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Car's horn has a mind of its own


rtbiscuit

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its happened twice now, but i leave work in the evening and as i drive away the horn keeps blipping, normally as i go over a bump or slow down, but this time it was worse i had to stop the car as the horn went off continuosly, very embarrising as i was leaving from parents evening, it settled down, but i had to turn on and off the engine, and even with the ignition off it was still going. i tried hitting the horn push on the steering wheel and nothing would stop it. the vibrations of starting seemed to have an impact and it stopped.

 

the only mods i've done recently is the grounding kit and the K&N induction kit.

 

my guess is it might be the induction kit where the cold intake from the bumper is might be hitting the horn.

 

so has anyone else ever had this problem?

where is the horn? is it near where the K&N gets its air?

could it be someting else?

if i can't find the proble, would the car still pass its MOT if i disconnected the horn?

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Horn is on opposite side to any CAI (It's on left hand side of bonnet catch) , so doubt that you have interrupted it while fitting.

 

The horn does operate on an earth return so maybe there is a wiring fault somewhere, either at the horns themselves or at your steering wheel (Sprung loaded metal bracket). You may well have disturbed the main earths in the engine bay when you've fitted your grounding kit.

 

Might be worth while, checking it over again.

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I ended up changing mine for some Z sports horns as one of mine started to pack in. Overuse :teeth:

 

Sounds like a earthing problem to me. Check that the bolts ar tight. Quite accessible from a open bonnet

 

where abouts did you get them from, must admit, the standard horns are a bit meek.

 

are the z sports ones like boat fog horns? ;):lol:

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I ended up changing mine for some Z sports horns as one of mine started to pack in. Overuse :teeth:

 

Sounds like a earthing problem to me. Check that the bolts ar tight. Quite accessible from a open bonnet

 

where abouts did you get them from, must admit, the standard horns are a bit meek.

 

are the z sports ones like boat fog horns? ;):lol:

 

 

got them from here http://www.carbeyondstore.com/auto-part ... -Horn-Set/

 

wouldn't say they're any louder but there are a higher pitch. Straight swap with no rewiring or different connectors required

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new twist to the story,

 

i still haven't got round to checking all the connections but found out on a drive home the other afternoon that the problem only arises once i have turned my light s on fully.

 

had been driving around all day no probs, then starts to get dark lights on and with in 1 minute the horn is going off over bumps. turn lights off and it stops. :headhurt: sounds electrical to me, so hopefully with 2 weeks off as of next week i shall get some jobs done

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  • 2 weeks later...

the plot thickens today.

 

managed to have a go at sorting the horn problem, went back over all the earthing points all seem tight and well grounded.

 

so next i went to try and find where the horns grounding points are, and i couldn't work out where they went. so i ended up just pulling the fuse in th engine bay marked horn. got in the car hit the horn button, nothing, thought i had got rid of it as the horn didn't work. haha problem solved. erh nope.

 

drove home from the pool club tonight turned lights on got 10 yards down the road and the horn went off. turn the lights down to side lights problem stops. waited till i got out onto the dual carriage way and turned them back on, beeped for a couple of seconds and then was fine. for the whole 30 min drive, nothing. until i stopped at burger king pulled away from the drive through and off it went again.

 

so it seems:

 

- still goes off even thought the horn has no fuse (or at least the connection from the cabin to the horn has no connection)

- only triggered when the lights are on dipped.

- only happens at low speeds or big bumps at low speeds

 

- because it seems to still happen without the fuse in i think it can't be the cabin side of the horn i.e dodgy connection at the steering wheel.

- bulletmagnet used the exact same earthing points and this hasn't happened to him so i don't think its the grounding kit as all points are tight.

 

so i'm coming to the conclusion that it must be the horns themselves. they seem to have a simple plug in harness to them so i'm going to put the fuse back in and disconnect them direct at the horn. that should temporarily cure it. and then i shall have to order some new horns. noticed the advertised one from the USA on the previous page, wondered if there ws any UK suppliers of them. if not looks like a yank order is needed.

 

anyone have any other ideas. if i change the horns and it still happens then i'm stumped

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turn the lights down to side lights problem stops. waited till i got out onto the dual carriage way and turned them back on, beeped for a couple of seconds and then was fine. for the whole 30 min drive, nothing. until i stopped at burger king pulled away from the drive through and off it went again.

 

so it seems:

 

- still goes off even thought the horn has no fuse (or at least the connection from the cabin to the horn has no connection)

- only triggered when the lights are on dipped.

- only happens at low speeds or big bumps at low speeds

- because it seems to still happen without the fuse in i think it can't be the cabin side of the horn i.e dodgy connection at the steering wheel.

- bulletmagnet used the exact same earthing points and this hasn't happened to him so i don't think its the grounding kit as all points are tight.

 

so i'm coming to the conclusion that it must be the horns themselves.

anyone have any other ideas. if i change the horns and it still happens then i'm stumped

 

From the checks you have done I wouldn't have thought the horns were at fault. If the horn fuse is out and when the lights are on bumps etc cause the horn to blip, I would have thought that somehow the voltage for the lights is reaching the wiring for the horn. Possibly bad insulation at some point.

Does it ever happen over bumps with lights off?

I hope you get it sorted.

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turn the lights down to side lights problem stops. waited till i got out onto the dual carriage way and turned them back on, beeped for a couple of seconds and then was fine. for the whole 30 min drive, nothing. until i stopped at burger king pulled away from the drive through and off it went again.

 

so it seems:

 

- still goes off even thought the horn has no fuse (or at least the connection from the cabin to the horn has no connection)

- only triggered when the lights are on dipped.

- only happens at low speeds or big bumps at low speeds

- because it seems to still happen without the fuse in i think it can't be the cabin side of the horn i.e dodgy connection at the steering wheel.

- bulletmagnet used the exact same earthing points and this hasn't happened to him so i don't think its the grounding kit as all points are tight.

 

so i'm coming to the conclusion that it must be the horns themselves.

anyone have any other ideas. if i change the horns and it still happens then i'm stumped

 

From the checks you have done I wouldn't have thought the horns were at fault. If the horn fuse is out and when the lights are on bumps etc cause the horn to blip, I would have thought that somehow the voltage for the lights is reaching the wiring for the horn. Possibly bad insulation at some point.

Does it ever happen over bumps with lights off?

I hope you get it sorted.

 

never happens with the lights off, only with lights on

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I would say it's definitely not the horn at fault then. I have just checked the wiring diagram for the horn and if the 15A fuse has been removed, there should be no current able to reach the horn from the horn relay. If the horn sounds when the 15A fuse is removed, there is 12V reaching the horn from elsewhere.

 

The only thing I can suggest is tracing the wiring from the horn to the horn relay and see if it is damaged anywhere.

 

If I think of anything else, I'll post it.

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