97V6Coupe

I'll try to keep explanation short with enough background. I have a 97 6 cylinder automatic Miustang that I fixed up for my wife's grand daughter. Oops, she wrecked it before she had even finished paying the 50% that I asked of what I had in it. Hit a guardrail, took out the driver side front fender, bumper cover, headlight panel, and a couple lights, and of course both airbags deployed too, thus the car was totaled with only 56,000 miles on the odometer. Worth saving I thought, after all the work that I did on the engine and other stuff to make it a safe car. So I have replaced the fender, headlight panel, and the lights, and am ready to install the bumper cover. I also have installed a new used set of airbags, and after some trial and error got all of the airbag codes to disappear. Thought I about had it whipped, then leaned on the horn and found no response. Took it for a short test drive, and the cruise control is also missing in action. The car runs and drives great otherwise. Checked the owner's manual, found the engine compartment high current fuse box, and inspected the horn fuse and saw that it was blown. Replaced it with a new 20 amp fuse, leaned on the horn, and after a brief whimper, the fuse blew again. That's where I have stopped for now. Electrons are not my cup of tea, unfortunately. I've been reading a little about clock springs under the steering wheel, since they allow the horn and cruise to work with steering wheel rotation, but all that I have read says that if the clock spring is crapped out, all the steering wheel controlled functions like horn and cruise would be MIA, but there should also be an air bag code accompanying those problems and I do not have any warning lights on the dash at all and there are no odd sounds during rotation of the steering wheel. I think the horn and cruise are on the same side of the electrical circuit, but I am not sure where to begin other than to pull the steering wheel and look for obvious electrical problems where the "smoke got let out" I.e. something got melted during airbag deployment. I did not notice anything when I put the airbag back in, but wasn't really looking that hard for more problems beyond the airbags. Any suggestions would be welcomed, I will probably get back to work on it next Monday on my day off. Thanks in advance for any help you Mustang gurus can lend..

Urambo Tauro

Welcome!

Yeah, it's possible that a wire got pinched when the new airbag was installed, shorting out and popping that fuse. But it could just as easily be a problem at the horns behind that new fender, too. Maybe something's still smashed up behind there. I think I'd start by removing the horn relay- that's the easiest way I can think of to access and isolate either side of the circuit for further testing.

Stepman

From what I've seen, when the airbags deploy, they take out the clock spring.

97V6Coupe

Thanks for the input, guys. Started simple. Removed horns. Tested horns. Although there did not appear to be any damage to either horn, set up a test circuit with a 20 amp fuse and a switchable on / off switch jumpbox. Low tone horn sounded OK by itself. High pitch horn by itself did not sound and popped the 20 amp fuse. Also with the horns disconnected and car battery connected, pushed the car horn button and could hear the high current relay in the engine fuse box click and it did not pop the 20 amp fuse that I had just replaced, so that indicated to me that the horn button worked and there was not a problem such as a short with the wiring to the horn. Reinstalled the low tone horn on the car, and tested it with the horn button and it worked OK and did not pop the 20 amp fuse in the engine bay. Ordered a new set of used horns off of ebay for $25 (even though I only need one of them), but could have gotten one from a junk yard I suppose. Have to have working horns to pass the safety inspection since I have a salvage title.

SInce there are not any airbag warning lights or codes (I have read that a bad clockspring will always throw an airbag code 32 and illuminate the dash warning light), and I now have a working horn, it does not look like the clock spring was damaged when the airbags deployed.

I will investigate the cruise control problem separately, and let you know what I find.

Thanks again.

GT Nate

I'd take it back to whomever did the repairs and just let them handle it. DIY can void any warranty they offer.