The horn on my '91 740 started sounding garbled and muffled, and is now nowhere near loud enough to pass inspection. The dealer quoted me $240 to replace both horns, which seems exorbitant. I'd like to just do it myself. It looks like it's just two wires that lead into the horn, but I can't see where or how they attach. Do I need a Volvo horn, or is it easy enough to just switch it out with a generic one (preferably something louder than the original)? None of the how-to tutorials I've been able to find look like the horn in my car.

 

any horn that physically will fit should work, its just 12V. if its a high power horn, you may want to add a relay to the circuit. standard disk type horns are fine, you want a 2-tone pair for the best sound, a single tone is weak by comparison. the two horns are wired in parallel, and afaik, the wires just plug into the back of them.

I do believe I'd hook up a volt meter across the horn wires (with the horn still hooked up) and test it, verify most of the 12V is getting to the horn.... wear ear plugs!

if you want to wake the dead, get these monsters
(do use the springy bracket they come with, it helps make them louder).

 

Go to a junkyard, get 2 Volvo horns for $10....

 

yeah, or that.

bring a small 12V battery so you can jumper them and verify they work. and ear plugs


a friend of mine has those supertones on his bmw touring bike. they are /LOUD/

 

Cool, thanks guys. Those Hellas are tempting.