Horn's dead

the horn on my 2001 was intermittent for a while and then went dead. Fuse is good and there is a relay labeled "Horn." Seeking options before considering going into steering wheel and dealing with potential airbag problems.
1) The intermittent implies short somewhere, right? Most of the wiring around horn is in flex plastic conduit.
2) Is there a manner of testing the "relay?"
2) If I was going to junk yard, from what models of Toyota (or other) could I pull horn, relay, etc?
3) Is it conceivable to just run new wiring to a new horn switch and totally bypass opening the steering wheel?

thanks for whatever input you can provide.

 

Thank you. I appreciate your response and, hopefully, further responses.

I can't hear anything from the relay when someone hits the horn (but maybe my ears are bad). I'll try hard to listen this evening. I put a probe tester into the relay pins and both horns sounded from one pin (without the steering wheel horn switch /airbag being pushed from inside the car) and in another pin, the tester light came on. Again, without the steering column switch engaged.

My local junk yard did not have any Prius' at all. The number on the relay in my Prius starts "90987" and the relay from a 1999 Camry started "90984." Using the Camry 90984 relays (actually tried two of them) did not cause the horn to blow when the steering wheel horn/airbag inside the car was pushed. I switched out another 90987 relay for the horn one and, again, nothing.

I believe this means, 1) the horns themselves are good -- right? 2) that the "relay" is almost certainly NOT the problem because the same configuration of push pins into what are likely good relays didn't solve it either, or same relay didn't solve it, 3) that chances are there is something in the steering column switch.

Other, perhaps pertinent info: All the wiring is encased in a plastic conduit and the problem started intermittently. Again, I haven't specifically listened to the relay when someone pushes the steering column horn swtich, but I can hear nothing from inside the car when I push the steering column horn switch.

Any thoughts you might have will be greatly appreciated. Again, thank you. If you suggest that the steering column switch is the problem, do you know where I might find instructions on how to get to it.

Thank you.