[WOTdieselsmoke]

First fault on my mk3 face mondy today in the 8years since new. The horn seems to have stopped working. As a test, I double locked the car and opened the bonnet, which would have sounded the alarm (expected horn, flashing lights etc.) - but nothing happened so I guess it's connected.

Any ideas on the cause...

 

[compuwiz_uk]

alarm does not fire the main car horn ( it fires up a seperate horn found in the boot instead.

& again only if you have left the car locked for long enough to arm before opening the bonnet & also this assumes the bonnet lock is actually working too as its a common failing so can often be found unplugged ( double locking flash does not work in this case ) or unplugged but then the car side wiring connected together to create a circuit as if the bonnet switch is present ( so that the double locking flash still works - but obviously its not going to detect the bonnet getting opened.

if you had the hazards flash when you opened the bonnet then please ignre the above & you may find the horn in the boot is just unplugged ( often gets done due to the random alarm activations that a faulty bonnet switch cancause & most folks go for the noise maker instead of the cause of the fault lol

as for the horn not workign then they can just give up on you without reason, when i 1st got my mota i used the horn a few times ( mainly pressing it so others could have a giggle at how puny the horn sounded on such a large car :} - it was an early model single squeeeker thingy ) then about 12 months later it just upped & died mid honk & was never heard from again - it was replaced with a more manly dual horn from higher spec early models & all facelift models ( this was a simple plug & play swap out - 1 leccy plug & 1 bolt holding the entire thing to the car )

about the same time i also changed the very sad beeper in the boot for yet another dual car horn to make the alarm a tad louder but it was well insulated by the car so i then connected the 2 horns together ( instructions in the WIKI on here for this mod ) & that made the alarm sound much better

if you want to be 100% that its the horn thats died before actually fixing it then unplug the horn & using a couple of wires & a little 5W wedge bulb or similar connect the bulb to the 2 wires in the horn plug ( car side wiring ), now position the bulb so you can see it from the car or get someone else to press the button & the bulb should light up when the horn button is pressed, if you do then car is fine & the horn itself is fubar so replace it.

if the bulb fails to light up then there is a relay to check on but pretty much its nailed on to be the main horn itself ( especially with how wet its been of late - they dont like water in em )

 

[WOTdieselsmoke]

I'll give the bulb a try if I can find one.

The alarm hadn't armed, as you say a different horn though.

Where is the horn on the mk3 - would I need to remove the front bumper, or is there an easier way to give the horn a few taps with a screwdriver to see if it comes back to life?

 

[siruncle]

give the horn a few taps with a screwdriver to see if it comes back to life

best try this first, after checking fuse.

 

[WOTdieselsmoke]

would I need to remove the front bumper to get to the horn?

 

[V6 Mark]

look down the right hand side and you will see it .Try cleaning the connection to it.

 

[compuwiz_uk]

its under the battery in the engine bay :L ( just incase you have not already found it - been offline for a few days otherwise I would have answered sooner )

 

[WOTdieselsmoke]

ah yes found it. the old one had rust on the tops. got a replacement from the scrappy for a few quid and it works beautifully. :banana:

Just need to find a high curb somewhere to change the one fixing bolt over.

But, Is it easiest to do this from under the car, and will a 10mm socket fit the bolt?

 

[compuwiz_uk]

you may find that removing the grill & passenger side headlight creates enough room to operate from above :L

as for the bolt, not sure as its was a good 8 years ago i last changed mine but a range from 10-16mm should see you sorted ( its either 10 or 13mm from memory, just cant decide which one :} )

also if you cannot work from above with the above bits out & you cant find an easy local high curb then you can create ur own high curb with the help of a brick to raise the curb side by a bricks hight ( i normally balnce the car on a brick per front wheel when doing an oil change as the curb does not offer enough clearance even with me laying in the gutter due to the gut i have but an extra brick worth of clearance on top of the curbs hight = job done OK - when i had eaten too many selection boxes then a paving slab & a brick was needed to give enough clearance :whistling: )

 

[dojj]

building a small wall of brings helps when you can't get a jack underneath either

but yes, the boot alarm horn is in the boot next to the fuel filler flap side of things and is a bit more of a bugger to get to

 

[V6 Mark]

building a small wall of brings helps when you can't get a jack underneath either

but yes, the boot alarm horn is in the boot next to the fuel filler flap side of things and is a bit more of a bugger to get