My low tone horn has failed again on my 2008 C4S. This is the third one to fail in about 4 years. The amazing thing is, i never drive in rain or even on wet roads. Why do they fail? How often have you had to replace yours?

I was about to order a replacement from Pelican; they wanted $25 (okay) but over $18 additional for shipping - I just couldn't do it because of price and since I bought from them last time and it didn't last 2 years. I looked at several other sources and wound up buying from RockAuto who's price with 2-day shipping was $23.70.

 

Mine failed on my GTS while under CPO. But has been fine since. It's the only non-maintenance item on the car I've ever had to replace.
I heard from two other 997 owners this past weekend at Checkeditout Chicago who also said their low tone horn failed when we were talking about it.

 

I have a horn out right now, as well.
It's the install cost, not the part.
Here's a ridiculous quote from an Indy:



Will replace it when the front clip is off, but otherwise, don't use the horn...unless someone is backing up into me.
Sounds real wimpy with a single horn, but still works.

 

Last weekend I replaced mine. (997 Base, 6 speed manual, 2005, no front oil cooler in the middle...). Started to get out all screws/fasteners at the underside of the bumper and in the wheelarches.
While looking at the 'gap' in the middle of the bumper (still underside...) I pulled it a bit downwards and tried to reach the horn with my hand... Surprisingly it was easy to reach the nut at the upper side of the low tone horn. Via the small hole under the horns I could reach the connector.
Took it off, put the new one in place, tighten the nut, the connector and fastened all the screws and voila, low tone horn replaced. Look at my watch...60 minutes work (including taking off front wheels and coffee...). OEM horn Euro 35,- at this side of the ocean.

If it will fail in the future I will replace it with an old fashioned disc shaped Hella horn.

Good luck with replacing,

Dick964

 

Often and then the high tone horn does hardly anything. The low tone horn is the primary sound emitter. When the horns on one of my vehicles fails I usually replace it with a Marco Tornado self contained air horn. Have those on 3 of the Porsches now (Cayenne & both 928s) and on the Cayenne it's combined with a 2nd Marco Hurricane too.

Here's the Cayenne with both installed (wiring has to be upgraded with a relay if doing both - for one you're probably fine).

 

Holy $hit Pete, I bet that you scare 18 wheelers with that setup!

Dick964 - That's how I'll do it: through the gap at the bottom. I seem to recall that someone wrote a DIY that told of this approach.

 

My philosophy is when you need a horn, you need a horn!

The other nice thing about the air horns is that a quick press on the button kind of makes them wheeze instead of blow so it's nice as a friendly reminder that the light has turned green and you should look up from your phone...and go.

 

Exactly, that works, only the hands must not be too big ;-)
Alternatively, you remove the front and clean the radiator gaps and install protective grilles in this context.

 

Pete, you don't mention installing the Marco horns on your 997's. Is that by choice or because it will not fit within the confined space of the installation area??

I'm really looking forward to your answer because my low tone horn went out (again!!) and I've had it with this problem. Hopefully the Marco will solve or at least provide greater resilience and durability.

 

I've not put the Marcos into a 997 yet as both my cars have working horns so not sure where or how to mount them. Have them in my 928s though.

I actually have a complete pair of tested and working 997 horns for sale. Think they're on Facebook marketplace, but if you're interested in those, let me know.

 

Mine was out when I bought it at 18,000 miles& three years old. The mechanic at the dealership noticed right away when they beeped the horn to back into the shop for the PPI.

I didnt mention this to my local dealership when I took it in for the 20,000 mile $ervice (which includes checking the horns - among a very lengthy list of items on the beautiful laminated sheet they gave me to justify the cost)

I did mention that they missed it to the PCNA service follow up call I got the next day. Made me wonder what else they didnt do or missed. Dealership called me immediately asking me to come in and they would replace the horn free of charge. I offered to pay for the parts. But no.

Strike one for the dealership.

 

Thanks for the quick reply and the offer. However, I'm really trying to get away from the factory horns as they seem to be a constant source of failure and frustration. My 1990 964 C4 also had problems with the horns and which I had to replace three times.

I just occurred to me that if maybe living in the Caribbean with its constant and copious rainfall might just be the cause of these horn failures. Profuse downpours and associated puddles are very frequent events which in turn may be causing their short life.

 

2009 C2S 193K miles

Failure is rather rare. There was a rash of failures around 2012 or so per posts here.... mine failed back then. Appears there was a bad run at the time. Otherwise, hard to say how many fail... I suspect it is rather rare.

Peace
Bruce in Philly (now Atlanta)

 

Low tone horn is also failed on my 09. Came to me that way.