'96 850 Wagon - now horn won't work!

[Atif I. Chaudhry]

First my rear wiper won't work....now my horn doesn't work.

It is on the same fuse as the front wipers and those work fine, so not
the fuse.

What else could be wrong? Is this this a common 850 issue? Is this
something I can fix myself? I'm wary of doing anything with the
steering wheel because of the air bag.

 

[John Horner]

First my rear wiper won't work....now my horn doesn't work.

It is on the same fuse as the front wipers and those work fine, so not
the fuse.

What else could be wrong? Is this this a common 850 issue? Is this
something I can fix myself? I'm wary of doing anything with the
steering wheel because of the air bag.

I don't know if this applies to your situation, but my '96 850 started
having all sorts of strange electrical problems when the ignition switch
went bad.

Try wiggling the keys around in the ignition to see if that modulates
the problem or not.

John

 

[Atif I. Chaudhry]

Interesting. Since posting the message I've driven around town doing
errands and the horn sometimes works, sometimes doesn't.

I'll try jiggling the key around next time it isn't working to see if
that makes it work.

Thanks...
Atif

 

[Rob Guenther]

The wires leading to the horn aren't protected all that well... but they are
tucked away behind the bumper, a broken connection here would cause the horn
to not work at all... And most likely one tone would still work (Volvo's
have two horns, one is a higher pitched, the other is a lower pitched horn).

I'd look at the ignition (well i'd get someone to)... Volvo's and VW's are
two brands of cars that (I know for sure, probably other european makes as
well) don't let you honk your horn unless the key is in the ignition, and
you are in position II (I believe, might be position I)... meaning a faulty
connection here could cause trouble for the horn and other systems (radio,
headlights - other systems that seem to only come on with the ignition on a
Volvo).

 

[Atif]

My horn seems to work fine now. Yesterday when it stopped working it
was raining. It has been raining here on and off for the last few days.
Today was the first non-rain day and the horn seems to be working fine
now. I see the next time it rains if the horn stops working.

If it does I guess that means there is an exposed wire or something that
is getting shorted out in the rain?

 

[Rob Guenther]

Dampness causes all sorts of weird problems when cars get older (and the
rubber seals around electrical connections start to age)... I wouldn't say
rain water was shorting out the horn (a true short would cause a fuse to
blow)... I would say the water caused and open connection (breaking the path
for current to flow)... Could have even been cooler/warmer temperatures, or
vibrations - we had a speaker in our old 1991 Golf that would randomly start
and stop working (for days at a time, or cutting in and out at random)...
And a headlight that for some reason when out... I got mad at the car,
kicked the bumper and the light came back on .

Crawl under the car and look at the connections on the horn if you want...
But those are all permanent style connections - the first connections that
tend to go are on contacts (in the ignition, or the horn buttons/button)

Do you use your horn a lot? (seems like it)... I never seem to have to use
mine, I wouldn't even know if it started to act up for weeks... Volvo horns
seem to have a good enough sound to wake up other drivers, but if yours goes
completely you could always wire in an air horn ;-).

 

[Atif]

Thanks for the input...I think your dampness theory makes more sense.

Do you use your horn a lot? (seems like it)... I never seem to have to use

Um..I'm originally a Boston drive. I live in Upstate New York now so it
took a LONG time to learn NOT to honk as much as I did in Boston.

So to answer your questions...I don't use it as much as I use to. I
don't know when it stopped working. But as soon as I noticed it
*REALLY* bothered me because I USE to rely on it quite a bit.