2000 Buick LeSabre - 124,000 Miles - Runs Great - ??? Car while just sitting in front of house horn started blasting in a solid sound for no reason?

[Brooklyn Jim]

2000 Buick LeSabre - While sitting in front of house horn started blasting in a solid sound for no reason? Went inside car and applied pressure on horn, no luck then started car and did the same thing but this time the horn made a distorted sound and stopped blasting. No horn now and in the process of replacing the 15 amp fuse. Help. Any ideas. Thanks

 

[Homer Jay]

Sounds (sorry for the pun) like a bad relay. Try swapping or replacing the horn relay.

 

[shrewz92]

Could be the relay, but this a problem across all years and mileage of Buicks. My son purchased a 1997 LeSabre with no horn. Sellers had pulled and replaced the horn relay, after the car's horn would not stop blowing. The replacement relay, a brand new Duralast from AutoZone didn't stop the constant blowing. After several forum searches, we found that the steering wheel airbag's plastic casing will contract with age, and the contraction is enough to cause the case to press the thin copper pads, which make the horn switch circuit complete, and cause the continuous sounding. It WAS an option, several years ago, to replace the airbag assembly casing, but dealers no longer sell them, and many junkyards won't sell them, because of potential liability issues for improper installs. (Our local Pull-A-Part stopped in March 2019 because of the Takata airbag scandal.)

Relays are cheap, so, pull one from a recycle yard junker, install and hope that's the fix. I really want that to be your solution. Test the old relay to see if that's the issue. There are easily found YouTube videos that show the process. The relay panel location is likely in your owners manual. On 1997, it's on the top rear of engine bay, attached to the firewall, and easily accessible. On 1997, the horn relay is second from left. Your location may vary, but the position/location will likely be marked on the relay cover's inside.

So, the next option would be wiring the original horns to a Momentary Switch, or, putting in a completely new horn. We went the latter route and installed a high decibel air/truck horn. Son's 1997 has space behind the passenger headlight assembly for the compressor and pointing the bell of the horn toward the ground behind the plastics of the front end clip, and remain out of the weather. That was, for me, a several hour job, (I am not an electrician and only shade tree repair) but in the end, he now has a working horn.

Post back what your solution is! We'd love to know.