Porsche 944 - Horn Repair Tutorial 

Thank you sir, I hope it helped! Cheers!

Thank you for the feedback! I’ve deployed this concise format of tutorial for most of the 944 systems across the videos on my channel and it seems like people really appreciate that approach. I’m glad you found it helpful and hope your 944 is all the better for it. Cheers! 👍🏼

Thanks Geoff! I would have repaired mine much sooner had I known it was just a loose contact. My state doesn’t require a safety inspection for cars of this age, so there was little motivation to dig in early on. After I installed the new horn units and it was still intermittently working, I was thinking, “well, I paid for these new horns, so we might as well hear what they sound like.” 😂

Hey man, thank you! It’s quite a bit of work to put it all together in a nice, clean package, so I’m glad people are finding it useful. 👍🏼

Thanks Jer! 👍🏼

Wow, that’s crazy! 😂

Cool! Did you find anything strange along the way or was it pretty straightforward?

@@NC944er I had a small issue with the horn not working right when I put it back together. I took it back apart and one of the springs was collapsed and not aligned right. Once I fixed it, everything worked great.

Yeah, in those cases something between the horn button and the steering column is grounding when it shouldn’t be, and pulling the wheel will usually identify it. Could be as simple as the wire for the horn contract ring not being connected to the horn pad and when the wheel turns, the wire flops down and contacts on something metal = beep beep.

The fuse panel jumpers shown here are a home fabrication, just some 14 gauge copper wire with some smaller blade-style terminal connectors crimped onto the ends. You can get all the stuff on Amazon for pretty cheap.

Hey man! If I start to encounter issues there, I can certainly take a look. The main issues are cracked lines and the carbon canister can crack as well, which results in fuel vapor smells in and around the area of the left front fender. The wheel well liner can be pulled to get access to the canister. My vacuum leak repair video covers the valve portion of the system and the rest is just the vapor lines to and from the fuel tank.

If you’re getting no voltage at the relay connections on the electrical panel, I would check below those connections. Sometimes the connectors get pushed down and won’t make contact or the wiring to the contacts could be damaged as well.

@@NC944er thank you so much for your reply, will have a look and see what I can find

Hey AJ, the three contact bolts under the horn pad fall under part number N-010-261-3, but any old M4x15mm bolt should work.

Hey Marino, thank you! Unfortunately I’ve already performed the dash lighting repair on this car and only have a few pictures of the process, but here is the tech article I used for advice - www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/elect-08.htm

@@NC944er Thanks for the link! Would you recommend going to an LED bulb for less heat?

@@marino8034 I haven’t found heat to be an issue with conventional bulbs unless someone is using a wattage that’s not factory spec. It’s really just a poor design in that the placement of the bulbs doesn’t allow them to directly shine on or behind the gauges. The light is reflected up from below using some silver plastic panels, where the coating wears off over time. I repainted mine with a metallic silver paint and saw a marginal improvement. I’ve also seen people apply something like aluminum foil in there for greater reflectivity, but haven’t personally tried that.

@@NC944er Yes. I've seen the foil method done. Thanks very much for answering my questions.

It couldn’t hurt to check and clean all the ground connections around the car. Outside of that, all the alternators will be remanufactured units at this point. Check out the Bosch AL170X. They can be found for $200-$250. Pretty easy to swap them out, just need to pull out the air filter housing and remove the A/C belt.

@@NC944er I have the turbo, got a lot of plumbing to remove to get to it. Thats where the $700 dollar bill came into play. Many hours involved in removing my alternator. I figured you might have a tip to keep me from having to pull the plumbing out. It had a Timing belt replacement job done, I wonder if the gents jiggled a wire or something? It's a nightmare with the turbo 944. The car is fast, btw, it eats vettes an new stangs no prob. The dude said it was chipped and modded, and it almost lifts the front end up under acceleration. Thanks anyways.

@@free-birdrocker8809 Ahhhh, gotcha… I overlooked the 951 part. Yeah, you’d have some extra parts to remove in that case, no secret short cuts that I’m aware of. Sorry man.

I think you’re on the right track… based upon your description of the difference in operation when turning the wheel, I’d put money on the contact ring (or it’s wired connection to the horn pad) or the metal contact tab on the steering column that touches the ring (it should be slightly lifted up and away from the column so that it makes good contact with the ring). If you inspect the surface of the contact ring, do you notice any damage or inconsistencies?

@@NC944er The ring is not completely level. It has two small dents. I'm guessing that might be it? Thanks for your reply. Much appreciated

@@Baner424 Yeah, the metal ring should be smooth and level around its entire circumference. You may be able to look into the gap between the steering wheel and the steering column from the right side with a flashlight and see where the bump on the metal contact rides along the contact ring. It’s possible you could then confirm if the location of the dents passing over the contact correspond with wheel positions where the horn stops functioning.

@@NC944er Hey, just came back to say I replaced it and it works perfectly now. Appreciate the help!

@@Baner424 That’s great to hear! Cheers man!

Hey! The horn circuit is the same when an aftermarket wheels is installed, but the horn contact ring and horn button usually change, and there are sometimes issues with the way they contact the factory components. I’d pull the wheel and inspect those areas. Something has to be grounding when/where it’s not supposed to be.

@@NC944er I got it isolated to the ground on the horn button and replaced it. Thanks! Your videos are lifesavers! I'm not mechanical at all, but I'm learning on my recently acquired '86 944 :)

Hey sure, I got them from seller “stealth-decals.” Here’s a link - www.ebay.com/itm/254414314420?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=5hPJNlUuQda&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=E3wwf34yQjS&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

That’s frustrating, but it sounds like you’re close to figuring it out. It could be the wire, you’d generally see it in pretty poor condition for that to be the case though. Do you get any readings when testing at the cross member? If not, there could be other poor grounds to the chassis/engine. Others have reported that worn u-joints on the intermediate steering shaft can cause the ground the fail. Does the horn operate when turning the wheel to either side? And/or do the u-joints have loose play in them? If so, it’s time to replace the steering shaft. To your point, you could very well run a new ground wire from the rack to a known good ground connection, just route it away from any moving parts.

I haven’t tested at the cross member yet. I got so frustrated yesterday I decided to give it a go another day. I’ll also check out the intermediate shaft. Interesting point there. Thanks for that tip! Any ideas on how to get the crossmember ground wire screw out?? The angle is horrible to get any good force against it. I’m wondering if there is corrosion there where I can’t see since it’s most likely a zinc plate screw in an aluminum crossmember. Also would explain the seized screw. I might get a new ground and self tap screw and just put it back into the crossmember if new ground testing works. It’s the simple systems that give the most trouble.

@@Miracleman069 Very true! 😂 You’re right that the cross member ground screw is almost directly blocked by the sway bar. I would try a Philips head driver bit in a socket/ratchet setup, that should provide more leverage while allowing the tool to be fully seated in the screw head.