Repairing the Horn on my 1993 Mazda Protege
December 20, 2007 @ 4:37 pm
My car wasn't happy with the very cold night we had last Saturday. I could tell because when I woke up on Sunday morning, the horn was going off. After struggling through the snow, I disconnected the battery so I could think, and then went looking on the web for help. Apparently I'm not the first person to have this problem. I'm posting this because while I found a few sites that explained what was going on, none of them had a good (cheap & quick) solution.Disclaimer - This worked for me, but if you electrocute yourself, set your car on fire, or suffer any other negative consequences, it's not my fault! Always take your car to a certified mechanic for repairs, and don't believe everything you read on the internet!
In older Mazdas like mine, the switch for the horn relies on foam to keep the contacts apart. As time goes by, the foam degrades until the contacts are almost touching. Then some very cold night, the foam contracts a bit and presto, your horn is going off! Luckily, you can repair it with foam weatherstripping.
The foam at the edge is still springy, but at the center it's almost turned to dust
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