Technical Marea horn problem

[Vulcan1]

Hi,

I've just bought a 2000 Marea SX 105 JTD and have a couple of minor issues that I'd be glad of some help with.

The first one is fairly important the second is 'cosmetic'.

1) I discovered that the horn wasn't working, I also discovered it had actually had both wires pulled off the spade connectors on the horn itself. When I reconnected them I found out why. The horn is permanently on, even with the ignition switched off! How can I get it to work properly?

2) The remote audio controls on the steering column don't work. It still has the factory-fit radio/cassette player. Can I get this to work properly.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards

Gary

 

[bpetersb]

1. Sounds like the horn switch in the steering wheel may be faulty. You need to remove the steering column cowl, identify the horn live feed into and out of the steering wheel. If both are live all the time the contacts in the wheel have 'come together' for some reason. You will need to remove the airbag and check out the contacts. If you don't know how to remove the airbag be very careful, there are instructions in the Haynes manual but unless you are quite sure of yourself I would suggest getting it done by the garage, there are explosives in there!!

2. If the previous owner had an after market stereo fitted he may not have reconnected the third multiplug on the Fiat unit which contains the control wires from the steering wheel controls. If that is connected both your problems may be one fault, you will need to check all the wiring into and out of the steering wheel. Good luck

 

[StuartH]

1. Sounds like the horn switch in the steering wheel may be faulty. You need to remove the steering column cowl, identify the horn live feed into and out of the steering wheel. If both are live all the time the contacts in the wheel have 'come together' for some reason. You will need to remove the airbag and check out the contacts. If you don't know how to remove the airbag be very careful, there are instructions in the Haynes manual but unless you are quite sure of yourself I would suggest getting it done by the garage, there are explosives in there!!

2. If the previous owner had an after market stereo fitted he may not have reconnected the third multiplug on the Fiat unit which contains the control wires from the steering wheel controls. If that is connected both your problems may be one fault, you will need to check all the wiring into and out of the steering wheel. Good luck

:yeahthat:

Almost certainly a problem with the connections or the switch at the steering wheel will be the cause of both issues....

 

[Renegade_8]

When my car developed this fault I re-routed the control to a microswitch which I mounted under the column shroud. I could not pin down the fault even with the centre boss out of the wheel. I decided to stop playing around with the airbag inches from my face, put it back together found the wires behind the fuse box on the drivers side and fitted a new relay to drive the horn. You will have to ensure the MoT tester knows where the switch is to get your ticket

 

[JoskeJTD]

I had a failing horn. Anyway I fixed mine by changing the horn altogether. Now this wont be the fix for you, but when i was trying to solve this problem I did other checks aswell, like check the connections, wiring, steering wheel and relay. Now i changed the relay for the horn with one that looked identical from a daewoo, and this made my horn stay on permanent until i pressed the horn button down. I.e. it had a reverse effect. I would check the relay first and replace it with one from a Fiat Marea. Its difficult to get hold of but its in the drivers side fuse box area and the horn relay is located behind the fuses alongside other larger relays. A stuck relay will keep the horn on all the time. I doubt the steering wheel has a fault, unless the muppet who prevented the steering wheel controls working also messed the horn up?

 

[Vulcan1]

Hi,

Many thanks for all your help and advice, it's been very useful.

I'm glad to say the radio controls now work. The green/blue connector block had indeed not been connected to/fallen out the back of the radio.

I noticed that when I pressed the left hand side of the steering wheel there was a definite positive clicking sound from the contacts and the relay. If I pressed the right hand side it was almost a half-hearted click. After pressing the steering wheel a few more times the clicking improved. I reconnected the horn and it now appears to work as it should.

I may investigate the contacts at a later stage and see if I can get a spare relay, but that's enough for now. I can only take so much success

Cheers

Gary