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MG TD TF 1500 - Horn Corrosion Mystery - Help

I have a fully restored 1954 TF. Have owned since 73. The horns were working until last month. Cleaned up when restored recently. Only using car rarely while I show it prior to driving more. Both stopped. I could not find a loose connection. When I took off the cover there was huge amounts of orange corrosion and orange junk fell out! The wires were still fine. I will try to attach a picture, I have never seen anything like it! Any idea what happened and can they be saved? Keith in NJ

K E MURPHY

Looks like your horns sit in the dome-down position? Normally they are dome-up. Could be something to do with trapping water that way up and causing circuit failure. Should be an easy fix if they are not fried.

Matthew.
M Magilton

Yes Matthew, the domes are in the down position! I have many books on the TF, and remarkably I can not find a single picture of that part of the car. So if you are sure the domes should be up, that would explain the corrosion, from trapped water. I think that they are so bad, I will order the new ones from Lucas suppliers they claim are as original for $135 US.
Mine look so bad inside.
K E MURPHY

Matthew is correct. Horns on TFs definitely,originally the domes were in the up position. One high and one low tone.

Cheers
Rob Grantham
TF3719("AramIs"),TF9177("Athos").
Rob Grantham

That does look like water corrosion.
Bruce TD4139 Cunha

Was it restored before you got it or after? My guess is the rusty bits were cleaned up with a wire wheel or the like, and re-assembly took place before some light oil could be applied and rubbed off-- to inhibit rust.
Duncan M

Here is a picture of the correct installation of the horns. I have seen several restorations where the horns were installed upside down. I believe the reason this happens is the top of the horns come very close to the pan below the grill. If the radiator is not correctly positioned, the lower pan can actually interfere with the top of the horns. It happened to me. Regards, John

JR Mahone

Another thought. Looking at the picture of your horn, I would recommend attempting to clean up the corrosion before spending any money. Use a soft brass brush (Harbor Freight, Lowes, Home Depot)with some WD 40 or contact cleaner. Then file the points and test. Your horns look good except for the light rust. Regards, John
JR Mahone

Don't get rid of those ones. They will likely clean up. The new "orriginal" ones are not the same. When installed correctly, they are designed to shed any road water from the horn trumpet. Often when people install a anti roll bar, there isn't enough clearance to mount the the horns the correct way and they are turned over so they fit. Though it works for clearance it does open trap water as you experienced (you might want to check the trumpet side of the diaphragm as well). When i installed my anti roll bar, I opted to switch to a pair of modern Audi two tone horns mountainted in the same spot. They sound very similar and solve the clearance problem nicely.
Alex Waugh

This thread was discussed between 30/08/2016 and 03/09/2016

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