make sure you have a problem before you go tryin to fix it!

Robert