No horn

[Scott]

Hi

My S2 Fulvia is coming up for its MOT. Checking over all the obvious things at the weekend I note that the horn no longer sounds 

If I press the horn I can hear a click-click type sound from somewhere in the engine bay ... but no horn sound. I'm guessing this is a relay. If I look in the left wing area as I stand in front of the area I can see a whole lot of wiring type stuff with what look like relay boxes but I do not want to start fiddling and potentially scupper something else that is currently working!

Can anyone offer me any advice and what I need to check that is horn related

Many thanks.

[Richard Fridd]

if you touch each of the relays you may feel which one is clicking when the horn control button is pressed.check for 12v coming in and out of this relay+clean connections,then check+clean connections on horns+earth connections.if neither horn sounds the fault is common to both.as it happens i have only one horn sounding at idle and two once above idle-a poor contact somewhere,have checked earth wiring.so advice welcome also!

[Philm]

It does sound like poor earth, are the horns the 'snail' type?

[Richard Fridd]

mine are.are there some which are of a different type?

[Scott]

Snail type seems to fit the description of how they look.
I actually removed them from the car yesterday. One is a 'high' horn and the other a 'low'. One is made in Italy and the other in France by different companies. Obviously Lancia were scouring manufacturers for just the right cheeky horn sound when specifying parts for the Fulvia. 

Thanks for the hint with the relay feeling and the likelihood of a dodgy earth. I'll look in more detail as soon as I can and let you know how I get on.

[Neil Lewis]

I've had lots of snail type hones stop working because of corrosion inside.  The Fulvia ones are mounted down low and get loads of water and c**p sprayed onto them.  You can test them off the car by connecting a single wire between the battery and the terminal on the horn and grounding the horn body against the other battery post.  If no noise the horn will need to be replaced.

Neil

[fay66]

Snail type seems to fit the description of how they look.
I actually removed them from the car yesterday. One is a 'high' horn and the other a 'low'. One is made in Italy and the other in France by different companies. Obviously Lancia were scouring manufacturers for just the right cheeky horn sound when specifying parts for the Fulvia. 

Thanks for the hint with the relay feeling and the likelihood of a dodgy earth. I'll look in more detail as soon as I can and let you know how I get on.

I like the thought of Lancia hunting around to get the best sounding horn

More likely a case of a dual supply, a common practice in the Motor Industry to ensure a continuation of supply in case of a breakdown in supply from one manufacturer, & insurance against a strike at one company, & for a host of other reasons.
Something Mercedes didn't do with my 300SE, it's really embarrassing to hear the squeak that comes out of them, I've got a spare pair of Dedra snails that I keep meaning to fit in their place.

Brian
8227

[FulviaFiend]

Hi,

Just thought you might want to look at this item on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lancia-Fulvia-Flavia-set-of-horns-Fiamm-NOS_W0QQitemZ260304178125QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item260304178125&_trkparms=39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A10%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Just in case you don't get them working

FF

[Scott]

Many thanks for the suggestions.
It did turn out to be a an earth issue and wiggling a wire would temporarily get the horn working before it not working again.
Because the wiring was, ahem, a bit ropey around for the horns in general I ended up replacing it all - live and earth leads.
Things are back to how they should be.
Also noticed while doing this work that the captive nut for the bottom mount of the radiator fan was missing. Now that was interesting getting that sorted in such a confined area. It ended up taking longer than the horn wiring. 

[ncundy]

Very good practice if you ever get a Fulvia with an oil cooler, thats even worse - and I guess you've never tried to remove the heater (you start by removing the spare wheel.....)

[fay66]

or try a Berlina heater or radiator bottom hose, even worse

Brian
8227

[ColinMarr]

Brian,

I agree with that. And if you add the complication of a sideways opening bonnet on early Fulvia Zagatos, which means that you can’t get at the carb trumpets, horns and fuel pump without ruining your back (ouch!) then you really do wonder if the whole thing was ever designed, or just happened to work out that way.

Colin

[fay66]

Colin,
Never thought of that, I nearly bought a Zagato with a side opening bonnet about 10 years ago, on that basis from the service point of view it's just as well I didn't, my backs bad enough as it is

Apart from the safety angle, there doesn't seem to be any logical reason for front opening bonnets either, probably not quite so much of a pain as a side opening bonnet but not a lot; when was the last time you had a bonnet blow back over the windscreen? I did it once, my own fault for not securing the thing properly, but I certainly haven't made that mistake again, once was enough

Brian
8227

[Philm]

I think the original reasoning would have been that the existing front 'cross or slam panel' linking the front of the car was already sufficiently strong to take the loads imposed by the hinges rather than an additional scuttle structure at the base of the screen.All that would be needed at the back would be a bracket to carry the lock. As to a side opening bonnet, I think the number of other cars that employ that feature show how well (or not!) that was thought out.

[peterbaker]

When working on my series one sport I always removed the two bonnet retaining bolts, knocking them out with a small hammer while supporting the bonnet, it only took a couple of minutes.