Freelander 1 Silly Freelander Horn issue.

So... Got the someone changed the stereo and now the horn doesn't work problem...
It's a Mk1 freelander 52 plate, used to have the BMW tape player in it.
Horn did work, just we didn't have the code for the old stereo, (and the new one is a lot more snazzy!)
So all the usual things apply stereo changed, horn still works from the fob if a door is open.
There does appear to be a small connector left over from when the new stereo was fitted which has 5 wires in a 10 way connector. I've assumes these are for the steering wheel controls.
I've had the connector off the rotary connector and cleans the contacts, all to no avail.
I've not found a definitive answer to fixing this issue online with hours of googling.
Just wondered if anyone had get this working, and had a suggestion for a fix, would rather not have to stick another button on the dash...
I'm handy with a multimeter and soldering iron, and I'm not afraid to use them..!

Thanks!
Becky

Hope this pics not too big! Picture of the connector if it helps!!

You could try ringing BMW?

Alternatively, Land Rover kindly gave BMW owners a book called "Rave" that has wiring diagrams for the Freelander. You can download a copy off my website....

www.mydocz.com/Landie/Rave2000.iso

I use "Virtual CloneDrive" to open the ISO file and this makes it look like a CD - ie it becomes a drive letter in Windows Explorer. Just go to that drive and in the Rave folder is a Rave.exe which is a menuing system to a series of workshop manuals in PDF format.

The wiring diagrams in Rave are very good. The diagrams show which pins of which connectors each wire goes to. It also though has a picture of each connector so you can see where on the vehicle it is and what it looks like. So if you follow the wiring from the horn switch, or back from the horn or CCU (if its activated via the CCU) you can see which connectors you need to look at.

That's great.
I'll take a look, though I think I've pieced most of the horn circuit together from my research online.
I initially thought this was going to be just replacing the lost earth connection with another one, but it's become a lot more than that....

Bex

I happened to be looking at a wiring diagram in that area the other day and noticed that all the radio buttons shared a single wire and just put different resistance/voltages through it - but the horn is presumably a separate wire.

The cables can break on the rotary connector. I metered the connections and found it was just one wire faulty, so as I don't have buttons on the steering wheel to worry about, I pulled the connector out of the block in the dash connector and moved it to one of the spares. Then cut the horn connection in the steering wheel and soldered it to the spare connection.
I think I said all that right but basically routed the horn through a spare wire in the rotary connector.

Thanks everyone for your help.
In the end I ended up plugging in the old stereo to find the fault remained!
Turns out the rotary connector had failed on pin 3.
Just rerouted the connection through pin 6 as we don't have cruise control and all sorted.
Have to admit taking the airbag off was terrifying!!

Again, thanks Guys, much appreciated.

Becky

Becky-C said:

Thanks everyone for your help.
In the end I ended up plugging in the old stereo to find the fault remained!
Turns out the rotary connector had failed on pin 3.
Just rerouted the connection through pin 6 as we don't have cruise control and all sorted.
Have to admit taking the airbag off was terrifying!!

Again, thanks Guys, much appreciated.

Becky

Click to expand...

Well done on getting it sorted.
I always have the battery disconnected for 20 minutes or so before going near the airbag but I agree it is a scary job and I'm always flinching while doing it.

And thanks for reporting back, it will help someone else sometime.