Newbie needs help: Horn relay or anti-theft alarm?

[911vet]

Here's what happened:

• At 4am my car woke me up sounding an alarm / horn.
  
• It was a STEADY sound, not intermittent.
  
• I was able to start the car while this was going on.
  
• The sound continued for at least several minutes.
  
• I was trying to disconnect the battery when it stopped on its own

.

Questions:

• Does the anti-theft alarm emit a continuous sound or is it intermittent?
• Would I have been able to start the car while it was sounding if it were my anti-theft alarm?
  
• Does the anti-theft system have a sounding device separate from the horn? Or does it utilize the horn only?
  
• Could this just be a bad horn relay?

Thanks for any help. I just drove the car home and have had it only 1 day. So I'm not yet familiar with some of the systems. It DOES have the factory-installed anti-theft alarm. I don't have a key for it, but it appears to be in the "off" position.

Shannon

[911vet]

bump

[schoward]

Originally Posted by 911vet

Here's what happened:

• At 4am my car woke me up sounding an alarm / horn.
  
• It was a STEADY sound, not intermittent.
  
• I was able to start the car while this was going on.
  
• The sound continued for at least several minutes.
  
• I was trying to disconnect the battery when it stopped on its own

.

Questions:

• Does the anti-theft alarm emit a continuous sound or is it intermittent?
• Would I have been able to start the car while it was sounding if it were my anti-theft alarm?
  
• Does the anti-theft system have a sounding device separate from the horn? Or does it utilize the horn only?
  
• Could this just be a bad horn relay?

Thanks for any help. I just drove the car home and have had it only 1 day. So I'm not yet familiar with some of the systems. It DOES have the factory-installed anti-theft alarm. I don't have a key for it, but it appears to be in the "off" position.

Shannon

I'll answer best I can but experience is from my 81 which I believe is similar enough. I had some weird issues with my factory alarm which i was able to solve so I will relay what I know (on an 81 which is probably very similar to an 87)

1. My factory anti theft is a beeping horn; the horn is physically a separate unit from the trumpet horns that sound when you press the steering wheel. I am certain mine is factory. the alarm horn is hidden in the dead center under front of the car hidden by the big pan. My alarm horn is not as loud as the regular horns and it beeps when alarm is triggered.

2. Typically, no. The alarm should cut out the fuel pump relay when triggered. I had a weird issue with my alarm sounding and i could still run the car, but most times unfortunately the alarm does what it should and cuts the motor out.

It sounds like something with your regular horns. I wonder if there's an issue with wires or something for your horns. I wonder if you could just go into the right front wheel wheel and unplug the trumpet horns to get around the issue temporarily and/or narrow down the problem.

I had a colleague who had issues with his horns due to wire issues in his steering column. May be worth a try to turn wheel etc to see if you recreate the problem. I also wonder if the horn wires are in the bunch running by the battery; perhaps you jostled them when unhooking the battery.

If it is steady horn noise that sounds just like horn when press steering wheel, i would say nothing to do with factory alarm.