Horn Problem

[zepza]

For those with the horn problem, I wanted to steer you towards the black hi temp silicone repair. I tried going to Lowe's, Home Depot, and even Ace for the o-ring solution suggested by jporter, but could not find an o-ring #38 or nylon washers of the right spec. Very frustrating. When I took off the airbag, I found that my rubber bushings were all still in place! This intrigued me because everyone else's had tears or even torn all the way through. Nevertheless, the silicone fix has solved my horn problem, and I conclude that my rubber bushings, though still intact, had become exceptionally flimsy, and unable to offset the airbag's weight. Good luck to others with this problem.

James

[zepza]

Great suggestion, Cheap fix and easy. Just did mine!

[tarh33l]

I'm about to do this DIY and want to make sure I'm not going to accidentally have the airbag light come on. I've read through this entire thread about 5 times and I have to admit, I'm still confused about what should happen with the key when doing this. Can someone confirm if these steps are correct?

1. Disconnect negative on battery. Let sit for 30 mins
2. Insert key into ignition and turn to "on" position
3. Move steering wheel to appropriate location(s) in order to remove torx bolts
4. Remove bolts
5. Turn key to "off" position, but leave in ignition (I think this is where I'm most confused)
6. Perform fix
7. Turn key to "on" position
8. Move wheel into position to put torx bolts back on
9. Put bolts on
10. Remove key from ignition
11. Re-connect negative on battery

I feel like I'm over-complicating this, so any advice would be appreciated. One of the responses in the thread makes it look like the key only needs to be inserted and never turned on, but I'm not sure how the steering wheel can be moved in that case. Thanks!

- Terence

[Loren]

The key activates the airbag circuit - even with the car off.

It is best to remove it immediately after positioning the wheel and leave it out until the work is complete.

[Ludovic Ivsic]

This is the support topic for the DIY Tutorial Horn Problem. Please post here if you have any questions or feedback.

Hello, I just received my new steering frame and installed it. I plugged the battery back up and now I get the air bag ligth on all the time as if it's not operational. I did took the air bag out to make sure I had plugged it back. Is there anything to reset the air bag light?

[kbrandsma]

This is the support topic for the DIY Tutorial Horn Problem. Please post here if you have any questions or feedback.

Hello, I just received my new steering frame and installed it. I plugged the battery back up and now I get the air bag ligth on all the time as if it's not operational. I did took the air bag out to make sure I had plugged it back. Is there anything to reset the air bag light?

Any Porsche shop with a PST2 or PIWIS can reset the airbag light or if you have the durametric tool you can reset the airbag light yourself. Perhaps someone in your area can help.

[strawfordt]

Thank you all!

I used the high temp silicon solution posted here. It seems to work very well. I love saving dough.

Thanks again.

[Davidh0430]

Thanks for all the help with horn problem. I followed the info on removing the airbag and used the silicone to reinforce the rubber thingies. Did not take very long and now I'm good for another 10 to 12 years. Dave

[jim_h]

Hi everyone,

Add me to the list of inadvertant horn blowers. Heat seems to aggravate the situation and yesterday was HOT so when I got into my car to drive home from work the horn was tooting away as I pulled out of the parking lot. Removed the fuse for the ride home to avoid ~20 miles of potential road rage.

So I was planning on just buying a new horn cradle - $96 from the Porsche dealer but the silicone or o-ring solutions looks like they are worth a try. But I still have two questions before I start: do I need to pull the steering wheel or are the worn bushings exposed when just the airbag is removed? The Bently manual tells you how to remove the air bag but there are no warnings about triggering the air bag warning light. Is the procedure from a previous post (key in key out etc) correct for preventing that from happening?

Thanks,

Jim

[Loren]

Hi everyone,

Add me to the list of inadvertant horn blowers. Heat seems to aggravate the situation and yesterday was HOT so when I got into my car to drive home from work the horn was tooting away as I pulled out of the parking lot. Removed the fuse for the ride home to avoid ~20 miles of potential road rage.

So I was planning on just buying a new horn cradle - $96 from the Porsche dealer but the silicone or o-ring solutions looks like they are worth a try. But I still have two questions before I start: do I need to pull the steering wheel or are the worn bushings exposed when just the airbag is removed? The Bently manual tells you how to remove the air bag but there are no warnings about triggering the air bag warning light. Is the procedure from a previous post (key in key out etc) correct for preventing that from happening?

Thanks,

Jim

You just need to remove the airbag portion. Remember to disconnect the battery and key the key OUT of the ignition.

[danothemano]

Just did my horn fix tonight. Had a blown fuse and removed the bumper to replace the horns with $20 recycled from eBay. Took 20 minutes to remove bumber but the key is the 2 bolts that are behind the side marker light. One is obvious and the other is just behind the wheel well cover. Just peel it back and unscrew it.

Put in the new horn and new fuse and that is really loud! Thought I was done until I pulled onto the street and the bushings were bad. So I also did the silicone repair.

I got a T30 3 inch torx from Harbor Freight to take off the airbag screws. Yes, they are locktighted in there but break away easily enough...but it does take a little leverage to do so.

I used regular silicone on both sides and it works great. NOTE: there is no particular need to disconnect the airbag connectors. just slightly awkward applying the silicone to the back bottom 2 but easy enough.

Allow 2 hours for the horn replacement/front bumper removal and replacement. And allow 1.5 hours for the steering wheel silicone repair....But I was not in a particular hurry and it was my first time at each, which always takes longer, right?

Thanks to all who furnished this info to my benefit.

Edited June 30, 2011 by danothemano

[Loren]

Just did my horn fix tonight. Had a blown fuse and removed the bumper to replace the horns with $20 recycled from eBay. Took 20 minutes to remove bumber but the key is the 2 bolts that are behind the side marker light. One is obvious and the other is just behind the wheel well cover. Just peel it back and unscrew it.

Put in the new horn and new fuse and that is really loud! Thought I was done until I pulled onto the street and the bushings were bad. So I also did the silicone repair.

I got a T30 3 inch torx from Harbor Freight to take off the airbag screws. Yes, they are locktighted in there but break away easily enough...but it does take a little leverage to do so.

I used regular silicone on both sides and it works great. NOTE: there is no particular need to disconnect the airbag connectors. just slightly awkward applying the silicone to the back bottom 2 but easy enough.

Allow 2 hours for the horn replacement/front bumper removal and replacement. And allow 1.5 hours for the steering wheel silicone repair.

Thanks to all who furnished this info to my benefit.

There is a DIY video for bumper removal here

[rjf123]

Great thread. I just fixed mine with a new frame from Jeff at Sunset. I think it was about $45 shipped. It is nice not having the horn blast every time I hit the brakes. It had gotten so frequent I had to remove the fuse and go without a horn. The rubber bushes were not torn, but were very spongy and soft.

Local dealer said I had to buy a whole new steering wheel! Glad I looked here first since I didn't really know which part was failing from the PET diagrams.

Hi All,

I'm trying to do this fix, but I can't get the 2 screws behind the steering wheel to budge. I'm using a Torx screwdriver which feels like it's seating normally, but the screws seem much tighter than I would expect.

Am I doing something wrong? Are these screws usually this tight? And should I just try harder?

Thanks in advance,

Ross

[zugvogel]

I did the fix myself today and I went to Autozone first to get the Silicone sealant. But for good measure I decided to go to Home Depot next door to see if they have gaskets that might fit.

My rubber in the "bearings" was not broken - but the metal fitting was not centered anymore so I figured if I could just find something that holds it back in the center again...

In the bathroom fixture isle I did find o-rings (Size 31) that fit like a glove and put the metal ring back in the center.

I decided to simply put two new o-rings on each center (front and rear) and not put any sealant or additional washer on it.

After everything went back together, it seems to work like a charm! It could not be any simpler and 2.95 was the price for a box of 10 o-rings.... Thanks Home-Depot!

[kbrandsma]

Great thread. I just fixed mine with a new frame from Jeff at Sunset. I think it was about $45 shipped. It is nice not having the horn blast every time I hit the brakes. It had gotten so frequent I had to remove the fuse and go without a horn. The rubber bushes were not torn, but were very spongy and soft.

Local dealer said I had to buy a whole new steering wheel! Glad I looked here first since I didn't really know which part was failing from the PET diagrams.

Hi All,

I'm trying to do this fix, but I can't get the 2 screws behind the steering wheel to budge. I'm using a Torx screwdriver which feels like it's seating normally, but the screws seem much tighter than I would expect.

Am I doing something wrong? Are these screws usually this tight? And should I just try harder?

Thanks in advance,

Ross

I attach a pair of visegrips to the 30m Torx screw driver to get additional leverage. You are working from the front of the steering wheel so you turn the driver clockwise to loosen the screws. After loosening the screws from the airbag they don't come all the way out. There is a stop that keeps the screws in place.

[John L]

So, I just finished up this DIY. I opted to do the o-rings, size #31 from Home Depot plumbing/faucet repair area. Getting the torx bolts off the back of the wheel was by far the hardest part! I disconnected the battery, put the key in the ignition and turned it so I could rotate the wheel and loosen the bolts. Once they were broken free I turn the key off and removed it from the switch. Then I loosend the torx bolts all the way, they don't come out but you'll feel them come free. These bolts are very short. The airbag was obviously coming free as you could see the gaps around the airbag in the wheel and feel the thing come loose.

My rubber grommets were worn, sagging and had the contacts off center as a result. The horn would beep on bumps and when I turned the wheel until I finally pulled the fuse a few months back to get some peace and quiet. I ended up using 8 o-rings total, 2 at each corner, 4 on tops and 4 on the bottoms with no other washers. I put the T30 torx bolts back into the frame, then put the carrier assembly back together with the 4 bolts and then set the frame into the steering wheel and tightened them down. Then I snugged down the 4 bolts, reconnected the ground and the airbag electrical fitting and fit the unit into the wheel. The T30 torx bolts tighened down a lot easier than they came off and seemed to be much easier the get the screwdriver set into the head. I'll say it again, getting these things loose was frustrating to say the least but persistence and a T30 screwdriver with a vise grips for leverage eventually did the trick

I reconnected the battery, replaced the fuse, put the key in the ignition and closed my eyes while I turned it over. She fired up and the horn operates like brand new.

This site has saved me a fortune over the years and it's really made taking care of my 996 very enjoyable and rewarding. I can not thank everyone enough for all the information and experiences they've shared, especially Loren!

:renntech:

[healthservices]

Ok sorry to ask a stupid question but how do you unplug the airbag? is the connector at the airbag or the cable reel? How does it unclip?

And yes disconnecting it is not a requirement (I just did the horn fix on my black 2000) but I need to get to the combo switch on my Silver car and the bag needs to be removed to do so....

Edited November 19, 2011 by healthservices

[healthservices]

ok the connection is on the back of the airbag itself and it pulls straight back. Do not try to disconnect at the cable reel.

[hoophead]

Turns out fuel injector o-rings are the perfect size. You need 8 of them, no nylon washer. Mine were this part number: 944-110-901-01.

[artcollinsjr]

My manual has the "high tone" horn accessible from under the car, the "low tone" remove bumper cover

[Loren]

My manual has the "high tone" horn accessible from under the car, the "low tone" remove bumper cover

Only if you have small hands... ;)

[odys996]

Does anybody know the torque setting of the 4 bolts for the frame, and the two torx screws for the airbag?

[Loren]

Does anybody know the torque setting of the 4 bolts for the frame, and the two torx screws for the airbag?

No spec on the frame bolts.

Airbag - 10 Nm

[uladzislau]

The o-rings are made of black rubber and I believe are a #38 size – not positive on size number.

I've done this fix on my Boxster and it works just fine. Many thanks for the instructions and tips. Note that the O-ring number is actually #48, not #38. The horn is very stiff right now and I partially attribute it to the washers. I'll try to rebuild the horn without the washers and it's gonna ease it operation. But for now it's perfectly fine.

[kbrandsma]

Congrats