Hello, i am new to the forum but wanted to do a quick short how to for people who have this issue.
"do it at your own risk"
its 1 am and your car has been possesed by the ghost of the dead hooking lady that you took care of last year, then i got the fix to your problemo.
This happened to me at 11 pm , when it got to 25F one day.
to determine that this is your problem, do this. if after wacking the horn button the honking stops then this is the fix to your problem. if this doesn't do it then could be something else
the reason this happens is because , the cold weather compresses the plastic components and since the horn switch activates by a light touch and the bottom part of the pad is super close to the horn cover then just a mild tightening of the plastic due to cold activates the horn.
GUINEA PIG VEHICLE : 2001 FORD ESCORT ZX2
GHOST HORN ISSUE.
well lets get into it.
1. disconnect the battery and don't tell me that you dont want to you mofo, because you dont wanna loose your preset radio station for hollaback girls, just do it.
2. wait a couple of hours
3. get your toolio kit, look behind the steering wheel, take those 2 10mm bolts on each side, then get a soft pillow and put it where your face and chest is, then carefully pry the airbag assembly away from the steering wheel, then disconnect the red clip thingy that gives power to the horn pad.
4. ( keep pillow always in front of you, just in case and be aware as to where your fingers are and where the airbag could deploy) unlikely where there is alway a possibility.
5. if you turn the assembly over, you will see 2 torx or start bolts in there, take them out, then pull the rubber part open and you will be able to the horn part .
6. take the horn pad with you inside your crib, as you can see the foam that goes over it has worn out, and the plastic is a sealed unit, what is happening is that because its getting super cold, the plastic is contracting and making the two side contact,( horn works by making a contact then activating the horn whenever you put pressure in there.)
7. you can go to the junkyard or online to find the part, or to the dealer if you want to pay for the whole airbag assembly as they do not sell the horn pad by itself.
8. or if you want to go super cheapo commando, cut the plastic cover along the edges, the goal here is to cut along the whole pad so that tension can not be transfered by the plastic, so just lookk at the pad and basically just cut along it on the side but leave some points where the tabs are connected so that the pad is still a pad and not two different pieces, and it kind of looks like a taco. ( do not cut the tabs as the tabs will go into the airbag assembly to hold the horn in place)
9. get some electric tape and place 2 strips of tape, starting from the bottom, so as to cover the contact point from the bottom part of the pad. so basically you are preventing contact fro 1 to 2 inches from the bottom part. you wil leave the top part as it is so that you can use it to sound the horn. basically the goal here is to cover about 1/3 of the pad with tape so the bottom part cannot make contact while the top part is free and can make contact when you push the horn. ( make sure that the bottom part is the bottom part by matching it with the steering wheel)
10. then go back to the airbag assembly, and get a dremel or some thick sandpaper and if you look under the cover of where the horn pad is , you will see some cross pattern which is what activates the horn by using pressure. the goal here is for you to sand down those crosses, sand the bottom more than the top because that is mostly the part that compresses with the cold and activates the horn unnecesarily) make sure that the bottom is the bottom by lining up the assembly and checking.
11. after you have taken care of the pad and the pad cover , then its time to assemble everything back in, when you assembly those two torx screws back in , don't make them too tight( as to minimize pressure)
12. assembly the airbag cover, then steering wheel and connect the battery back in.
13. test the system, it should work just as normal when you apply proper hand pressure but not oversensitive as to activate itself why some light touch.
14. the next cold night that you get, just keep an eye on it for its final test and then its done.
"do it at your own risk"
its 1 am and your car has been possesed by the ghost of the dead hooking lady that you took care of last year, then i got the fix to your problemo.
This happened to me at 11 pm , when it got to 25F one day.
to determine that this is your problem, do this. if after wacking the horn button the honking stops then this is the fix to your problem. if this doesn't do it then could be something else
the reason this happens is because , the cold weather compresses the plastic components and since the horn switch activates by a light touch and the bottom part of the pad is super close to the horn cover then just a mild tightening of the plastic due to cold activates the horn.
GUINEA PIG VEHICLE : 2001 FORD ESCORT ZX2
GHOST HORN ISSUE.
well lets get into it.
1. disconnect the battery and don't tell me that you dont want to you mofo, because you dont wanna loose your preset radio station for hollaback girls, just do it.
2. wait a couple of hours
3. get your toolio kit, look behind the steering wheel, take those 2 10mm bolts on each side, then get a soft pillow and put it where your face and chest is, then carefully pry the airbag assembly away from the steering wheel, then disconnect the red clip thingy that gives power to the horn pad.
4. ( keep pillow always in front of you, just in case and be aware as to where your fingers are and where the airbag could deploy) unlikely where there is alway a possibility.
5. if you turn the assembly over, you will see 2 torx or start bolts in there, take them out, then pull the rubber part open and you will be able to the horn part .
6. take the horn pad with you inside your crib, as you can see the foam that goes over it has worn out, and the plastic is a sealed unit, what is happening is that because its getting super cold, the plastic is contracting and making the two side contact,( horn works by making a contact then activating the horn whenever you put pressure in there.)
7. you can go to the junkyard or online to find the part, or to the dealer if you want to pay for the whole airbag assembly as they do not sell the horn pad by itself.
8. or if you want to go super cheapo commando, cut the plastic cover along the edges, the goal here is to cut along the whole pad so that tension can not be transfered by the plastic, so just lookk at the pad and basically just cut along it on the side but leave some points where the tabs are connected so that the pad is still a pad and not two different pieces, and it kind of looks like a taco. ( do not cut the tabs as the tabs will go into the airbag assembly to hold the horn in place)
9. get some electric tape and place 2 strips of tape, starting from the bottom, so as to cover the contact point from the bottom part of the pad. so basically you are preventing contact fro 1 to 2 inches from the bottom part. you wil leave the top part as it is so that you can use it to sound the horn. basically the goal here is to cover about 1/3 of the pad with tape so the bottom part cannot make contact while the top part is free and can make contact when you push the horn. ( make sure that the bottom part is the bottom part by matching it with the steering wheel)
10. then go back to the airbag assembly, and get a dremel or some thick sandpaper and if you look under the cover of where the horn pad is , you will see some cross pattern which is what activates the horn by using pressure. the goal here is for you to sand down those crosses, sand the bottom more than the top because that is mostly the part that compresses with the cold and activates the horn unnecesarily) make sure that the bottom is the bottom by lining up the assembly and checking.
11. after you have taken care of the pad and the pad cover , then its time to assemble everything back in, when you assembly those two torx screws back in , don't make them too tight( as to minimize pressure)
12. assembly the airbag cover, then steering wheel and connect the battery back in.
13. test the system, it should work just as normal when you apply proper hand pressure but not oversensitive as to activate itself why some light touch.
14. the next cold night that you get, just keep an eye on it for its final test and then its done.
