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Another head scratcher

bison

bison

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Near Peace River-Alberta
last night the interior lights came on by it self while parked.:thinking:
I shut them off by punching the int light button.
Both door jamb switches work fine.

At 4 o'clock this morning i woke up to the horn blearing :ANGRY_~317:,doors are always un locked and keys are always in the ignition.Nope, no attempted stealing in my neck of the woods:nonod:Turning the ignition on made the horn quit after a couple sec.Was kinda cold for bare skin,was 20 c below.Brrr

just now the damn interior lights came on again.:nana:

Do i have Polter gheists here or what:getout:
 
@ -20c your truck is trying to tell you.. I'M COLD DAMMIT!

Um, silly question, no alarm systems, right?

Does cold warp stuff?
 
For the interior lights the orange wire is hot all the time. All the different switches make the ground to complete the circuit. A short to ground in the white wire somewhere could cause it. But to have the horn stick at the same time is bizzare. I do remember reading posts over at the place about the horn sticking on. Just don't remember what caused it. I'm not really shure about the poltergeists but their could be gremlins or nomes. I'll take a look in the 97 gm manuals in the morning.
 
From the 95 gm manual:interior lamps remain on:1. disconnect headlight-dimmer switch. lights remain on, short to ground in white wire. lights go off:2. reconnect headlight switch,light remains on-replace headlight switch. lamp turns off 3.move dome defeat switch to off. disconnect door jamb switch one at a time. note if lamps turn off as each one is disconnected. lamps turn off with one of the door switches -replace that door switch. Lamps remain on after all switches are disconnected: short to ground in purple wire between headlight switch and door switch.

Horn sounds continuously without horn switch being depressed: Remove horn relay: horn does not stop:repair short in dark green wire to battery +. Horn stops 2.connect a test light from relay cavity c1 to battery + . lamp does not light replace horn relay. test lamp lights 3. disconnect horn switch connector connect a test light from horn switch termanal [switch side]to battery +. test light lights replace horn switch. test light does not light : check for short to ground in wiring between horn switch and fuse-relay center or or in horn brush/horn slip ring.
THe interior lights and horn don't seem to have anything in common except maybe critters chewing the wires or gremlins or nomes.
 
I would say your horn switch is getting weak. This has caused a horn to go off in the middle of the night for me.

Do you have remote door unlock with a panic button?

The inside lights could have a module that is going bad. Do they stay on and fade out after the door is shut indicating a fancy module?

Posted elsewhere about 'working' door jamb switches going bad in cold weather - replace them.
 
The dealer sells a shim kit to go under the buttons in the door that the switch pushes against. You can even get them colr matched to your interior. I have them on mine. Horn ???
 
Interior lights normally go out a couple sec after closing the door, A while ago the lights started fluttering while driving.I replaced a bad dr side switch.
I measured both switch pins for depressing deep enough to disconnect with room to spare.No prob there.

Horn has'nt come on since.prob needs to be present to find the cause me thinks.

Could it have something to do with passlock/theft deterrent,its the 98 doing it.

I did have prob before with a buzzer going off continually as soon as the key was in and while driving,i had to pull the module out of the convienience center to make it quit.
It would do that on a few occasions,i left that thing out altogether.
I hav'nt a clue what it does or controls.
 
ak diesel driver said:
The dealer sells a shim kit to go under the buttons in the door that the switch pushes against. You can even get them colr matched to your interior. I have them on mine. Horn ???
Click to expand...
yea, i know that,i had a little rubber cap on the dr side switch pin for that purpose ,before it got bad altogether.
 
bison said:
I did have prob before with a buzzer going off continually as soon as the key was in and while driving,i had to pull the module out of the convenience center to make it quit.
It would do that on a few occasions,i left that thing out altogether.
Click to expand...

Good clue. Generally this is key in ign with driver's side door open buzzer. You replaced that switch that should have fixed the buzzer - might as well replace the other one(s). Also replace the horn contact in the steering wheel.

Otherwise you can do a wiggle test to see if any of the wires have a short to ground.

I would put the buzzer back in for the wiggle test.
 
WarWagon said:
Good clue. Generally this is key in ign with driver's side door open buzzer. You replaced that switch that should have fixed the buzzer - might as well replace the other one(s). Also replace the horn contact in the steering wheel.

Otherwise you can do a wiggle test to see if any of the wires have a short to ground.

I would put the buzzer back in for the wiggle test.
Click to expand...
If that open door buzzer goes off would the interior lights not come on too?
That was not the case,i had buzzer on with int lights off.
 
The switches are a (2) two function switch and have two sets of contacts that go to ground to complete the circuit.

If the dash switch will kill the lights then one of the door jam switches likely has issues.

The driver door always gets more use so I would suspect it first off.

Missy
 
I've had this happen on two different occasions when the morning low was fairly cool at ~ 20 degrees F also. Both times were at a relative's location where the truck was parked outside on a significant incline facing uphill. Don't know if the incline/attitude is relevant, but figured I'd mention it in case other's similar horn experience was also on an incline. First time I was around, heard the racket & quickly opened the hood & pulled the horn relay. Couldn't figure anything logical as the cause, so I put the relay in a week later & no problems for the past ~ 6 months.

Then over the T-day holiday weekend, it went off when I was gone. Neighbors called local police to get it silenced. The officer had apparently just gotten the door slim-jimmed open, when the horn quit on its own. It had blown it's 20 amp fuse in the underhood box. Suppose that circuit's not really designed for lengthy current draw with the horn on continuous.

This many occurences reported seems to suggest a pattern as these trucks age. I'll also see if I can get a look at the horn button contacts; probably also open the old relay to see what the contacts look like.
 
My 87 S-10 had this issue. Horn did not work when I got it. Fuse popped. Horn burned up. Relay toast. 97K and 5 years old at the time.

After replacing those parts horn would go off in the middle of the night. Later it stuck while also using the finger. Collapsing contacts in the horn switch was the cause. Replaced it and never had the issue with it again.
 
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