Horn Wiring?

[Hoosierman]

I do have the electrical and vacuum diagram, but I can't see to find a diagram for the horn wiring after the fuse box to the steering column. I have no clue what wire to look for, or even if it is there at all. The PO removed the original steering wheel, installed an aftermarket one, didn't bother to wire up the horn button at all. So I removed the steering wheel and can't find a connection anywhere. I really want to wire the dual horns up. I've followed the DB to the Y LB D all the way to the 20A fuse, and that's as far as I'm seeing in diagrams. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

I'm tempted to just wire up a new horn button to the dash, but I really want to find an original steering wheel and button.

 

[RobbieD]

I think that it makes a difference, on whether your truck originally came with cruise control, or not.

 

[Hoosierman]

I see absolutely no indication whatsoever to suggest it ever had cruise control.

 

[RobbieD]

With cruise there would have been a horn relay, triggered by the steering wheel switch; without cruise the steering wheel switch sent power directly to the horns without a relay (which involves more current, BTW).

"If it were me"

I'd go on ahead and add the dual horns that you're wanting, using a relay to power them, which is switched by a simple pushbutton in the cab.

When you do find yourself a stock steering wheel, it would be easy enough to wire your previously added horn trigger wire to the stock horn switch.

I have to think that would be kits out there, reasonable, for the wire, parts, and hardware that you'd need (appropriate gauge wires, fuse and holder, relay and socket, terminals, misc. screws and wire ties).

"And furthermore"

Doing the horns project would be a great time to also convert your headlights over to be driven by relays.

Same kind of work, same kind of parts, and same real estate.

The bulk of both projects would be behind the radiator support, with only a horn trigger wire being ran into the cab.

 

[Curious Hound]

Seems like the Y/LB D should come from the fuse and ho to the switch. Then the DB goes from the switch to the horn. Then yhe horn would be grounded locally, maybe by its mounting screw to the body. But I don’t have the exact 1988 drawing in front of me. For some reason, that diagram is often on the page with the cigar lighter.

 

[Hoosierman]

The original dual horns are still present and I've tested them, they work. I'm merely curious for now what color wire(s) go from the fuse box to the steering column for the horns. I am thinking it's yellow but I'm not 100% positive.

Edit: A few months ago, I did a full upgrade of the headlights with Koito K4s, new harness with relays, and refreshed all the grounds-- and that was when I took the time to evaluate and clean the connections on the horns- as well as the grounds for everything.

 

[RobbieD]

Without cruise, Yellow with Blue dots should be the color of the original +12 volt supply wire.

Dark Blue would be the switched wire to the horns.

Without cruise, the power wire (Yel/Blu) runs straight from fuse 16 to the steering column; there's no inline connector to find it at for tracing purposes. I suspect that the previous owner probably just cut the original horn wires where they exited the dash harness- look close where the wiper and lights' ending harnesses break out of the main harness.

The Dark Blue horn switched wire you can find under the hood at C120 (gray 8-pin), driver's fender well. See drawing 44-2 in your EVTM on page 44.

If the Dark Blue wire can be located in the cab, it'd work great to convert for use as the trigger wire from the cab to an added horn relay.

>>> If you've already got a headlight relay conversion job under your belt, adding a horn relay should be easy.

 

[Hoosierman]

That's the thing, I'll look again, but after the fuse box, I couldn't find any signs of a Y/LB D wire or DB wire. No daylight left today though.

 

[Curious Hound]

That's the thing, I'll look again, but after the fuse box, I couldn't find any signs of a Y/LB D wire or DB wire. No daylight left today though.

The DB wire doesn't go to the fuse box. It goes from thehorn switch in the steering column out to the horn. Here is tje vircuit diagram from 1993. The connector numbers are different. But the wire colors and circuit design are the same as what your truck should have. There should be a connector somewhere that they disconnected when they removed the original steering column.

 

[RobbieD]

I was surprised that the power wire was a straight run from the fuse box to the steering column, but that's how it's drawn. And it's only about a foot to two feet run between the two. The mid-80s trucks had a lot of weirdness in the electrics, and the '88 EVTM does seem to have more "vague" areas than other years.

The '88 non-cruise C200 is a 2-pin plug at the steering column slip ring. The'88 cruise version is drawn like the slip ring brushes are part of the harness; that's how my '90 B2 is (has cruise with hard-wired brushes), but I can't remember if there was a connector farther down on its 3-wire ribbon cable.

My non-cruise '84 uses the same horn wire colors, but it's another different animal because that year had that horrible "push in on the hi/lo headlight lever" for the horn switch.

 

[Curious Hound]

The cruise version doesn't use sliprings and brushes. It has a flat ribbon cable wrapped around in a coil that tightens and loosens as you turn the wheel. But the principle is the same. There should be a connector on the stationary part of the steering column.

 

[RobbieD]

I apologize, that I am bad about getting my terminology mixed up at times. The coil design that you're referring to, I think, is technically the "clock spring" style; that term I have sometimes mistakenly used for the other design that's found in these trucks.

This is what I'm calling the brush and slip ring design, which is how the earlier trucks were; this is my '90 B2:

Top pic is a non-cruise non-tilt column and steering wheel, from a '90 Ranger donor truck for my transmission conversion. The third pic is the Bronco's cruise and tilt steering wheel. Second pic is the brushes.

It does seem to me that Ford got better at simplifying things starting with the '89 models, as there was a lot more standardization and stability in the parts used. I was able to take the parts from a manual non-tilt non-cruise column and an auto w/tilt and w/ cruise column, and build a like-new steering column like I needed using parts from both.

 

[Hoosierman]

I'll check again tomorrow, but am I reading this correctly that in MY'84, some Bronco II's had the horn switch as part of the headlight stalk? I've only heard of center-mounted horn buttons before. And I wish I could look at my '88 Ranger, but once again, I bought another old Ford truck that the PO evidently didn't think the steering wheels were to their liking and mounted an aftermarket with a very shoddy horn button on it that barely works whenever it wants to.

 

[RobbieD]

I'll check again tomorrow, but am I reading this correctly that in MY'84, some Bronco II's had the horn switch as part of the headlight stalk? I've only heard of center-mounted horn buttons before. And I wish I could look at my '88 Ranger, but once again, I bought another old Ford truck that the PO evidently didn't think the steering wheels were to their liking and mounted an aftermarket with a very shoddy horn button on it that barely works whenever it wants to.

MY '83 and '84 all Rangers and Bronco IIs used a "push the lever" horn switch:

Starting in MY '85 both trucks switched to using a proper horn switch in the steering wheel pad:

I thought that you were working on the '88 in your signature. Sorry if I confused you; I missed the part about "another old truck".

The eighties were full of weirdness . . .

 

[Hoosierman]

Son of a.... Beesting.

I knew Ford did that, but I thought that ended in the 1970's... I look up steering wheels for an '84 and I'm seeing horn buttons on the steering wheel...

I don't have an owners manual either. Oh I have one for an '85 BII though