clock spring or relay? i had to hit the side of it to make it stop. seems like a bump or left hand turn makes it go off, luckily, i can just unplug the horns, but would it be as simple as a fuse or relay going bad? it's been doing this for awhile at random, thanks

 

I would most likely say it is the clock spring and its connection to the wheel/horn. The horn iirc operates when it is shorted to ground and the wiring could be damaged or the clock spring is bad.

Disconnect the battery and remove the airbag to check the wiring. I'm not sure what color it would be on a Maxima since it was brown on my I30. If the wiring looks ok then it could be the clock spring. Does the airbag light flash when your horn operates itself?

 

no, you can tell it's something loose in the steering wheel. it doesn't stay on, last night was the worst it ever was honking at every bump and left turn.

 

Yeah it seems it would most likely in the steering wheel area. I wouldn't think it's a fuse or relay since those would only give power to the horns when the circuit is completed.

I'd recommend taking the steering wheel apart and taking a look. Disconnect the battery before doing so, don't want to have the airbag go off on you.

 

I hope you said "Bad MAXIMA!" when smacking the steering wheel!

Discipline is a must! LOL

I feel for ya! I hate these quirky incidents! And when you research and find that you're the only one to post this.

Best of luck and detective work!

 

w/e

 

w/e?

How bout plastic spacer inserts?

More info than I should share after a w/e.

 

pics of said spacers? install video??

 

Pics start in post #25 in this thread: https://maxima.org/forums/4th-genera...lp-please.html

That fixed my horn problem for a while, but now my clockspring seems to have broken as well. The horn honks most of the time. If you plan to unplug the horns as a temporary fix, you should instead pull the relays. I don't drive my Maxima often and found the battery kept draining from just the draw of the relay being stuck on forever.

 

ironically, you and i were the last 2 op to post in that thread. i'll have 2 pull that puppy apart tomorrow as the horn going off sporadically at anyone she wants to is annoying as hell.

 

To this day, my relay is still pulled There have many occasions that I wished my horn worked when crazy women drivers in minivans come into my lane... LOL

 

hey wiz, where is the relay for the horn? i'm pretty sure it's either the clock spring or those plastic contacts. somebody else said you could buy a spacer kit for the wheel, ever try using one of those?

 

Relay is under the hood. Let me take a picture and I'll post it up asap. Haven't tried the spacer idea; seems easy enough though.

 

It's possessed! Your car is mad at you for some reason and it's had enough!

 

There are three horn relays. The first (Horn) is in the box in front of the battery. Already removed from its normal spot, it is the small black one seen pictured in the top right corner of that box. Horn 2 and Horn 3 are in the box on the passenger side and are the larger blue relays seen resting on my fender. I normally keep them in the two adjacent empty spaces in that box. There is also a 10 amp Horn fuse in the slim fuse box between the battery and the fender (blue box in first picture). For some reason I still have this fuse in place. It is possible that by removing the fuse you won't have to remove all of the relays as I have done. I haven't taken the time to check the FSM. I just pulled relays until the horn stopped and my battery kept its charge.

My car only has two actual horns, though there is wiring for a third. The first one (or possible two) is / are between the grill and the radiator. The last (or third) is on the passenger side next to the relay box.

 

i just unplugged the 2 horns for now, i'll deal with this issue later. don't think it's draining the battery as this just started getting bad.

 

If you drive it regularly, the minimal power draw from the relays may not affect you. My Maxima is going on three years of expired registration (still insured though). I drove it 6,000 miles in 2017, but only 1,500 miles since then. I have a clutch slave cylinder coming from RockAuto so I can drive it again. I may do some "backyard engineering" to get the horn working enough to pass inspection. I want to make a junkyard run soon to see if I can pull a clockspring from a lower mileage Maxima. I don't really want to shell out $400 for a new one, but it seems like I need the horn a lot more now that it doesn't work. Some moron came up behind me on a bridge, changed lanes to pass me, then merged back into my lane with me in it because I was in their blind spot. Apparently they have super short-term memory. All I could do was slam on the brakes and let them cut me off. Maybe I'll add extra horns when I get it working again.

 

in the mean time, buy a small air horn and keep it handy. cheap, and at least you can honk at the next idiot.

 

I just checked my Maxima. I pulled the horn relay in the box between the battery and driver side headlight. one and done.