Horn Activate itself ''01 Montero LTD (Full Version)

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Horn Activate itself ''01 Montero LTD

  

luisopr -> Horn Activate itself ''01 Montero LTD (6/20/2008 11:01:48 AM)

Hello everybody,

I''m new in the forum but I notice that here you have a lot of knowledge on Monteros so I hope you can help me.  I have a 2001 Montero Limited and the last week at 3:00 AM in the morning the Horn activate itself and the only way I can turn it off was disconnecting the battery.  Then I remove a few fuses that I think are related to the horn.

I replace the fuses the next day and everything goes well until 5:00 AM of the next day. 

I don''t know if the problem is related to humidity or temperature.  I''m from Puerto Rico and the temperatures here dosen''t change too much but both times the problem occur during the early hour of the morning.

I will appreciate any help you can give me.  BTW sorry for my english it is not my first language.

  
lovinmrv -> RE: Horn Activate itself ''''01 Montero LTD (6/20/2008 11:03:51 AM)

I have the same problem with my 2001. 

luisopr -> RE: Horn Activate itself ''''''''01 Montero LTD (6/20/2008 11:56:00 AM)

Guys,

I just called the dealer and somebody on the service department told me that the problem is a faulty Airbag sensor on the drive wheel, I have to change the whole assembly and the cost will be over $1K.

Please some body tell me that there is a cheaper way to solve this.  Anyhow the Airbag thing doesn''t make any sense to me but they are the technicians not me.

luisopr -> RE: Horn Activate itself ''''''''''''''''01 Montero LTD (6/22/2008 10:02:43 AM)

My problem was solved yesterday for $100.  I went yesterday to a guy that specialize in airbags to see if I can found the steering wheel a little bit cheaper than the dealer.  To my sorprise the guy told me that he had seen that problem before.  He charge me $50 for the disasemmbly and assembly of the steering wheel and take the air bag to another guy that charge me $50 more to repair the horn problem.

They told me that inside the airbag assembly there is like a hamburger shape made of two copper sheets.  He open that copper part carefully (the two sides were in touch all the time making the horn to be activated for ever ).  He put some electrical tape inside in form of an X and he close the copper part back.  Everything was assembled back and my problem is solved for $100 box and a few hours.

As I told you before I knew that the horn has nothing to do with the Air Bag system but the dealer will not even try to fix it they will only swap the steering wheel with a new one and by the way it is only one screw to change the wheel.  They will charge you more than $1K for that.

I hope this could help others with same problem.

My suggestion is, if you already decide to buy a new steering wheel give it a try to somebody to fix it.  If it doesn''t work any how you will spend the money in the new one but if it works you will save yourself a lot of money.

Another important thing, do not turn on your car if you have the airbag disconected.  If you do that is very probable that you will need to re-program the ecm (computer).  When you remove the steering wheel there is a circular metal part that is connected with a yellow conector (may be another one I can remember well).  You can remove that from the airbag and connect it back with the steering wheel.  That way you can use your car in the meantime but please do not have an accident at that time.  That metal part will explode in a collision but you will have no airbag to protect you so it could be fatal for you.

lloydjv -> RE: Horn Activate itself ''''01 Montero LTD (7/20/2008 12:31:05 PM)

Thanks for the advice, Luis.

With very little difficulty I was able to repair this problem myself. It appears that the copper sheet tends to flake away internally on the horn pad exposing the contact material beneath and allows the horn to activate during temperature changes.
My wife''s horn is now repaired and works great.

Someone should do a write up on this with pictures.  

  

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