Unless you need your horn for something else I would simply disconnect the horn. The easiest way I would think would be to find the fuse for the horn circuit and simply pull it out. Of course the other way would be to wait until you stop rolling before opening the door but I am sure you have a reason for opening it early.

Just my 2 cents worth.

I have a pickup of similar vintage. The horn is an important safety device and is a very simple circuit whose problems are normally easy to diagnose.

I suspect that the horn and its circuits are fine. It sounds like the problem exists with the burglar alarm system that is on many of these trucks. The control unit may be fine and the problem is caused by dirty or loose connectors. I say that since it seems to occur only when you open a door or come to a stop.

I would start with the door, and check all of the electrical connections - especially the limit switch that can sense whether the door is open or closed. The problem may be there, and it is an easy repair if so.

I repeat that the horn is an important safety device (at least to me) and I would not disconnect it as part of a long-term solution. Hopefully this problem is simple in origin and simple (and cheap!) to fix.

Good Luck,

Ing. Robert Forbus

My bet is that it's the horn switch located in the center of the steering wheel. Usual design is with a perforated insulator (that has become degraded) and where it is allowing the two contact plates to connect momentarily. A replacement assembly shouldn't be expensive. If you want to approach this, make sure you disconnect the battery to be safe (in re the airbag).

In the one case of opening the door creates a pressure change within the cab and probably making the horn switch close and <beep>. You should be able to emulate by very lightly tapping the horn area where the horn will <beep> where it should not with such minimal pressure.

I replaced the insulator in my daughter's Mazda where it had just this problem.

My wife had a similar vintage Dodge Truck that would do the exact same thing. She never had the problem when doing a chinese bail as you mention, but it would beep constantly at her when she opened the door to lean out and watch for the fence as she backed her trailer around the corner and between the fence and the barn. I am sure the neighbors were happy when she unloaded the new truck and went back to hauling with my old ('97) Dodge.

Dodge claimed that it was a factory "Safety feature" to prevent exactly what is being described above... They also gave her some rot about voiding the warranty if it was tampered with, but I can't see how they can do that beyond horn warranty work - and if you disconnect why would it need to be fixed under warranty? My recommendation to you is the same it was for her: Spend some dollars on a train air horn that actually catches more attention than the goose honkers Dodge puts in their trucks, and then disconnect the factory horn. Those little Mini's get right out of your way when they hear a locomotive coming up thier tail pipe!

Sounds good to me! -- JHF

I am all for the louder horn, but it will still sound off when the door opens. Try inspecting the wires going to the door switch. If there are more than one, disconnect them one at a time and retry. If one of the wires stops the horn from sounding, you can either disconnect it permanently. or wire it through an additional toggle switch that would allow you the option of defeating it only you choose to defeat it.

If the switch has only one wire on it, or none of the wires on it will defeat the horn, you could run the door switch wire through a relay that would be switched by the key. That way the door light switch for your door would only be active when the ignition switch is not in the run position.