Peugeot 307 horn intermittent not working

I bought this car in 2009 and it had the intermittent horn problem from the start, despite a 300 Euro "service". Bashing the airbag would get it to work but, next day, it would be as bad as before.

It turned out to be a very common Peugeot fault and it's easy to see why. The clever Peugeot designer has put a brass or bronze tab in contact with a "mazac" (zinc alloy) casting - a combination known to suffer from corrosion problems! My simple answer was to clean up the contact surfaces with a "needle" file then apply a generous coating of silicone grease to keep out moisture and oxygen. (It's REALLY important to use grease, otherwise this fix won't last.)

Fixing this horn is a really easy job and all you need is a flat-blade screwdriver (or a 3.5mm diameter rod), a needle file, sandpaper and a portion of silicone grease. (SatCure sells grease.) You can use petroleum jelly instead, but it may not be quite as reliable.

DISCLAIMER: The method used on this page is NOT recommended by Peugeot. It may cause problems with your airbag and could create other faults. However, it worked for me and it has worked for others. YOU USE THIS INFORMATION AT YOUR OWN RISK!

If you find this information useful, please link to it in your favourite forum.

The Peugeot has a very complex system that needs to be rebooted once the battery has been disconnected. Open the bonnet then proceed as follows:-

PROCEDURE FOR BATTERY DISCONNECTION

(Do this if you disconnect the Peugeot battery for ANY reason at all. Even if you are simply fitting a new battery. Also disconnect the battery if you need to charge it from a battery charger - and follow this procedure. If you get an electrical fault for no apparent reason, disconnect and reconnect the battery, following this procedure.)

Switch off all equipment, interior lights etc., and close the doors, leaving the driver's window open.

Switch off the ignition and remove the key.

Wait a full 3 minutes before disconnecting the battery.

The car's computer must be allowed to go to SLEEP i.e. into "power save mode". Do not operate any equipment on the car during this time. Remember, even opening the bonnet will wake the computer on a car fitted with alarm.

See below for battery reconnection procedure.

The Peugeot 307

Peugeot horn repair.

Disconnect the battery (-) negative terminal (rearmost). This is done simply by flicking up the lever and lifting off the entire connector.

Wait 30 minutes for the circuits to discharge. You don't want the airbag to explode in your face!

Before reconnecting battery, read instructions, below.

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To remove the airbag and its plastic housing is simply a matter of pushing with a screwdriver. See below.

There's a hole behind each of the two steering wheel spokes.

You can see a tiny portion of the screwdriver blade (red arrow pointing up at left of photo). The idea is to push the wire spring to the right (blue arrow) - see below.

The green arrow points down at the offending brass connector!

Pressing gently with the screwdriver will cause the wire spring to release the plastic hook of the airbag housing. Do this at both sides.

(I'm showing you this with the Peugeot airbag housing already removed so you can understand what's happening, instead of poking around blindly as I did!)

I didn't find it necessary to disconnect the airbag. It hung out of the way anyway. But don't let it strain the connections.

Use the screwdriver to press down on the brass lug while you grip it with a pair of pliers and gently pull it out of the oblong hole in the metal casting.

Use a needle file to clean the surfaces of the oblong hole.

Then use it to clean the contact surfaces of the brass lug - especially the edges AND the inside of the hole in the metal casting - see below. (Thanks, Omar, for reminding me to stress this point!)

Apply silicone grease to the inside of the filed oblong hole and to the brass lug. Pull the U-shaped lug apart slightly to ensure a tight fit and push it into the oblong hole.

Press the airbag housing back into place in the steering wheel.

You must always carry out the following procedure to minimise the possibility of the computer corrupting its own software when reconnecting the car's battery supply.

Ensure the procedure for battery disconnection has been adhered to and, importantly, everything is switched off and the driver's window left down.

• Close all doors.
• Remove ignition key if left in ignition.
• Reconnect battery. DO NOT open any doors.
• Wait 10 seconds.
• Switch on headlights through the driver's window (you will hear a "bong").
• Switch on ignition then start the engine and check system functions.

NOTE: Upon reconnection, if anything (e.g. interior light) is switched on, it could screw up the computer. Check carefully.

Before reconnecting, clean up both lead battery terminals with sandpaper and apply a coat of silicone grease to them. Reconnect (-) negative terminal LAST.

Your horn should now work reliably and continue to do so.

Below: the COM2000 module, complete.

Rarely, this can (allegedly) be the cause of a horn problem but please try the method above first.

Failure is usually caused by breakage of a ribbon cable. Unfortunately, this is not usually repairable so the entire unit must be replaced. Really poor design!

Left: the COM2000 Printed Circuit Board

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Thank you for peugeot horn repair advice

Many thanks Glodark my partner has had an intermittent horn for 2 years. Thankfully it's worked at every MOT. Over xmas I got a new horn unit from the scrap yard. It took all day fitting it (bumper off etc massive job) but still intermittent. I wish I searched first on Google but never thought it was a common problem. Thanks again for taking time out to help others. John in Lancashire

Jon Meachin

Peugeot 307sw horn

Many thanks for the description and supporting pictures....works a treat.

Apologies to everyone in my area for horning you, i'm just so excited.

Steve (Quarry Bank - West Midlands)

Great Advice

I have been experiencing horn failure issues with my 307 for several years.

I followed your instructions and now ok. (15 Minutes) Previously I have had to bang hard on the steering wheel, to it working for a period of time. The family will be upset, because they always thought the air Bag would be deployed one day.

Many Thanks

Mark Rollings

another tip

Absolutely brilliant saved me a lot of money and each stage was perfectly correct. Thank you for your trouble. One other tip is that in my case the brass spring clip was loose in the slot so I opened it out and when pushed back in it made a solid click. Vaselene was my choice to protect it. Nice one!

Steve

Vaseline might be OK but it oxidises and goes brown so I'm not convinced it's as reliable as silicone grease.

miracle performed

You,my friend,are a star.I have been having problems with the horn on my 307 for nearly two years......SORTED ....thank you....

Tommy Griffiths

Hi there, I just wanted to say thanks very much for posting up this guide. I have a 06 307 SW which had the same problem with the horn. Once I took it apart I noticed that the connector was slightly different; it was more of a round ring connector that was screwed down. Anyway, since I had the airbag housing etc. already removed, I decided to give it all a good clean and protected it with a bit of silicone grease. I put it all back together and it's working perfectly again. Thank you so much!!!

chris s

Ik had sinds twee jaar al problemen met de claxon.

Met behulp van deze handleiding was het probleem in twintig minuten verholpen.

Thank You.

Bouke

Horn now works

Thanks for such an easy to follow set of pictures and instructions.

I have just fixed the horn on the wifes 307cc with ease.

The only problem I encountered was the brass connecter decided to bend over double when I pushed down with the screwdriver so it took a little more coaxing to free it,(approx. 2 minutes added).

Thanks for saving me a fortune at a Peugeot dealers for the simple solution to the problem.

Great Job

Thanks

Pete

Attention all Peugeot Drivers - THIS WORKS

Oh my god. I've been suffering with a faulty horn for 3 years. Everytime I go for an MOT it either fails or I get an advisery note. I followed your instructions and now it works perfectly. Probably took me 1 hour, but thats because I didn't have a file small enough so used tiny piece of rolled up emery cloth. Thankyou so much.

Lee Thompson

Thanks for advice, I followed your instructions and it worked a treat. My 2007 Partner has 3 holes and steering column shroud had to be removed first. I snapped the cable crimp on the lug but I soldered the wire directly to the clip "tinning" the wire first. Thanks a lot

Gav Freeborn

I would like to thank you for helping us to cancel the air bag light and to repair the horn on our Peugeot 307. We were in Spain and with frustration we were almost ready to scrap the car. Your instructions were superb and it was fixed in 15 minutes in the soaring heat.

Thanks again Lew

Lewis Evans

Thank you so much for putting this on line. My 307 had the same trouble, took it for MOT this year: pushed - nothing - failed! It was driving me crazy. I found your article and did as you said, it now works perfectly. Thanks so much. I wish there were more people like you around, could save a fortune on garage bills.

Timothy Rowe

Worked a treat

Thank you for sharing this information with the rest of us! I followed your guide and now the horn works as it once used to, perfectly :)

One thing though; It sais to disconnect the negative (-) terminal on the battery but the picture shows the positive one being disconnected. I believe it should be the positive terminal right? That's at least the one I disconnonected and it worked. The negative terminal is earthed isn't it?

Engin Zufer

Disconnect the (-) NEGATIVE terminal first and reconnect it last.

Success!

Failed the MOT on the horn ... just took it for granted that it would work as I can't remember ever using it. I followed your advice ... except didn't have a file to fit, so used an emery board. Tremendous instructions! Thanks very much for taking the time to put this on your site.

Andrew Blair

Rich Overfield

Why don't workshop manuals illustrate and describe procedures as clearly as this ? Thank you so much !

Chris Gibbons

Hiya, regarding your posting about the Peugeot horn connection....

After being misquoted and then offered a resolution, but at a "pay as you go" rate (£53 plus VAT), I followed your instructions.

So £3.91 for a tube of silicone grease, no more than 15 minutes to do as you advised, and all is well.

Thank you REALLY very much !!!

Chris

I went by your tutoral and it worked great, thanks.

Tony Hammett

(Scotch brite is an abrasive cloth used in the refinishing trade.. but is almost the same as a pan cleaner.. the push bar is the triangular piece of plastic pushed when you push the horn or air bag. In each corner (3) there is a brass contact so the horn blows whichever corner you press.)

Terry Munt

I wish that I had found your info. before I wasted two hours removing the horn, checking fuses etc. Peugeot quoted £75- to fix the problem, but thanks to you I sorted it myself in 15 mins.

Regards

Steve Sinclair

ian whiteway

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Found it via HonestJohn when googling Pug 307 horn fault as mine failed the MOT today and I was worried about prising the horn button off because of the airbag.

Anyway, it was great to find the fully documented procedure so I can sort it out at the weekend.

Thanks for taking the time to publish it.

Chris Murr

I want to say thank you so much for this instruction you put online, I followed it exactly and it has resolved the horn issue.

thank you again.

Mohon Miah

Estimado amigo:

estoy muy agradecido por la perfecta explicacion para reparar el claxon del Peugeot 307 cc. En 10 minutos solucionamos el problema.

Un cordial saludo

Eduardo

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This kind of problem, a regular autocentre can't usually handle and you have to hunt down an auto electrics specialist to even diagnose something like this. And it can be a big hassle. So thanks very much for posting this, is really appreciated.

Omar

A huge thankyou for publishing the guide on removing the Peugeot 307 airbag and repairing the horn. I was a bit nervous about removing the airbag, but it was actually quite easy following your guide. The offending connector looked fine, but once I'd given the hole a good rub with one of the wives nail files (really), the horn worked perfectly. Thanks a million.

Duncan MacL.

Thanks, Duncan. Interested to know how many wives you have?

I tried this last night to fix my horn as it had totally stopped working and my car is due its MOT.

I am by no means the best person to attempt to fix a car but this worked very very easily. Can't thank you guys enough, without doing this I would probably be £100-£200 out of pocket from peugeot ripping me off!

Thanks Again.

The only part that was tough was actually getting the front cover off, the screwdriver works easily to release but it actually requires some force to pull the cover off. Spent 15 minutes doing that and 1 minute fixing it :)

OllyR

After following your excellent step by step guide to sorting it out all I can say is you are a star it worked and I just wanted to thank you very very much.....A+

Mark Bray

I used your guide to fixing the horn on my Peugeot 307 - poor connection, as you identified. It is now working perfectly - thank you!

A Smith

Thank you for sharing this info

Dee

I bought a Peugeot 2.0 hdi 2.0 90kw in Sept. 2010 and had the intermittent horn problem from the very beginning. My trusted (cheap) garage could not fix it.

I tried it today and took 30 minutes to solve it (even though I accidentaly broke a tiny part of the brass) and by following your comprehensive instructions I finally solved the annoying problem.

The brass was the problem. It was corroded so that it didn't make a good contact to the metal oblong.

Thanks for your awesome tip, and keep up the great work.

Rey,

Almere, the Netherlands

Worked a treat, and I mean a treat - the horn sounded better than ever with minimal pressure applied.

One slight note - I over pulled on getting the brass connector out, slipped and managed to pull the top black wire form the connector. I therefore trimmed the insulation back, opened the 2 wings on the connector with a small set of pliers and put the wire back in and closed the wings.

Thanks again.

Devin

Hey that is a brilliant piece of info. The horn problem has been bugging me for nearly 18 months. Got it fixed at a garage before and cost me! Fixed it in 15 minutes with your help and now I know what to do if it happens again.

I've great admiration for guys like you that take the time to share your knowledge and experience. Inspires me to do the same.

Thanks so much

Ger

We welcome all feedback. If this worked (or didn't work) for you, please tell us your story so we can help others. We believe in freely sharing information! We will not reply to questions.

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