I have been diagnosing why the horns no longer work. I applied 12V directly to the horns and nothing. When I took the horns off the car water started coming out. I removed the cap from the horns and one is badly corroded and the other is starting. Both were very wet.

Is this a know issue with the OEM horns?

Any suggestions for replacements?

 

Not Common if correctly mounted. Come up on eBay often in high note & low note. Don't get ripped off. Max $79 perfectly restored & working. Prior to refurbishing. Just cleaned.

 

See Mounting. Work in progress. Still painting & many things to do like lock tabs, split pins etc.

 

Mine had the opening of the horn pointing down and to the back to the car. Is that correct.

 

No ~ diagonally forward toward radiator with lip turned down with H & L on them.

 

Is that a Mk2 or S type?
Mine were mounted way forward underneath the front bumper.

 

It's an S Type but both are the same.

 

Let me rephrase ~ South African built Mk2's & S Types were identical.

 

Alternate Horns fitted to Mk1 & very early Mk2. Yours look like mine & newer ones with trumpet.

 

This is from the Genuine Original Mk2 Service Manual. No trumpet on early units. Early 4th Edition ~ Publication No. E.121/5 ~ undated.

 

in my S type the horns were mounted to an "L" bracket welded to each side of the chassis "arms", one on each side of the front bottom of the engine, about 4 inches back from the front member. The factory wires reached the terminals on each horn. One horn was missing when I purchased the car, the other one works but sounds like a dying cat.

To me this is a bad place for the horns because they absorb water, engine grease, and road debris.

I replaced them with Series 3 XJ-6 (1980-1987) horns /claxons which mount and connect the same way, mounted them behind the grille where they are better protected, then extended the wires, routing them through existing holes inside vinyl sleeves. Looks "factory", are invisible, and sound like a Jaguar should. ( musically-speaking, they sound like a Major Third chord ).

I got the XJ-6 horns from XJ-6 dismantler David Boger at

www.everydayxj.com

David supplies used but tested parts for XJ-6 owners.

 

But a lot work for 50 years in UK wet salted road conditions.

 

The horns on my January 1963, Coventry made Mk2 sit close up behind the bumper vertically below the fog lamps. They are attached to brackets that are themselves bolted to the brackets that support the bumper. The horns have flared trumpets. Though they seem to work fine, they really look as if they've spent half a century in the muck and bullets zone

As for orientation, the trumpets aim towards the ground at the centre of the car.

 

Thanks Peter. Good to have a reference. It varies dependent on Browns Lane build.

 

On my 1967 S Type there are specific brackets that sit just behind the bottom radiator triangular brackets. The horn brackets are bolted to the chassis legs with two 7/16 bolts. The horns then sit in a side on orientation with the trumpets facing the front. Not sure if this is original but that is the way mine came attached to the car. I would assume that they catch a lot of water facing the front like this so I might have to turn them sideways after a strip them out and give then a good clean. Both work perfectly at the moment.

 

Peter ~ This is the version of the Manual I posted the above from.

 

It's original with Your BW35 Auto Box & cooler on later cars. Replaced the BW DG250 Auto Box which had no cooler.

 

It appears there were many changes in UK Browns Lane built cars over the years. We standardised on SA built cars.

 

Glyn that is the power steering cooler for the Adwest Marles Variomatic system. The oil cooler for the BW35 is actually in the bottom of the radiator which is what the stainless braided hoses feed.

 

Thanks for the correction Rob. You are obviously right. I staid up too late to watch the US Trump/Biden debate in the US. I must not post at 4am in the morning.