hey guys,
my '86 has sat for about 1.5 years now and I'm trying to get it back on the road. I recharged the very dead battery that was in it, and as soon as I hooked it up and completed the circuit the horn sounded continuously, not intermittently (beep, beep, beep). I recently had the entire dash torn out of it, and I'm 95% sure everything was put back together correctly, and I didn't touch any fuses or the cpu. I took the steering wheel off to make sure the horn contacts weren't touching, and it still sounded when I connected the battery. I'm guessing I have a short somewhere, but just wondering if anyone here has ran into this problem before, any suggestions will help. thanks in advance - dan

 

Something may not be plugged in correctly under the dash, or maybe there is a short to ground at the horns themselves. There's a high and a low behind the bumper. Check the wiring there, and disconnect the horns for now. You'll at least be able to trace some wiring without going deaf.

 

so I disconnected the horns and started the car, which smoked like hell, but idled strong. the hazards were flashing and i couldnt turn them off, but after about 10 minutes they turned off. as it idled, I tested various things, stop lights, headlights, radio (no good), blower motor (no good). as I started to screw around with the blower/heater controls, smoke quickly started to billow from my defrost vents and hot coolant started to pour out onto the passenger side floor. Did I not connect something correctly when I put the dash back in? or can the CPU be at fault(maybe at least for the horn and flashers)? I'll update with pics when I pull the dash out if anyones interested.

 

You have a heater core leak or leak at one of the lines going to it. Any little bit of coolant in the area will boil off and leave a sticky film on the windows, and whatever doesn't boil will just soak the carpet. You can access the core without pulling the dash. There is a cover panel near the throttle pedal that can be used to get to it.

As far as the CPU, horn and flasher control is routed through it, so it's another place to check out.