I'm doing a frame off resto on my 72 Chevelle. New forward lamp harness, engine harness and dash harness. Plugged it all together and now I am at the Horn Relay. Here is where I had to do some modification. My old relay was done. So since they don't make 72 relays anymore I got one for a 70. Looks a little different but if my thinking is correct it has the same function. Instead of a post for the hot red and black wire, It has horseshoe connection for the hot and still has 2 spades for the green and black.

Here is the problem, the relay is getting hot as the car sits, I have power to the rest of the car but not the starter.
What do you guy's think?

If the relay is getting hot, it must be energized.

http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/data/500/medium/hornrelay.jpg

The positive battery cable attaches to the starter.
Do you mean no power to the solenoid "S" terminal?

No power to the purple wire at the starter. I know the horn relay isn't supposed to be warm so what would make it energized? And am I right on the 70 horn relay. Same function as the 72 just set up differently.. correct?

As far as I know, the only difference is the 72 has one big BAT post and the 70 has two (connected together) BAT terminals.
The 72 is fed from a fuse link from the starter and the 70 is fed from a terminal post on the core support which is fed from a fuse link connected to a pigtail on the positive battery cable.

The purple wire comes from the ignition switch (interrupted by the neutral safety switch) so IF you have power going to the ignition switch, you should have power out on the purple/white wire going to the neutral safety switch.

The small black wire in the picture sends a ground to the horn relay to energize it and the pink/black wire sends a ground to the relay's key minder buzzer.

You said "The 72 is fed from a fuse link from the starter" can you explain that one to me please and any idea why the relay is getting hot?
Al

Both 70-71 and 72 are basically the same but the main power feed wire on the horn relay's BAT terminal comes from the battery end of the positive cable on the 70-71 and comes from the starter end of the cable on 72.
In both instances though, there is a fusible link first thing off the cable.

Not sure what the other two red wires on the 72 relay are feeding.

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=4465&d=1164686013

Well, looks like that one in the middle is black maybe.
Can you see the picture above too or am I getting it from cache?

I think the 3rd wire going to the post comes from an external regulator. I went to a 1 wire alternator which eliminates that wire, somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

Anybody have any idea why this horn relay is getting warm to the touch as the car sits?
Al

Anybody have any idea why this horn relay is getting warm to the touch as the car sits?
Al

On my `72 it was because of a missing part inside the horn button in the steering colum. After I bought the Elky I found that the horn was disconnected at the horn. The battery would go down if it sat for more than a week. One day while working on something else I happened to touch the relay and it was warm. I'm not sure what part it was missing so I just used electrical tape to insulate the contacts in the button. Of course I still don't have a horn but it stopped the current to the relay.

Un-plug the small black wire, (notice if you hear a click) and ring it out to ground.
It may be shorted to ground in the steering column.

Might also ohm out the pink/black wire to ground too.

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5419&d=1169612350