How often does the horn go out?

[Sorainzo1]

Okay, recently, my car's horn started to function sporadically, sometimes the horn blows, sometimes it doesn't. It mostly works right when the car is just started. And the whole time, even a little before the horn stopped working, the airbag light was on and is still on. Also, none of the steering wheel buttons (including cruise control) no longer worked after the horn stopped working.

So I took it to a shop, and they told me that the clockspring, I believe, needs to be replaced.

Anyone ever had their horn go out on them on this vehicle, or have experienced any of these symptoms with this Lincoln LS? My car is a 2001 Lincoln LS V8 Edition.

Also, how often does the clockspring need to be replaced, because this is a very annoying issue that I've seen people have with this car. Any certain brands of parts I need to get?

 

[joegr]

Actual failure of the horns (there are two of them) is fairly rare (no more often than other cars). It should be really rare for both to fail at once. On the other hand, failure of the clockspring is a bit more common. You can probably expect it to fail every 10 years /100K miles or so. Although, neither of mine have failed yet (140K and 180K miles). Anyway, it's a wear item. It really depends on how much you turn the steering wheel. You have a 2001 or 2002 (above post indicates both), so it took it 14 or so years to fail. Are you honestly worried that you will still have this car in 2029 and it will be a big problem to you to have to replace the clockspring again?

 

[FDR]

because this is a very annoying issue that I've seen people have with this car.

It's not that annoying. It is a somewhat expensive part. However, being a relatively common failure, everyone labels it as the "dreaded" clockspring failure. We also have the dreaded airbag light, the dreaded misfire, the dreaded overheating, the dreaded valve cover gasket failure, the dreaded empty gas tank, the dreaded moonroof drain tube leak, the dreaded oil change, the dreaded inspection sticker, and so on.

None of these things are truly dreaded. They are common problems with well known repairs that aren't particularly expensive. I would call oil in Subaru's coolant dreaded.

But that's just my take on it. People have a tendency to complain just to make extra noise.

Edit: would you look at that, you even used the word dreaded already, to describe the thermostat job... lol

 

[RigsLS]

You left out the Mystery Beep Frank!

 

[1LoudLS]

I would hope thats not common enough for anybody to worry about it enough for it to be dreaded...



now the dreaded timing chain tooth jump, or dreaded solenoid body replacement... those are the things that keep me up at night.

 

[fudge12]

... the dreaded empty gas tank...

I literally spat my drink against my laptop when I read this lol.

Don't forget the dreaded "E" on the dash.

 

[cammerfe]

I can clearly remember 10K tune-up intervals and a car, realistically, being thought of as being on borrowed time after reaching 50K miles. My own '02 LS Sport is at 160K miles. I've replaced the alternator and drive-belt, it's on its third set of plugs and second set of coils, I'm on my third battery and fourth set of tires. I've done brakes twice and recently put in new tie-rod ends.

I still have my original degas bottle, but one horn has stopped working so I get a forlorn sort of bleat from the remaining one and I, too, need a clockspring.

I drive it most days and it holds the E/F CC record in ECTA racing. It's been the most trouble-free car I've ever owned.

My first car was a '34 five-window Ford, and my first 'modern' car was a '54 Customline. My first new car was a '64 Custom with a 427 FE engine and all the mandatory HD stuff to go with it.

KS