"DanimalHouse" (thrillerwa09)
03/26/2018 at 13:42 • Filed to: mazda5, mazda, electrical, help
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"DanimalHouse" (thrillerwa09)
03/26/2018 at 13:42 • Filed to: mazda5, mazda, electrical, help | 0
| 8 |
A few months back, the horn on my 2014 Mazda 5 Touring stopped working. Fuse was fine, the horn itself just failed.
This weekend, I removed the stock horn and replaced it with Hella Sharptone horns, which required additional wiring through a relay in order to provide proper power to the new horns. I disconnected the battery in order to attach the lead from the relay.
The horn works now, but several issues have popped up:
My driver side headlight now only shines half as bright as the right light. Also, the high-beam does not turn on at all
When I turn my lights on, the high-beam idiot light and the parking brake idiot light both illuminate
When the central air is blowing and I to use my wipers, the air stops while the wipers are in motion. The wipers are also very slow.
I’ve also tried removing the power from the horn, but the problems still persist. I think there may have been some voltage issue or something that when awry when the battery was disconnected. I’ve checked most of my fuses, which are all intact.
I’m really at a loss. I’m hoping there is some quick-fix formula, and that I didn’t totally screw up my electrical system.
Any help?????
[EDIT]: Issue has been resolved. I mounted to relay to an existing bolt, which created a bad ground connection for some other systems. I mounted the relay elsewhere and was able to get everything working again. Thanks for the input!!! :)
Takuro Spirit
> DanimalHouse
03/26/2018 at 14:19 |
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That is a strange issue, but it does sound like a lack of power. I know it sounds simple but ya gotta start with the basics:
Battery terminals tight? No corrosion?
Did you unhook anything else when wiring the horn? Are you piggy backing the horn signal from the horn itself to active the relay for the Hellas?
Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
> DanimalHouse
03/26/2018 at 14:44 |
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A few years ago I drowned the horn in my 2012 Mazda5. I was pressed for time since inspection was due and didn’t feel like disassembling the front of my car to do a proper replacement, so I mounted a junkyard horn higher up in the engine compartment but it didn’t work. In my case, it was a matter of not having a good ground. A quick fix with a test lead between a known good ground and the horn got it operational.
Whenever I see an electrical problem with lights dimming or motors slowing down I immediately think grounding. That’s where I would look. Make sure you’ve got a good connection at the battery and that any and all ground straps in the engine compartment are corrosion-free and firmly attached. I did have an electrical problem last year that was quite scary, with the engine shutting down and stumbling, radio turning on and off and numerous accessories not working. It seemed like the end of the world, like I had experienced with the electrical nightmare that was my GTI, but as it turned out of was just a loose negative cable on the battery - whew...
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DanimalHouse
> Takuro Spirit
03/26/2018 at 15:24 |
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Battery terminals both tight, no corrosion.
I didn’t unhook anything else... I even pulled apart the front bumper the next day to verify, and everything looked intact.
Yes, I’m piggy backing the horn signal to activate the relay for the Hellas.
Not sure what else to do :(
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Takuro Spirit
> DanimalHouse
03/26/2018 at 15:28 |
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Did you unhook the horn wire from the Hella relay and hook it back to the stock horn and see if the problem went away?
Did you lengthen the wire?
Modern CAN BUS cars with everything running through a BCM can have all kinds of wonky issues when you change OE configurations.
Something in the BCM might not like what its seeing with the horn wire not plugged in and routed to the OE horn and grounded the way it was at the factory.
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DanimalHouse
> Takuro Spirit
03/26/2018 at 16:48 |
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Haven’t tried that yet. I didn’t change anything with the wire from the OE horn, just plugged it into the relay instead of the stock horn. I’ll have to give that a try.
I’m concerned to daily drive it right now, since I don’t know what else it might start to affect. Considering calling my local auto shop that works on Japanese cars (I’m a regular) to see if they can check it out...
merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
> DanimalHouse
03/26/2018 at 17:36 |
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Sounds like a possible issue with the ground. How did you ground the hella relay? Over an existing screw/bolt? Might be not making a solid connection with the body?
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DanimalHouse
> merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
03/27/2018 at 09:01 |
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You’re right on. I pulled everything apart last night and put it back to stock. The issue wasn’t the ground to the horn, but rather where I mounted the relay, which was to an existing bolt. This caused a bad connection to a host of other circuits and interrupted their ground. Everything now back to normal :)
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merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
> DanimalHouse
03/27/2018 at 20:09 |
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Glad to hear. It’s amazing what happens when the ground isn’t making a good connection. All kinds of silly things.