2001 Boxster Horn

[brandobarn]

First of all, I would like to thank you for this forum. I have been able to replace the convertible top, brakes, and ignition switch with the help of the contributing members.

I see a lot of issues with Boxster horns, whether it is a faulty horn, faulty bushings, or as easy as a fuse. Mine is a little different. I know there is a difference between the "alarm" horn and the "traffic" horn. I am having problems with the "traffic" horn. The horn works fine, by pushing the center of the steering wheel, with the car turned off, but once the car is started, the horn no longer works. Before I attempt to remove the front bumper and have at it with the two horns, I want to see if anyone has seen this issues before, and if there is an easier way.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Brandon

[1schoir]

First of all, I would like to thank you for this forum. I have been able to replace the convertible top, brakes, and ignition switch with the help of the contributing members.

I see a lot of issues with Boxster horns, whether it is a faulty horn, faulty bushings, or as easy as a fuse. Mine is a little different. I know there is a difference between the "alarm" horn and the "traffic" horn. I am having problems with the "traffic" horn. The horn works fine, by pushing the center of the steering wheel, with the car turned off, but once the car is started, the horn no longer works. Before I attempt to remove the front bumper and have at it with the two horns, I want to see if anyone has seen this issues before, and if there is an easier way.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Brandon

Brandon:

Good job on replacing the top!

The issue that you are describing with the horn has been dealt with here before, but I don't remember the exact solution and cannot find the thread.

Do a search here and you should be able to find it. If I run across it, I will post the link.

Regards, Maurice.

[brandobarn]

Thanks Maurice for the prompt reply. I will search again.

Oh, and the top only cost me 185.00 from Ebay, and 7hrs in the Houston summer heat.....but still better than paying 2700.00....

Edited November 19, 2008 by brandobarn

[brandobarn]

How stupid do I feel.....I swear I have looked this topic up and down..but I did find it...thanks again 1schoir for pushing me to search....here is the thread...

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?s...=horn++ignition

Edited November 19, 2008 by brandobarn

[1schoir]

How stupid do I feel.....I swear I have looked this topic up and down..but I did find it...thanks again 1schoir for pushing me to search....here is the thread...

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?s...=horn++ignition

Great work!

Let us know if your resolution is the same.

Regards, Maurice.

[aztecw]

I just had this problem. My horn would work with the engine off, and when the engine was on the fuse would blow as soon as I pushed the horn. Turns out it was the bushing problem. Put in four o-rings and now it works just fine.

[Glyn]

Common problem for this is the air bag spring unit, All power and earth cables are routed via the spring unit, internally this fails and bingo - the horn stops once the ignition is on, turn off the ignition and the earthing routes another way to complete the circuit.

You could try simply disconnecting the cables inside the wheel hub to check for a poor earth and the two multi conectors under the shroud- This rectified my fault- however 6 months later the fault appeared again and at the same time i got the airbag fault- replaced the spring unit and all is now fault free

[secretagent214]

I had this problem a while back. After some help from people in this forum, I was able to narrow it down to a "wandering ground." That just means that the horn ground wire (at the switch) is broken/disconnected someplace. When the car is off, most things are not electrified and the horn grounding just routes through one of those idle wires. When the car is switched on, everything is electrified and there's no more grounding path. Fortunately for me, it was easy to find the broken wire. I took the cover off the horn and noticed the ground wire had broken at the solder connection right on the horn switch itself. It took me 5 minutes to fix it once I found it...I guess that's often how it often is for electrical problems.