Hi there,
Since I bought my LX in April, I've been tackling a lot of deferred maintenance and repairs. The intermittent horn was the problem I didn't know I had until I was doing some cosmetic work on the steering wheel. I've searched the forums for a quick resolution but the most of them were unsolved or did not apply to me. With some luck, I found the problem relatively easily so I am sharing the procedure hoping that it saves someone's time and headache.
Problem: The horn works when the steering wheel is fully retracted( as in key out ) but stops working when steering is deployed ( key in ). The problem is intermittent, and it also seems to change depending on the position of the steering column
Cause: Bad ground wire between lower and upper steering column brackets
Repair: Upon further investigation, my horn found to be working more than not when fully tilted up and not at all when tilted down. Telescoping adjustment didn't seem to affect the horn as much. And as I found in the research, it was suspected that bad ground through the steering column. So I took apart the column covers and measured the resistance from upper steering column bracket ( metal housing block directly behind the clock spring) to the ground - It was registering some value( continuity with some resistance ) when tilted up and horn working but it went to infinity( open ) when tilted down and horn not working. Through some poking around the column I found that the ground wire from lower bracket to the upper bracket of steering column was looking pretty but as soon as I pulled, it came completely apart. It is located on the right side of column close to the ignition cylinder. So the ground was sitting there making a contact in certain steering angle but was losing continuity when steering was tilted down. Since I didn't have same gauge wire handy and rest of the broken wire felt flexible enough, I repaired the broken terminal and reinstalled it. Now my horn works 100% of the time.
You'll need stubby phillips-head screw driver to get it out. I hope this helps.
Since I bought my LX in April, I've been tackling a lot of deferred maintenance and repairs. The intermittent horn was the problem I didn't know I had until I was doing some cosmetic work on the steering wheel. I've searched the forums for a quick resolution but the most of them were unsolved or did not apply to me. With some luck, I found the problem relatively easily so I am sharing the procedure hoping that it saves someone's time and headache.
Problem: The horn works when the steering wheel is fully retracted( as in key out ) but stops working when steering is deployed ( key in ). The problem is intermittent, and it also seems to change depending on the position of the steering column
Cause: Bad ground wire between lower and upper steering column brackets
Repair: Upon further investigation, my horn found to be working more than not when fully tilted up and not at all when tilted down. Telescoping adjustment didn't seem to affect the horn as much. And as I found in the research, it was suspected that bad ground through the steering column. So I took apart the column covers and measured the resistance from upper steering column bracket ( metal housing block directly behind the clock spring) to the ground - It was registering some value( continuity with some resistance ) when tilted up and horn working but it went to infinity( open ) when tilted down and horn not working. Through some poking around the column I found that the ground wire from lower bracket to the upper bracket of steering column was looking pretty but as soon as I pulled, it came completely apart. It is located on the right side of column close to the ignition cylinder. So the ground was sitting there making a contact in certain steering angle but was losing continuity when steering was tilted down. Since I didn't have same gauge wire handy and rest of the broken wire felt flexible enough, I repaired the broken terminal and reinstalled it. Now my horn works 100% of the time.
You'll need stubby phillips-head screw driver to get it out. I hope this helps.
