Landrover Defender 200Tdi - Horn not working

Hi Everyone,
I’ve just noticed that the horn on my Defender 90 200Tdi isn’t working. All lights etc are good but not the horn. New battery too.
I’ve been resurrecting the old girl as she’s been in my garage for the last 23 years and I’ve been slowly fixing all the faults and replacing the parts that needed replacing after such a long time in storage.
I’ve replaced the timing belt, water pump, stater motor , reverse plunger, and all the usual belts, filters and fluids.
Whilst checking all the brakes ( which are surprisingly good) I checked the horn and not a peep. Nada.
I’m not that good with electrics on the vehicle, so any advice would be really welcome , I appreciate that a faulty horn is an MOT failure, so got to get this one fixed - any ideas ?
All advice very welcome thank you !

Have you checked with a Volt meter that you are getting 12GV at the horn ?

Clean up connections and give it a whack or two.

miktdish said:

Have you checked with a Volt meter that you are getting 12GV at the horn ?

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TBH no I haven’t. Two things,I’m still trying to locate the horns location in the engine bay… just going through the books now, and secondly, I do have a multi meter, but honestly I’ve never used one in action, so I’m a bit light on how to use one… if you could guide me through it, I’m sure I could do that. First time for everything I guess, thanks for the response though, much appreciated.

Horn is behind the grill in front of radiator. How to use multi meter on you tube.
A simple easy to use tester is a 12v bulb in a holder with a crocodile clip on one wire and a point probe on the other. Ready made ones available on the fle bay

tottot said:

Clean up connections and give it a whack or two.

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+1
It's quite common for the terminals to corrode and lose continuity, so the horn stops. Once the grille is of you can get your fingers in to pull the connectors off, clean and push back on. Will be very surprised if that doesn't sort it.

it is also quite common for the connections in the switch to also wear and become intermittent. If you do not have 12v at the horn the next port of call is going to be the switch.

dag019 said:

it is also quite common for the connections in the switch to also wear and become intermittent. If you do not have 12v at the horn the next port of call is going to be the switch.

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+1 the power for the horn runs through the poor connections in the indicator stalk. Bridge the stalk with wire to see if it operates, then a new stalk unless you can clean the contacts

Right, thanks for the replies… got myself a voltage probe off eBay…and a multimeter (which I’m trying to get familiar with)… trouble is though I’ve got a bull bar on the front of the vehicle making access a bit tight… so I’m trying to get the front grill off to get at the horn… I made a poor choice putting this bull bar on all those years ago… bl@@dy nightmare they are !

Captainflint1967 said:

Right, thanks for the replies… got myself a voltage probe off eBay…and a multimeter (which I’m trying to get familiar with)… trouble is though I’ve got a bull bar on the front of the vehicle making access a bit tight… so I’m trying to get the front grill off to get at the horn… I made a poor choice putting this bull bar on all those years ago… bl@@dy nightmare they are !

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Nothing's every easy on a Landy, it's part of the fun

Al2O3 said:

Nothing's every easy on a Landy, it's part of the fun

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Mind you I changed the thermostat housing on a Disco TDV6 HSE today, that wasn't easy .... or fun ....

miktdish said:

Mind you I changed the thermostat housing on a Disco TDV6 HSE today, that wasn't easy .... or fun ....

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In a day or two it still wouldn't have been easy. But, the fun element will start to emerge

Hi Folks,
Thank you everyone for your suggestions. After cleaning the fuse box with ‘deoxit’ and replacing every fuse , the rear wiper and wash sprang back into life - bonus !
The horn I checked with a multimeter after cleaning the switch in the stalk and there was voltage coming through but the horn was still dead as a dodo. One new Valeo horn installed later and I have my horn back ! Result !
Changed the brake fluid all round , checked the brakes - all good.
Think I’ve now got to the point where I can consider taking her for her first MOT after 23yrs sitting in my garage…
Anything I should check before I take her there ?
I’ve changed the timing belt, all ancillary belts, full service ( all fluids and filters) , new starter motor and water pump , silicone coolant and turbo hoses, all bulbs and wipers changed,, fixed reverse gear plunger , . and a host of other bits and pieces. . …. Ready to go for the MOT ?

How old are the tyres????

The tyres are 23yrs old. But they were brand new when I put the vehicle into storage. I took them off the car at the time to prevent any flat spots forming. Vehicle on stands. The wheels/tyres have been kept up on a rack in the garage and ‘seem’ to be in good condition, no cracks or rubber hardening. I’ve took them to max psi (50) to check them whilst off the vehicle, then released the pressure to the book values for the 90. They still look brand new , Michelin M+S 205R16 on white Rostyle steels.
But I’m going to buy some genuine new Wolf wheels in black and put some bigger rubber on them, just trying to decide what size tyre to buy for the Wolfs and whether to put on extended wheel studs, though I’ve been told I don’t actually need to replace the studs, just that the torque has to be 170Nm. I’m not a fan of alloys, as most need spacers and generally they’re not as strong as steels, especially the non genuine Landrover Far East manufactured variants. Any suggestions ?