1997 Skylark horn turns on at random

[ramack]

A new issue started with my daughter's Skylark yesterday. At random with no one in the car, and it not running, the horn comes on. First happened yesterday afternoon, then again this morning at 3am. I've disconnected the battery terminal until I get home to troubleshoot the issue.

I don't think this car has an alarm system, but not really sure.

Any ideas what's causing this? I haven't had a chance to Google it much, but seems to be some fault with the alarm system (if it has one).

Thanks,

 

[ramack]

I'm getting a little further. I posted a question on a Reddit sub for Buicks, sounds like the horn issue could be related to the airbag pushing in on the horn contacts. It was a big issue around 2000 on several Buick models. A guy with a Le Sabre is having a similar issue.

I've already pulled the horn fuse, but will need to go back an remove the horn relay to prevent the battery being drained. More to come....

 

[HotZ28]

I'm getting a little further. I posted a question on a Reddit sub for Buicks, sounds like the horn issue could be related to the airbag pushing in on the horn contacts. It was a big issue around 2000 on several Buick models. A guy with a Le Sabre is having a similar issue.

I've already pulled the horn fuse, but will need to go back an remove the horn relay to prevent the battery being drained. More to come....

If you pulled the fuse, don't worry about pulling the relay! The relay will not be active without power. I agree that the airbag horn contacts would be the problem. There may be a solution if you read the following thread. I am not sure that that would work for your particular year/car but it might be worth investigating. I did this and no more problems! Slight touch of the airbag anywhere will activate the horn,

Thread 'Buick Roadmaster Horn Honks by Itself? - Here's The Quick Fix!'

Mar 19, 2025

• HotZ28
• Replies: 25
• Forum: Buick Roadmaster Forum

 

[ramack]

Thanks for responding. Yes, seems like a good and clean repair. I came across this video a couple days after widening my search on the web for "buick" instead of just Skylark. Hopefully this will work for the Skylark too.

I'm not convinced though about not needing to also pulling the horn relay to stop battery drain. I haven't checked for additional fuses, but I've come across some fuse block diagrams that have two HORN fuses, not just one. I recall only seeing one and I don't know which side of the coil (primary -signal / secondary - horn) the fuse is on. I would assume it's the horn side. If the horn pad energizes the relay, there will still be a parasitic draw on the battery even though horn fuse is removed.

The Haynes manual I have for the Skylark doesn't show a horn circuit.

But the video you posted is by far the best fix I've found. There are some real winners out there, ha, that I'm definitely not gonna implement! One improvement that I'll do though is apply thread lock to the screws to keep them from backing out over time.

 

[ramack]

According to this Electrical Diagram the horn fuse protects both sides of the circuit, so pulling the fuse will disable the whole circuit. Good!