soreshoulder

Supposedly there is already a DIY on renntech, but it says I don't have permission to look at it, so whatever, here we go:

A common-ish issue on the 996/7 is that the horn ring is suspended by four rubber bushings that degrade with age, allowing the weight of the airbag to inadvertently sound the horn under braking, eventually leading to the horn being on all the time.

I did some searching and found this thread, full of useful info, but no photos.
https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...nsitivity.html
There are also posts mentioning clock springs/ steering wheel removal, etc, none of which was relevant to my problem.

Thanks to Tom M for this key part of information:
the part in question is (4 spoke frame with new rubber =~ $50 @ www.porscheoemparts.com P/N 99334708801)

I'd give this a difficulty scale of one beer out of a possible six, one being easiest.

You'll need a T27 torx wrench/ screwdriver and a 19mm socket. Do this at your own risk, follow the service manual for airbag disabling instructions, etc.

Step 1- turn the wheel about 45* from center so you can access the two airbag bolts, loosen the two bolts from the airbag with the T27 wrench:


Step 2- after following all the recommended procedures for disabling your airbag, unplug the yellow connector on the back of the airbag:


Step 3-unplug the horn ground connection at the 9'oclock position on the plate, remove the 4 19mm bolts.


here you can see the failure item, the rubber bushings rot and prevent the trim plate from 'floating' and keeping the connections separated-



this is how the horn button connections look:


the new part is revised with slightly more material.


Step 4- insert your torx bolts for the airbag into the steering wheel recesses and push the plate over the torx bolts and finger tighten the 19mm bolts and snug them up with a socket:


Step 5- I like to reassure myself that there is no juice in the airbag wiring before plugging the airbag in, so I use a test light to short the connection, plug the bag back in, and retighten the airbag bolts.


have a cold one, you're finished!

996_North

Great pics. Thanks for posting these. This is on my DIY list.

TampaTom

this has just happened to my 99 996 Tip. Is there anything different to do with the manual shift on the steering wheel?

Edgy01

Thanks for posting. It's obviously something we'll all have to deal with sooner of later!

996_North

Finally got around to this today. Done in under 15 minutes. Nice feeling to have that fuse back in and horn working.

RPMulli

Just pull the fuse..

996_North

did that for about a year...figured i need something to honk at all the pretty girls, spring is here you know.

RPMulli

That's true.. I haven't "tried" to honk a few times to warn vehicles that I'm coming through.