My horn on my 93 Classic sedan is very weak. I feel a loud horn is essential for safe driving. I remember the horn on my 87 240 was much louder. I want to install the Hella air horns you can get from ipd. Does anyone else have these? Any complaints / praises? Thanks!

The horn on my '80 245 DL is pretty terrible as well.

I swapped out a horn from an older one, but it didn't do much. It was a little better.

The horn in my '76 245 worked real nice. Nice and loud. I tried putting it in my '80, and it wouldn't work. Put it back in the '76 and it was good as could be.

This makes me suspect the wiring is faulty in my '80.

It's still frustrating not having a nice horn...

The horns in my '77 244 and the '86 244 are nice and loud.
--
If you listen to the radio in Portland, OR, you may know me as "Portland's Favorite Soul Brother!"

I was thinking of swapping the horn from an earlier 240 into my 93. Would this not work?

That is a really shortsighted (cost saving?) in an otherwise completely solid and well-engineered car.

What could Volvo have been thinking? A single horn just doesn't cut it.

Hmmmmm. I got a second Volvo horn and dual-horn bracket from PNP. Hooked it up,
didn't blow a fuse.

Been ok for three years now. Louder--and, the dual tone cuts through the other guy's mega-bass a lot better.

But they still have a giveaway European sound (which says, not macho, which says, I don't have a gun under my seat so you can still do what you want).

I like the suggestion below about swapping to a Chevy truck horn. But I've read the grounding on American car horns is different--any problem in setting them up?

Doug Harvey

This is the biggest complaint that I have about my 93..........the miserable piss-ant horn. I'd like to get a train horn for the car, but I haven't found anything like that except for those that use a big air compressor. I'd like to know what others reading this list have done to replace the piss-ant with a real horn........something with hair on it.

The horn(s) on my car seem to be the originals. They work fine and are loud enough but they sound so wimpy they almost can't be taken seriously. They have that funny little Euro car 'beep-beep' sort of quality. Besides the air horns, which I wouldn't buy in any event, IPD has replacement horns that are louder than the original ones. See them here.
They note On cars originally equipped with just a single horn (some 700 models) an additional relay may be needed to supply proper amperage.
Actually I think I'll just go to the p'n'p and find a good set of horns off of a Chevy truck. I like the tone of the horns on my S-10.
--
'80 DL 2 dr

I installed hella air horns on my '89 240. They are freakin loud... Jsut that the tone is somewhat "clown-like". I would have liked a deeper sound.

Anyhow, they do for know.

Note that many poeple complain the the air compressor of air horns has a poor lifespan.

Maybe worth your dollar to just get a set of dual tone "regular" 12v horns.

Air horns look nice though, I put my red ones behind the grill. The compressor in the comparment.

Greg Mustang

The aluminum gets dirty. Use the horn to make it louder. My 1974 BMW motorcycle horn was getting weak, so I cleaned it with a brush (outside) and then tried it. The longer I held the button, the louder it got. I finally went out to the country and let the horn sound off for at least 5 minutes, it helped a lot.

Autozone, Pepboys, etc. sell single wire horns that can be heard easily.
--
95 854T, 88 780, 88 245, 01 A4 Audi

Count me in on the "weak horn" problem, too -- mine aren't "Classics", but just two ordinary 1993 240's.
I'm going to tackle this shortly. It can't be "impossible" to fix, regarding the "unique wiring" reported -- anything can be circumvented using the right sort of relay, which is what I'm going to do as soon as I get around to it. I'll post the outcome here.

It's terrible. To the point where I just failed my state safety inspection. How embarassing! How do we fix this??

Would appreciate a copy of any responses/suggestions being sent to me at alan.digilio@verizon.net.

The best word I can find to describe the horn on my 93 is "feeble". Surely there has to be a better horn than this?

I totally agree. I thought my horn was bad when I purchased my '93 Classic. I had my handy Volvo guy replace the horn and it sounds just as pitiful. What does the IPD horn sound like? My '91 SE Wagon had a great sounding Volvo quality horn...

Wow:

I have EXACTLY the same problem with the (single) horn on my '93 Classic (#693 of 1600), and was wondering if this was common. My first thought was to order a replacement from Volvo, and the dealer told me it was unavailable. I then thought I'd install dual horns from an earlier 240, but no luck as the wiring and relay system is completely different. I verified this with my favorite Volvo-Guru - Bob Haire, who confirm that the single horn system is among several electrical issues which are unique to the final year. As a last resort, I may install the IPD/Hella Air Horn kit, but would really like to keep the car as stock as possible and restore the original horn. I thought I 'might' try to disassemble the horn and clean, lube all parts, then trace wiring back through the relay to ensure proper connections.

I agree it's a crucial safety issue, especially here in Sunny Florida with young/old/geriatric/tourist/drunk drugged and just plain BAD drivers. I'll hope for both our sakes that someone responds with a straightforard 'fix'.

Best of Luck!
-Dennis
'83 242 Turbo
'84 245
'89 244 (teenage kidmobile)
'93 244 Classic

I have a 93 with a weak horn as well. I recently got a dual horn setup from the pick and pull and it looks like it would wire up just fine. What's the issue with the wiring? The dual horn setup only has 2 wires and I think that's what on my 93. Is it the lack of a relay on the eralier or 93 setup?

Well, I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with this problem. Drivers are the same here in Cincinnati, OH, Dennis. You NEED to be heard.

I think the problem lies in the single horn. Both pitches combined in one just doesn't work.

I guess the best fix is the Hella air horn kit. I'm going to order it soon.

I understand you want to keep your Classic original (so do I), but we have to consider the safety hazard.

Good luck to everybody!

Patrick

I really like the solution which involves just blowing the horn for an extended period.

That fix could be really useful right outside my son's bedroom window at about 8:00 am on Saturday morning, though it might annoy the rest of the neighbors, so I guess I'll just plan a trip to the country - or else try it inside my (closed) garage, though I'll be sure to wear headphones to protect hearing.

On a recent trip to Spain. I went to a Pick and Pull and found a set of Bosh horn's on a 240 deisel sedan. The horn's are about as round as a compact disk.I installed them on my 83GL and they are SUPER LOUD! I sent back the Hella horn's I had ordered from IPD.