[T3] Horn Issue

[Gary Forsmo]

Little did we know that Max's comment about his search for answers about
his horn issues would affect so many of our Type 3 owners who have similar
or different horn  problems.  Feel free to chime in.

Jim A. made the comment about certain other components require power ALL of
the time.  Jim noted one such component is the clock.

Although (on my '69 Square) the clock runs by needing a periodic "winding"
to stretch the "spring" to power the mechanical clockworks.
When the clock internal contacts close, the applied electricity stretches
the spring.  And the spring powers the mechanical clock to keep it running.

Which brings the "light bulb" over the top of my head to appear.

Years ago, I replaced my original mechanical/electrical clock with a
battery-powered clockworks.  The clock face, hour/minute hands, bezel etc.
are still original to match the other instruments.

Back to the horn issue: ... (Jim; please read)

*IF* (big IF) the original electrical wire & connector (which is now
disconnected) also goes to the clock-winding circuit & also powers other
functions like the Emergency Flashers(?), Dome Light(?), Horn, etc. ...
could that possibly be why my horn is non-functioning?

Gary F. - Oregon WI

On Sat, Jan 31, 2026, 12:54 PM Sean Bartnik <sjbartnik at mac.com> wrote:

> I hate to disagree with the great Jim Adney, but in fact on early models
> the horn was wired to be powered with the key off.
>
> You can see this reflected in the ’65 wiring diagram (and perhaps others,
> not sure what year it changed) where the power to the horn is routed
> through the same fuse that powers the dome light and the clock.
>
> This did change at some point on later models.
>
> On the early cars there is another weird quirk which is that the brake
> lights are not powered unless the key is on. On later cars, this was
> changed so that the brake lights work whether the key is on or off. I think
> this change was in place by ’68 but not sure exactly what year it happened.
>
> -Sean
>
> > On Jan 31, 2026, at 12:55, Jim Adney <jadney at vwtype3.org> wrote:
> >
> > On 30 Jan 2026 at 18:42, Jesse Hernandez wrote:
> >
> >> I had a similar horn issue with my ~67 fastback draining the battery.
> >> The mechanic rewired the horn to the ignition switch so I can only honk
> >> when the ignition is on.  That was in lieu of disassembling the steering
> >> column.  No battery drain, but in hindsight perhaps not the best idea.
> >
> > I agree that bypassing the problem was a poor solution, but your message
> > highlighted the elephant in the room that none of us had noticed.
> >
> > The horn should NOT be powered when the key is OFF.
> >
> > I have to admit that  I'm not really famailiar with our wiring before
> 1968, but
> > I'm pretty sure that VW never would have left power to the horn with the
> key
> > OFF. There aren't many things that might need power with the key OFF:
> > parking lights (maybe), side marker lights (maybe), radio (maybe). The
> only
> > one that I can think of that really needs full time power is the clock.
> The horn
> > would be a definite NO in my mind.
> >
> > So your mechanic did at least half of the job correctly, by moving the
> horn to
> > a switched fuse.
> >
> > --
> > *******************************
> > Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
> > Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> > *******************************
> >
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