Horn issue between relay and the physical horn (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Dec 25, 2020
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Location
poway (San Diego), CA
1998 LC 100 horn is not working.

I connected the horn directly to battery and it worked. I can hear the relay click when I press the horn so I am under the belief that the relay is working. I cleaned the hot side horn connection at the physical horn (ground is working as evident when hot hooked direct to battery the horn worked) and still no horn.

Any suggestions to the cause? Is my assumption safe that the relay is working if it is clicking when the horn is pressed? What is there to go wrong between the relay and the physical horn? Broken wire? Anything else?

By the way I purchased a new 80 series. 1997 40th anniversary was factory triple locked, but front locker is not working (have not investigated). No rust but far from immaculate. I would rate interior and exterior both 7/10 for its age (front seats surprisingly are near 10/10). Seeing it will be a trail vehicle, I did not need immaculate. Nothing upgraded for offroad, trailer hitch is real low (maybe I am used to my existing Toyotas that are 1) much higher clearance 2) have the hitch integrated with the bumper. I wanted an 80 series, triple locked, with OBD2, ABS and except for front locker not working this meets the criteria. I just started researching the suspension build. My son wants 40" tires, but I think 35" is optimal. He points out we already have the LC100 with 35" and the 4R 5th gen Trail has 34". He has some point but how often are bigger than 35" tires needed? 35", triple locked, Solid front axel LC with good suspension build should be able to handle virtually anything that its wheel base is not the eliminator.
 
you are on the right track. if you can access the relay, you can simply check continuity to the horn. you should also be able to jump the horn from there as well.
 
The relay could have burnt internal contacts, some other internal source of resistance or not be pulling in all the way and possibly still click. As stated above, if you can test for continuity between the horn side positive leg of the relay and the horn you can rule out the wire.

Is there any of the same relay for something else you could safely swap in?
 
Thanks for both suggestions. I suspect I can do both of these suggestions.

The horn relay is in the engine compartment fuse panel and I believe there is some other relays that look the same as the horn relay.

Must battery be disconnected to remove/insert the relay? I can swap in one of the other relays to see if horn works. After relay is pulled, I can use a jumper and wire to check continuity. This will let me know if it is the relay or the wiring. However, if it is the wiring I suspect the fix will be more than I desire to take on. I therefore hope it is the relay and I can simply swap in a new relay.

Thanks
 
Do you have any possible windshield/sunroof/roof rack water intrusion? When I had some water coming in near the driver side A-pillar fuse panel it would do some crazy stuff, including a fun constant horn activation.
 
Do you have any possible windshield/sunroof/roof rack water intrusion? When I had some water coming in near the driver side A-pillar fuse panel it would do some crazy stuff, including a fun constant horn activation.
I do not believe water is the cause of the problem. Water does get into the interior from somewhere that I have not figured out, but not the horn area.
 
Problem ended up being the horn relay. Swapped in a used horn relay and the horn now works great. Thanks for the various suggestions.
 

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