Thread: Horn problem

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Hello everyone,
Here's the situation....Installing a new wiring harness (hotrod wires 18 circuit) Up to this point everything has worked perfectly. I just installed a new steering wheel and hooked up the horn button. Wanted to check to make sure the horn relay is working....it's not. I checked the wire from the button to the relay, it's fine. Checked for power to the relay, it's all good. So why won't the relay click when I hit the button? I went over it several times, couldn't find anything wrong. Finally for the heck of it I checked the column for ground, there isn't any. How can a steering column not be grounded? It's an IDIDIT column in a '51 Chevy pickup. I have continuity from the steering wheel all the way to the MII rack, and it ends there. It doesn't make any sense to me. What is the best way to fix this?

Is it a painted steering wheel ?

I used a meter to test, no light in the tool box. I have ground cables to the frame, engine, body all have good connection...12.61 volts from battery + to the body/firewall and 0 volts to the column. What I find truly odd is no ground at the steering rack.

Billet steering wheel, no paint. The column is painted, maybe I need to remove some? But that would be ugly.....

Well that was what I was thinking about, mabey remove some where the brace would hide it, or a ground strap to a bolt.

Steering rack should be rubber bushed at the mounts,so no ground. Add a grounding wire from the steering column to the frame,that should complete the circuit so your relay can work. Hank

Well here it is, the column housing has no continuity to the steering shaft. So removing paint or better body ground would not fix the problem.
Steering rack is mounted with rubber bushings and I was thinking (that's the problem) I would have ground through the tie rods/spindles....etc
After further pondering I realized the upper and lower a-frames are mounted on urethane bushings....so no ground.
I guess I just figured out why Ford uses two wires (power in/out) for the horn circuit. I ran a ground wire from the rack to the frame....problem solved.

Thanks for the input.....