My horn only works when steering wheel is turned to the right or the left.
Asked by Aj Apr 28, 2023 at 07:35 PM about the 2015 Subaru Outback 2.5i Premium
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
Hi. My horn only works if the steering wheel is turned to the right or the left
but not when the tires are pointing straight ahead. How can I fix this? I read
that it might be something called a "clock spring" and that this might be
dangerous to fix myself due to proximity to airbag and that i should fix quickly
because the air bag might go off. Any thoughts on this or something else it
might be? In case it is related, my headlight switch started acting strange
about 8 months before this happened. The bright lights would come
on with the switch was in the off or auto position but worked ok in the manual
On position.) Thank you!!!
10 Answers
The horn thing is a classic clock spring defect. When moved to extremities, left & right, a short closes and current flows. Yes, it's dangerous for a novice to get into this area, so I'd suggest you just bite the bullet and pay for a fix. The headlight problem could be related to the spring, as well, but could be an electrical short somewhere in the column or a defective light switch or dimmer.
beatupchevy answered 11 months ago
disable the air bags before you play doctor
The headlight thing sounds like the light control module. The horn thing is most likely the clockspring as they do fail. This job should not be done by a novice. One wrong move and you’ve got a face full of airbag.
The Clockspring replacement did fix the horn. I replaced the headlight switch (on the steering column) at the same time since it's connected but that didn't fix the headlights. Same issues.
My book shows it’s in the power distribution box under hood, should be listed on the boxes lid as a relay/diode unit.
@GA I don't know electrical . There seems to be about 4 or 5 relays connected with the head lights if I'm reading it correctly. 4 Across the top left of the box and one below those. Which ones would you replace? Thank you !!!
To find out you will need too test each one. Or you could bite the bullet and replace them all, or have a professional check it out. I your case if you don't know electrical that might be best for you pocket book.
Solved: You nailed it. It was the LED bulbs. I didn't think of the bulbs due to having them work for over 2 yrs but I switched them out to the EOM and all worked again. I had heard of the flickering problem and thought I was lucky that we didn't get that - (we converted 3 cars) but had never heard of the "full bright" problem. I'll have to decide about losing the DRL's for the other relays as a work around but for now I can at least drive without flipping my light switch on and off at all stops so I'm not blinding people. Thanks!!!
