EDIT: I changed the thread title. I found that I have no ground at the back of the horn buttons and need to find where this wire is grounded on the truck. See post number 3.


Hey guys. I need/want some new horn buttons for my '94 f-150. It has the airbag wheel with the two little horn buttons. The buttons don't feel right, like they are jacked up inside(you can hear a cracking noise when you push the buttons). I also want to replace them in attempt to fix my horn. Does anyone know where we can buy new buttons? Ford says they have been discontinued, no parts stores relatively close to me can find them, LMC doesn't list them, Rockauto doesn't list them, nothing. I've been searching for a few days now and have found nothing.

So far I've verified the horn actually works using a jumper wire from the battery, I've changed the clock spring, checked voltage at the fuse under the hood, changed the relay with a known good one, and checked all the wiring that I could easily get to. All that's left is the stupid buttons.

 

The buttons are nothing more than a piece of plastic backed with a piece of metal (if that) that completes the ground for the horn circuit.

Local pull a part may have something.

 

OK. I did some more testing tonight. It looks like I have no ground to my horn buttons. If I run a jumper wire from a good ground up to the purple wire on the back of the button, the horn blows. If I touch that purple wire to the other wire at the button, I get nothing. So, no ground.

Does anyone know where this is grounded? I'm looking through my wiring diagrams, but it doesn't tell me where the ground is located.

 

Are you using the Electrical Vacuum Troubleshooting Manual,Ifso its in there, look on the page for grounds.
I'm at work now but if you havent figured it out by tomorrow ill post it.

 

I don't have that manual yet. I need to go get one. I ended up fixing it for the time being by running a new ground from one of the screws on the steering wheel up to one of the buttons and reattaching the stock ground wire using a wire tap so both buttons work.

 

Not sure on the newer trucks, but my old 81 was grounded through the steering shaft. I had a worn out rag joint that caused the horn to lose its ground. I tested mine by running a wire from the upper shaft to the frame

 

i had this issue when i also lost my cruise control.
does the truck have cruise?
i too (due to safety reasons) grounded the horn button using a jumper.
then latter i found that by grounding the wire at the cruise control servo box -iirc it was the green wire? then i also had my horn back without the jumper up at the wheel.
latter then,i replaced the cruise control servo box and this restored both things;horn and cruise back to factory condition.

 

The horn button circuit is grounded through the clock spring in the steering column over to G200 (located behind the bottom of the RH kick panel). Your truck exhibits classic symptoms of a faulty clock spring.

The clock spring assembly looks something like this:

 

Well, I put a new clock spring in it two days ago and that didn't fix the problem. I too thought it was the clock spring and was apparently wrong.

So the G200 ground is located behind the RH kick panel? I'll start looking for grounds over there, but I don't remember ever noticing any grounds over there in the past.

Also, my truck does not have cruise control. I'll look for grounds again tonight after I change all the fluids. The way I have it hooked up right now works, but that's not the way I want to leave it forever. I'd rather have it function as designed.

 

if your just working on the horn,with no cruise control installed on the truck,or not worried about cruise working,then your good to go with the jumper for the horn,because ground is ground.doesn't matter where you get it from.it comes from the same place.all the metal hooked to the frame/negative battery posts = one solid "ground wire" if you will.
if you ground it at the horn (that's what i did to first get it working) a jumper to the copper and drilled a hole/self tapper to the metal center of the wheel,all would be the same as if you traced it back further and hooked it's ground in it's original place.
you just as good there as anywhere brother,if your just looking to make a beep.

 

Yeah, I'm going to leave it like this for a little bit. Everything on the truck works now except the fuel level gauge, so I doubt that particular ground is hurting anything.