ltooz_a6_a8_q7

I tried to honk some friends yesterday and nothing... Before I do something stupid, what should I check first? I don't even know how long it's been like that, I don't tend to honk people regardless of how inconsiderate they are...
How do you remove the steering pad to access the horn switch?
Cheers,
Louis

Jack88

My first guess would be corrosion or wiring degradation around the horn. Still, I know someone else has had this issue, might have been a couple years ago. Worth looking for the thread, maybe...

dvs_dave

The low tone horn sounder on mine failed, so when I did honk (gets plenty of use in downtown Chicago), it sounded very feeble. A friendly toot, rather than a honk. It had just corroded out as the sounder horn faced forward, therefore funneling into itself water/salt spray as you drove along.

Swapped it out with a replacement off eBay (new ones are weirdly expensive) and made sure both sounder horn openings were no longer facing directly forward, they’ve been good ever since (years now).

Swap out is easy on a split grille car as they’re mounted on top of the bumper/frame rail behind the grille. So only the top grille needs to come off. On a fish-mouth, probably a bit more involved to get at, but they’re in the same spot.

MP4.2+6.0

More likely horns, but could be electrical--contacts in steering wheel area, fuse, etc. I would voltage test horn end first.

On both my D3 and preceding C5, I lost horns over time. Typically the low one. On fishmouth D3, I could (just barely) pry up the front sill tray above radiator area to get in there. Pre fish mouth would be easier.

ltooz_a6_a8_q7

Are these 2 horns down at the bottom?

dvs_dave

Yes, that’s them. Easy test is to swap over the connectors, see if the fault goes with them.

ltooz_a6_a8_q7

There's nothing, no horn at all, how does it work, one goes first then the second?

dvs_dave

No they both sound at the same time when the horn is pressed. If you have no power at all to either, then it’s something with a fuse, switch, relay, wiring, etc. Have fun tracing it back.

ltooz_a6_a8_q7

I'll try to fix this weekend if the weather permits.
Thanks,
Louis

ltooz_a6_a8_q7

Checked it out, I could hear the relay under the dash clicking while pressing the steering center pad. The horn fuse is good. The relay seems to click very light, not very loud click. Too lazy to remove the dash under cover to access the relay or the bumper cover to check out the horns. It can't be both bad horns? The relay?
To be continued.
Need to add touchscreen to Q7 MMI screen for CarPlay this weekend,
Cheers,
Louis