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Horn started blowing at 12:30 AM Last Night

27K views 18 replies 15 participants last post by  79jasper 
#1 ·
Hi All, New member, first post here.

2001 F350 Dually 7.3 Powerstroke.

I live at 7,000 feet in a mountain community. It was 7 degrees last night, we were just comming off of a one foot snow storm the day before. Truck was outside in driveway, will not fit in garage. Had cleared most snow off and driven into town late on the previous afternoon.

About 12 midnight my horn went off in a "solid" unending blast. I stumbled to get some cloths on and went outside.

1. Opened door and horn went off.
2. If I closed the door horn went back on.
3. I thought it must have something to do with the cold and moisture?

Started truck and drove slowly down street with door open a little. But when I got down to the corner of our dirt street the horn went on with the door still open

1. Opened and closed the door many times and horn just stayed on.
2. tried many times to honk the horn on the wheel thinking maybe it was stuck somehow. No change. Must have woke up the whole town.
3. Finally went to the highway to try and get the engine fully warm.
4. Had heat and blower full on. Heated seats also.
5. Many miles up the highway with the cab fully warmed the horn started to go off and on intermitently.
6. Finally the horn went off but I could hear some kind of clicking noise for a while under the dash it seemed, then it finally went away.

I drove home and worried the rest of the night if it would come on again when the truck cooled down to the 7 degrees.---------It did not come on again.

I know I could have disconected the batteries or maybe went under the dash and pulled a fuse. But it was 7 degrees and past midnight in the snow.

Does anyone have a answer to this odd event? Will it happen again? What made the clicking noise?
 
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#2 ·
The clicking was probably the horn trying to sound, meaning there was still electric going to it and odds are your horn took a dump by staying on so long. I dont know what its like to take the horn pad off in the SD models, but I would bet your problem lies there.
 
#3 ·
The clicking sound sounded maybe like a relay. kind of like when you try and start a vehicle with a dead battery. that solioid sound.
 
#6 ·
I have had the same problem, and it ended up being the temp warping ever so slightly the cover on the steering wheel. I couple of solid hits with my fist and a little pulling out and it quit, but my horn is still like a hair trigger, seems like it will go off if the hair on my arm brushes against it.
 
#7 ·
IIRC the relay is on the hump, right at the firewall, there is a block with 3 or four relays on it. They are the same as just about every little square fuse box relay on the truck. Less than ten bucks from O'Rielly's.
 
#10 ·
i would check the relay first. for one its free and very easy to check. checking your clockspring - not so easy. relays are about 4 bucks at advance auto. when relays go bad thye sometimes get stuck closed and cause current to flow. which would make the horn blow. my clockspring is bad, but it makes it to where my horn WON'T work, along with the cruise control.
 
#11 ·
I agree with slowleak, it might very well be a clockspring, but check the easy things first. Usually a clockspring is either bad or good. A relay can be intermittant for months. I had a fan relay that would stick and I would just thump it with my knuckle for months. (Never broke at the parts store, and always forgot about it)
 
#12 ·
This same thing happened to me while visiting Mammoth Lakes, CA. It was a cool night and the horn went off at 3am the first night. Somehow I had the presence of mind and the tools on hand to remove the power cables from both batteries in short order. I put the cables back on the next day and the horn stated going off again. Next I removed two fuses from my after market security system thinking it was broken and attached the cables. No horn. I thought it was fixed. That night at 1230a it went off again. This time I had a crowd watching me at the hotel. I disconnected the cables again. The next day I got out the owers manual and pulled fuse 37 for the horn.

I returned home without use of a horn.

I took the truck to my mechanic who "removed the remaining vestages of the security system". No more horn issues.

Fast forward to last night. 330a again and the horn goes off in my driveway. Now the hood latch does not work so I can't even access the engine compartment. I started backing the truck up to drive it away and almost backed into my other shiny red sports car.

I lightly tapped the horn on the steering wheel and it went off.

Now I'm looking at a Mini Fuse bypass switch so I can still have a horn but switch it off when I park the car.

I've seen several say to replace the horn relay, but in doing so you are not dealing with the input to the relay. If there is a problem with the horn switch on the steering wheel you have not fixed the root cause.

Ron

2007 F350 Dually
 
#13 ·
wholly mother of all old threads. jesus christ. 2007.
 
#16 ·
If you were a Ram or Chevy owner, I would tell you that it is inside the digital clock assembly on the radio display and you have to disassemble the display panel and pry the front plastic cover off and use tweezers to pull the 3 pins that are in the snap connector.:wink:

But, as you are one of us, it is under the steering wheel center cushion. BE CAREFUL AND DISCONNECT THE AIRBAG!!!
 
#17 ·
I have similar symptoms:
Open door and horn went off.
Close the door horn went back on.
Pulled the fuse for the horn (#12?), horn off.
Noticed a clicking sound underneath the steering column, but not sure if near the fuse box. Seems to only happen right when the key is turned off.

What is the part number for the horn relay? Some on the interweb information says the #3 relay is for windows, cruise control, high current, but doesn't mention a horn relay. I want to make sure I get the correct replacement.

Thanks.
 
#18 ·
Jake,
I don't think your door latch switch should be powering the horn relay. It sounds more like you could have a short in your fusebox. I'm not qualified to diagnose electrical problems, I just wanted to mention the possibility.
I had taken the fusebox out of my 99.5 F350 when I had multiple electrical problems and found damage from a water leak. Apparently a common Superduty problem. The GEM attached to the fusebox was also shorted and there was a bunch of green corrosion on the fusebox plugs. I'm not suggesting your GEM is the problem, only that if you have a water leak it can wreak havoc on a Superduty fusebox. I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned already.
Also, my horn relay is definitely #3.
I've attached a pdf for a '99 F350 fusebox. I don't know what year your truck is or if it's different than mine, but they're fairly easy to find online.

Raymond
 

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#19 ·
I forgot what year, but the horn relay became integral to the fuse panel. Non-serviceable.
For OBS trucks, it's behind the dash. Maybe behind the glove box.

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