Questions and Answers

Chrysler Lebaron Has No Horns Q. I am interested in diagnosing why the horn does not work. I bought a relay switch and I nor six other people from different automotive stores could not find where the relay switch for the horn is located in the car. I don't know if it is a really switch but I thought I would try that first.

Several people told me to take off some type of clip located on the horn itself and put in on the positive connecter of the battery. I can take the clip off from the horn but it does not completely separate allowing me to connect it to the battery. I don't know what they are talking about.

Can you help me and tell me how and what to do in order to find the problem? Going to an automotive shop is to expensive. The alternator went out and the shop wanted to charge me $450.00 dollars for parts and installation. I bought an alternator and a neighbor helped me put it in. I also needed a tune up which I am proud to say I did all by myself. Can you tell that I am a female?

Also my car shift is off. I have to move the shift bar just a little bit when it is in the "Park" position in order for the car to be in "Reverse" I have to put the shift bar in "Reverse" in order for the car to be in "Neutral" and "Neutral" position in order for the car to be in "Drive" I hope you can understand what I am trying to say. "Park" is "Reverse" "Reverse" is "Neutral" and "Neutral" is "Drive". Can you tell me what I can do about this?

• 1990 Chrysler Lebaron convertible
• 2.5 liter non turbo engine
• Automatic transmission

Thank you,
Paula

A. Good for you Paula! I think it is so cool when a Lady is willing to get under the hood and do her own work.

The horn system is pretty simple to troubleshoot. I always start at the horn and work back. I'm going to assume the horn fuse is good. I put a test light on the dark green/red wire at the horn. If there is power there when the horn button is pressed, I have a bad horn.

If I don't have power there, I move back to the horn relay. The horn relay is in the under hood relay box. I swap another relay from the relay box with the same number with the horn relay. If the horn starts working, I just pop in a new relay.

If I still don't have horn, I go inside the car and check for power at the black/red wire. If there is power there, grounding that wire should cause the horn to sound. If it does, the problem is with the clockspring or horn switch. This is not something I would recommend to a DIY to replace.

As for the shifter, it sounds like it needs an adjustment. Here's how to do it. When it is necessary to remove linkage cable from levers, plastic grommets must be replaced.

1. Set parking brake, then place selector lever in P position.
2. Loosen clamp bolt on gear shift cable bracket.
3. On column shift models, ensure preload adjustment spring engages fork on transaxle bracket.
4. On all models, pull shift lever by hand to front detent position (Park) and tighten lock. Torque screw to 100 lb-in.
5. Check adjustment as follows:
   1. Detent position for neutral and drive should be within limits of hand lever gate stops.
   2. Key start must occur only when shift lever is in Park or Neutral position.