1997 Nautique Horn location

I believe it's kind of under the windshield behind the air intake. I think I read here at some point that you have to remove the windshield to get to it.

What issues are you having with the horn? It may just be a low voltage problem rather than requiring replacement.

Are you getting like a sort of clicking?

I'm wondering if the 97 might have a horn relay. Mine does not, it just runs right off of the switch. I kind of doubt if yours has a relay either, might that would be one thing to at least check for.

t0769jg wrote: Voltage gauge pegs ..... And hear hear something...... But not a horn....... I replaced the horn switch but still the same??

What direction does the gauge peg? Better get the VOM out and do some testing before just throwing parts like a switch at it again.

The horn is buried in the intake air tube. You have to take off the window believe it or not. Horn trouble is often ground fault. Take the wires off the switch straight to battery and see what you get.

t0769jg wrote: Towards zero....

jhersey29 wrote: Horn trouble is often ground fault. .

Jim is correct. Horns take plenty of power and the reason many times relays are used since the switch at the dash can't take the load. Check your wiring and you can check it by a direct connect to the battery but I suspect you will get the same results. If the coil in the horn has any of it's winding's shorted, it will draw more than the normal amps and the reason you should get an Ohm reading before you go to the trouble of replacing the horn. If you don't what know the Ohm's law formula, there are some pretty nice on line calculators for Ohm's law. You plug in two of the values and the third value will be calculated for you. In this case, you would put in the Ohm reading, the voltage and amps will come up. I'd say anything over 20 amps and the horn itself is questionable.

escmanaze wrote: So here is an even stupider question: Is the horn button the little orange button on the bottom left? When I first bought my boat 3 years ago I looked for a horn and then eventually just gave up...but the orange button is the one I have never found a use for.

If the orange button is spring loaded, that's most likely it.

The horn itself is cleverly (tongue in cheek) concealed inside the air intake somewhere. Not easy to get at.

Although, you can use a multimeter set to 12 volts DC to see if you are getting voltage to:
1.) The input side of the switch (may need the dash breaker set to on if you have this)
2.) The output side of the switch when the switch is pressed.
As an alternative, you can use a simple test light, but that will just give you a yes/no not how much on voltage. The horn switch just deals with the positive side, you want your ground lead going to the battery negative or a confirmed good ground source.

If you find you are indeed getting voltage, then you can check the horn for continuity as Pete mentioned above, by checking the positive and negative wires going to the horn and the multimeter set to ohms. My multimeter actually has a simple continuity mode with a beep, that makes that a little easier.

escmanaze wrote:    I guess my horn is broken also.

Bri892001 wrote: Are you getting like a sort of clicking? I'm wondering if the 97 might have a horn relay. Mine does not, it just runs right off of the switch. I kind of doubt if yours has a relay either, might that would be one thing to at least check for.

8122pbrainard wrote: Better get the VOM out and do some testing before just throwing parts like a switch at it again.

Please don't guess!

Touching the two wires together will not solve a ground fault. Under that dash is mess of daisy chained grounds. The 1997 had the exact same issue and it was simple a loose ground in the mess of connections under the dash. The dash is pretty easy to take off but personally I like the steering wheel off as well. You can then flip the dash upside down and easily check the connections. Also a 2nd hand is helpful since the dash can be a bit tricky to hold and work on at the same time.

t0769jg wrote: Any idea where the ground wire should be grounded to? Thanks jay

The ground daisy chain which goes back and is connected to the engine block.

Updating this thread - Just changed the horn on 97 Ski 176.  The original horn was bad, verified by taking horn wires straight to 12V battery.  Above it was mentioned that the windshield needs to be removed.  I thought that was ridiculous, so: