How to open fuse panel?

georgetown350 · 01-05-2009, 11:23 AM

I believe my horn relay or fuse is blown and its in a power box under the hood that I have exhaustly tried to open.

There is a piece of plastic that slides off the right side of the fuse panel but the lid still does not open.

Does this panel hinge open or come off completly? are there tabs that have to be pried off???? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Its a Ford V10.

georgetown350 · 01-05-2009, 11:23 AM

I believe my horn relay or fuse is blown and its in a power box under the hood that I have exhaustly tried to open.

There is a piece of plastic that slides off the right side of the fuse panel but the lid still does not open.

Does this panel hinge open or come off completly? are there tabs that have to be pried off???? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Its a Ford V10.

**Gary RVRoamer** · 01-05-2009, 05:32 PM

I added a shortcut to this in the Ford Chassis forum. I think the horn relay fuse location is common to all F53 chassis.

**RV Wizard** · 01-05-2009, 11:54 PM

Steve, get a bright light and you should find tabs on the cover that you will lift to get the lid to pop off. If this is not the same design as you have, there are several in that area, can you post a picture?

georgetown350 · 01-06-2009, 07:20 AM

Got it open thanks. It did hinge on the left side..... tab on right side..... thanks

Now I have discovered that the horn relay and fuse are ok.

Any ideas as to why my horn doesnt work???

The relay doesnt even click. There is power at the fuse and relay...... Fellow camper thinks that the problem lies between steering wheel and fuse panel.

thanks

Steve

GaryKD · 01-06-2009, 08:15 AM

Hi Steve,
Either your camper friend is correct or the relay is bad. Is the power to the relay coil or the set of contacts that are the source power for the horn? If it is the set of contacts, see if you can supply 12VDC to the relay coil. If the horn sounds, then your camper friend is correct. If the horn does not sound, the relay is bad.

georgetown350 · 01-06-2009, 02:23 PM

My camper friend put a power tester to the contacts and it lit up.

I switched the horn relay with an identical one and the horn did not work.

The 20 amp fuse for the horn looked fine and lit up with the tester however I did not try changing it with another one. ( perhaps I should?)

Im a little bit challenged in this area so when you mention supplying 12 vdc to the relay coil my mind goes blank.

John Hilley · 01-06-2009, 03:06 PM

It sounds like it is in the horn ring contacts on the steering wheel. The contacts on the steering wheel must make the ground side of the connection to the relay. There probably is a connector at the switch end and firewall end of the steering wheel electrical harness.

GaryKD · 01-06-2009, 03:15 PM

A relay usually has a coil and contacts. One set of contacts can be the power side and the other set the cold side. All this applies to a normally open relay. The coil is normally at rest (without power). If you put 12 VDC to the relay coil, the coil should energize and close the power contacts. The horn should sound. Switching the relay with an identical relay is a valid test. If you are sure the identical relay that was switched works, then the previously mentioned test is completed.

The problem, most likely, is in the area John mentioned in his post.

Jocat54 · 01-06-2009, 05:18 PM

Steve, Relays can check good and still not work. I had a light problem on my MH and tried switching relays (twice) and it didn't solve my problem. After alot of unnessary tearing things apart to check them--it turns out that it was a bad relay---had three more that were bad, of course they were all the ones I switched out to try.
By the way after going to the parts store to buy a new $2 relay for $25, I ended up ordering 6 relays online for less than 1 from the parts store.

Good luck,
John

georgetown350 · 01-06-2009, 05:26 PM

Replaced horn relay with fuel pump relay. I presume that if the fuel pump relay was faulty that I would not be able to start the engine??

Fellow camper had his finger on horn relay when I applied horn and said he felt nothing and there was no click.

Tommorow I will poke around the steering column.

Thanks guys

georgetown350 · 01-06-2009, 05:48 PM

There are 3 relays of the same size together: horn, fuel pump and ac clutch.

Just so happens that my dash air is not working..... maybe related... I hope....

georgetown350 · 01-08-2009, 10:08 AM

Couldnt find anything out of the ordinary around the steering column.

So fuses and relays under the hood are ok.

Could there be a horn fuse under the dash that my manual doesnt know about?