djm1951

Good morning folks. I have a 02 Ford F150 XLT with the 4.6 V8. My son removed the steering gear box. He asked me to turn the steering wheel around many times. It felt like it got hooked on something so I used a little extra muscle to keep it turning but realized afterwards that I should not have done that. After that the horn does not work. Pulled the air bag off but did not see any broken wires so put air bag back on. I would like to know if it fixable or should I bypass it and hook up a switch directly to the horns. Thanks.

white89gt

Did you look at/check the clock spring while you had the airbag out?

RangoWA

If you can't fix it make sure to use a relay and don't wired direct to the horns.

djm1951

Well that is why I am posting here. I do not know what this clock spring is or even what it looks like. I tried hooking a wire u to the relay but it still would not work so I probably had it hooked up wrong.

white89gt

It looks like this (click link). The airbag and horn plugs in to it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2002-FORD-F1...dRGsVf&vxp=mtr

Be careful pulling it, all hell can break loose pretty quick if they come apart when handled with little care.

white89gt

NOTE - you have to pull the steering wheel to remove it.

paker

You cannot break clockspring by turning the wheel with force. If it broke when you turned the wheel, it is a coincidence. Jumping to blame clockspring is hasty,.

1. On my 97, horn is on a separate fuse. Check the fuse first.

2. Horn is a high current device. A poor contact can make horn inoperable. There are 2 horns. If one horn is bad (stuck and without sound), the other horn may not work.

I would connect the horn directly to 12V. Inspect the horn area. If there is only one wire, the horn body serves as the - terminla, and directly mounted to the chassis (ground). Connect battey + to the single wire. If your horn has 2 wires, one must be grounded nearby. Connect 12V to the other wire.

3. If both horns work, disconnect battery, wait 15 minutes, remove the steering wheel, disconnect air bag module from connected wires, and remove the air bag module. Your steering wheel will look like the 1st photo. The thing with dangling wires is the clockspring. One of the connectors is for horn. The others are for air bag, cruise control, etc. The horn wire runs through the clockspring to the horn relay (not horn fuse) in the relay box. Check the continuity between the horn wire and the relay.

4. There is a horn switch sitting right above the air bag module and underneath the skin. The switch is made of 2 thin plastic sheets printed with conductive paint. The thin conductive print can wear out. The brown part in the second photo is the horn switch. You may want to see if this switch works. By carefully lifting the plastic skin from the air bag module, you can separate the switch. Not hard.

I got the 3rd photo from internet. Not sure if it is from F150. Looks just like my 97. Setup is same for many cars. The connector coming from the middle is for the air bag. The other red connector is from the horn switch.

djm1951

All I know is that the horns worked prior to that. Now there is nothing. If I remember correctly and I only looked for a brief moment, but I think there are 2 wires. I really need to get this fixed or put in a kit or something to get it working.

white89gt

Re-read this:

You go too far, and that ribbon will break, especially with force.


DJM1951, is your air bag light on now?

djm1951

my air bag light is not on.