nckwltn
Explorer
the Gen 3's have a common issue. When it gets cold, the horn will activate. Well, this happened to me (or rather my wife) while I was on a business trip to NYC. She calls me at 4 in the morning LA time and I can hear the horn on the car just blaring. So I proceed to walk her through how to disconnect the battery:
Highlights of that exchange here:
Me: Get a 10 mm wrench.
Wife: how do I know which is a 10 mm?
Me: Disconnect one of the battery wires
Wife: Where is the battery?
Me: There are two wires on the battery, pretty thick, undo one with the 10mm wrench.
Wife: I think I've found the battery, but there is only one wire on it
Me: The battery has 2 wires
Wife: THERE IS ONLY ONE WIRE! (the positive is under a cover and she couldn't see it)
To my wife's credit, she was standing in front of the '03 at 4 in the morning horn blasting full-boar, doing something that normally I would do. With all of that, she managed to get the battery disconnected fairly quickly and went back to sleep.
Well, a little googling indicated that this was a fairly common issue and I found this write-up on how to fix it. I did basically exactly what this write up indicated, but I just used a couple of layers of duct tape between the copper pads around the edge. I was also able to split the two pads without having to cut the plastic holding them in place. Finally, I didn't have large enough rivets, so I used some small screws with red loctite on the threads to prevent back-out.
http://www.pajero.guru/how-to-fix-pajero-stuck-horn-problem-step-by-step-guide/
To confirm what I had read regarding low temps causing the horn to go off, I put the horn switch into my freezer with a multi meter hooked up. It didn't take long before a connection was made and the circuit complete to make the horn go. (Video below)
Looking at the plastic housing for the copper plates, I suspect that the glue has broken down, and allowed air to escape from what is kind of like softly inflated zip-lock bag. If you apply equal pressure to the surface, there is enough air to keep the sides of the bag from touching, but there isn't enough pressure to keep your finger from pushing the sides of the bag together.
With the glue breaking down, the air is able to escape making it easier for the two copper plates to make contact. When the temps go down, the air that is left in-between the copper sheets contracts and allows the two plates to come into contact. (look at the guide linked above for an idea of what this thing looks like on the inside)
Anyway, it's a fairly easy fix, and is freezer tested to work. Am happy to have the horn back so I can let those other LA drivers know how awesome they are(n't).
Highlights of that exchange here:
Me: Get a 10 mm wrench.
Wife: how do I know which is a 10 mm?
Me: Disconnect one of the battery wires
Wife: Where is the battery?
Me: There are two wires on the battery, pretty thick, undo one with the 10mm wrench.
Wife: I think I've found the battery, but there is only one wire on it
Me: The battery has 2 wires
Wife: THERE IS ONLY ONE WIRE! (the positive is under a cover and she couldn't see it)
To my wife's credit, she was standing in front of the '03 at 4 in the morning horn blasting full-boar, doing something that normally I would do. With all of that, she managed to get the battery disconnected fairly quickly and went back to sleep.
Well, a little googling indicated that this was a fairly common issue and I found this write-up on how to fix it. I did basically exactly what this write up indicated, but I just used a couple of layers of duct tape between the copper pads around the edge. I was also able to split the two pads without having to cut the plastic holding them in place. Finally, I didn't have large enough rivets, so I used some small screws with red loctite on the threads to prevent back-out.
http://www.pajero.guru/how-to-fix-pajero-stuck-horn-problem-step-by-step-guide/
To confirm what I had read regarding low temps causing the horn to go off, I put the horn switch into my freezer with a multi meter hooked up. It didn't take long before a connection was made and the circuit complete to make the horn go. (Video below)
Looking at the plastic housing for the copper plates, I suspect that the glue has broken down, and allowed air to escape from what is kind of like softly inflated zip-lock bag. If you apply equal pressure to the surface, there is enough air to keep the sides of the bag from touching, but there isn't enough pressure to keep your finger from pushing the sides of the bag together.
With the glue breaking down, the air is able to escape making it easier for the two copper plates to make contact. When the temps go down, the air that is left in-between the copper sheets contracts and allows the two plates to come into contact. (look at the guide linked above for an idea of what this thing looks like on the inside)
Anyway, it's a fairly easy fix, and is freezer tested to work. Am happy to have the horn back so I can let those other LA drivers know how awesome they are(n't).
