Horn Activate itself '01 Montero LTD
 

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.

RE: Horn Activate itself '01 Montero LTD
 

I have the same problem with my 2001.

RE: Horn Activate itself '01 Montero LTD
 

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.

RE: Horn Activate itself '01 Montero LTD
 

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.

RE: Horn Activate itself '01 Montero LTD
 

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.

Got the Horn Switch/Air Bag out.. but now what?
 

Hi there.. I was able to remove the air-bag assembly in my 03 montero that is having the same horrible horn at 1 am issue everyone else was having, but after you take off the exploding part of the assembly we're stuck. The actual plastic part that covers where the horn switch sensors are in are fastened with large metal grommets around the frame?? I've looked everywhere for some way to remove this assembly, without completely destroying the plastic?? but i think even in doing so I'll probably send the airbag everywhere like a set of sheets popping out of new packaging?? Has anyone been able to repair this by themselves with basic homeowner tools?? removing the steering wheel and getting the main air bag part out wasn't that bad once you get the hex bolt loose, but I REALLY don't want to purchase a part that is way over priced if I don't have to.

Thanks, I've been taking some photos and plan to post a DIY of at least how to get the assembly out if that will help.

someone just made a thread about this issue with a full writeup. cheap fix too.. just search or browse the list of threads.

some pictures of the job
 

Since this forum helped me fix the problem with my friends Montero I thought I would help help by posting some pictures of what I did.
Please realize that this is not a job for an inexperienced person to try, air bags can blow up and if you drop it it may not work when it is needed, don't cause yourself grief trying to save money. Having said that here it is:
The horn contacts are made into the air bag assembly so the steering wheel has to come off (one bolt on the left side, requires a long 8mm allen wrench), then the four rivets get drilled out. Disassemble the four pieces of the air bag to get the horn contact pad at the bottom of the assembly. You will need to carefully seperate the halves of the horn contact pad and then you can see the very small dots that should be keeping the two copper contact sheets apart. As you can see it doesn't take much movement to squash the little dots to make contact and activate the horn. A previous post mentioned using tape to maintain the seperation needed just don't cover too much of the contact area or it will be very hard to honk the horn when you are done, I cut small strips of black electrical tape and put one small piece close to the edge at the top bottom sides and one in the center. Now just put it all back together, replace the pop rivets and you are the proud owner of a repaired horn. I hope you thought to center or lock the steering wheel before you started so the wheel will be straight after it is reinstalled.

Thanks to everyone on this thread sharing their know-how and ideas, especially drbenz for posting yummy pics. I learned enough to know that I hope I don't ever have this problem;), but you made it so much easier to fix if I do.

Great Write up,Quick Easy fix, Awsome pictures help alot Wifes 2001 Montero Fixed