Help!!

[khanley8604]

okay i got my car inspected and it failed, i had a feeling it was going to. First problem was the right fog light, then a light for the license plate. The other two are where i have questions. My left caliper is leaking brake fluid apparently, i havent had a chance to get under it and look atit to see if it jsut a loose hose or the actual caliper. I can replace the caliper but how much would it hurt if i jsut put a new one on the left and not both like your suppose to. I jsut put these new ones on a year and half ago. Would it really hurt it if i jsut replaced the one broken one? The next thing is my horn. my horn was broken when i bought it and they fixed it but it broke again 2 weeks later. Now they said it was something behind the steering wheel some sorta of copper connecter or something. how hard is that to replace? Firestone said the horn would only be $40 but i think they will just replace the horn and realize its not that and just continue to charge me. Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks

[khanley8604]

anyone?

[kody]

The lights are easily fixed by yourself. As far as I know you don't have to replace brake calipers in pairs, only brake shoes/pads.You can check your horn by applying power directly to it from the battery, if that checks out than do continuity checks with a meter to ensure the fuse and all the wires to it are good. Follow the procedures shown under "Horn check and replacement" in the pic I've included. The second pic explains how to check your relays. Only other thing I can think of is your clock spring has failed which I think sells for about $70-$80. Hope this helps

http://img4.pictiger.com/497/12914118_th.jpg (http://parrilldr2.pictiger.com/images/12914118/)
http://img4.pictiger.com/a55/12914119_th.jpg (http://parrilldr2.pictiger.com/images/12914119/)

[dajuiceman]

i dont have inspections in my area (thank god) so I dont know enough about them. My question is that you mentioned your fog light being one of the reasons for failure during the inspection. Can that really go against you being that a foglight is just an accessory anyway which only some cars have and really has nothing to do with the safety or stability of the vehicle. I think it's pretty stupid for them to say anything about your foglights.

[sunrunner_pei]

i dont have inspections in my area (thank god) so I dont know enough about them. My question is that you mentioned your fog light being one of the reasons for failure during the inspection. Can that really go against you being that a foglight is just an accessory anyway which only some cars have and really has nothing to do with the safety or stability of the vehicle. I think it's pretty stupid for them to say anything about your foglights.

You obviously don't live in an area with inspections then. ;) ALL factory lighting must be in working order to pass. That includes the flog lamps. Stupid or not, that's just the way it is.

As for the caliper, as mentioned already they don't have to be replaced in pairs.

[pokesmot]

as far as your horn goes, if it is in fact the clock spring it is rather difficult to install. You have to disable, and remove the air bag + steering wheel just to get at it. I'd suggest taking it to a shop to have the clock spring replaced if that is in fact the problem. Air bags should not be messed with unless you know exactly what your doing, plus you will probably need a special puller to get the steering wheel off.

as far as the fog lights go, it kinda makes sense. seeing 3 lights coming at you from a distance can sometime be confusing in poor visibility situations.

Are you sure its the caliper leaking, and not the flex line where the banjo bolt connects the flex line to the caliper? you might just need to replace the copper washers and re-tighten the banjo bolt.

[khanley8604]

shit, ok everyone thanks for the help. the bulbs are common sense, the caliper insight was good as well, and so was the but horn, but shit. i have to take my car in to get the clock spring fixed again. they fixed it about a year and a half ago and took them 3 1/2 days cuz they didnt have the tool. guess ill have to wait it out with my ride for a while, and i wont take no for an answer for a loaner car.


btw i checked the relay under the hood and i DID hear clicking so i do know it is the clock spring again.

[rixGAphx]

btw i checked the relay under the hood.
i DID hear clicking so i do know it is the clock spring again.??? :confused:

If there's a problem with the clockspring, then pushing the horn button on the steering wheel will NOT send power to the relay.
So the relay will NOT click.

But you are getting clicking at the relay.
That means that power IS coming from the steering column.
Therefore the clockspring IS fine.

So I would check out the relay, the horn itself, and the wiring (particularly ground) and fuse.

Or am I missing something??

[kody]

??? :confused:

If there's a problem with the clockspring, then pushing the horn button on the steering wheel will NOT send power to the relay.
So the relay will NOT click.

But you are getting clicking at the relay.
That means that power IS coming from the steering column.
Therefore the clockspring IS fine.

So I would check out the relay, the horn itself, and the wiring (particularly ground) and fuse.

Or am I missing something??

No offense Rick cause I know you know what you're talking about when it comes to cars but it is possible that the clockspring is at fault. I replaced one on a previous vehicle (Dodge Caravan) because there was a problem with my airbag but the other buttons on my steering wheel still worked fine.

Also, the clockspring was very easy to replace by myself...I did it in the Canadian Tire parking lot in 10 minutes. I did it there because I had to borrow a puller to remove the steering wheel.

[khanley8604]

when i press the steering wheel I DO hear clicking and i checked the wiring at the horn itself and it all seemed fine. anything else i should be looking for. oh and when i look at the fuse box under the hood i can easily pick out the relay but i had trouble finding the actual fuse for it, but if the fuse was bad would it still be clicking?

[kody]

No offense Rick cause I know you know what you're talking about when it comes to cars but it is possible that the clockspring is at fault. I replaced one on a previous vehicle (Dodge Caravan) because there was a problem with my airbag but the other buttons on my steering wheel still worked fine.

Also, the clockspring was very easy to replace by myself...I did it in the Canadian Tire parking lot in 10 minutes. I did it there because I had to borrow a puller to remove the steering wheel.

Now I feel dumb, Rick is right that the clockspring is probably NOT at fault here if the relay is clicking. If I can find a schmatic of the horn system I'll post it up.

[rixGAphx]

when i press the steering wheel I DO hear clicking and i checked the wiring at the horn itself and it all seemed fine. anything else i should be looking for. oh and when i look at the fuse box under the hood i can easily pick out the relay but i had trouble finding the actual fuse for it, but if the fuse was bad would it still be clicking?
Your horn fuse is OK.
There's one other small circuit on the the horn fuse: The power to run the scanner when somebody plugs-in to the OBD-II computer port.
Since the inspector scanned your car succesfully, then the scanner got power thru that fuse.

You can't just look at the horn and its wires and say "it's OK."
If something was cut or frayed, that would be an obvious problem.
But after a visual check, you need to use a continuity tester ($8) or a multimeter ($25+) to search for hidden defects.

Step 1 is usually a jumper test, using a couple wires and an inline fuse to see if the horn itself even works.
This was what Kody initially suggested, and I haven't heard that it's been checked yet.

For future reference, the fuse is on the 'secondary' (controlled) side of the relay.
The relay *may* get power for its 'primary' (initiating) side from the fuse, or the primary side *might* get power from another circuit; this varies from car-to-car. I dunno for yours.
So the relay may indeed 'click' just fine even when the fuse is blown.
But yours isn't blown, as explained previously.

A good relay will always 'click' (even though the sound may be weak and difficult to hear).
BUT, just because a relay 'clicks', doesn't mean it's OK; the internal terminal that it clicks against could be damaged, and not allowing power to flow despite the 'click' action.
So don't forget to check the relay's action.

Hope this helps,
-Rick

[khanley8604]

thanks for the help everyone. it turns i had a bad horn. tried knockin on it a couple times to see if dirt or whatnot was blocking it, but it was the horn. the leaking caliper was jsut a bad clamp for the hose and let me say that replacing the fog lights is f'n annoying lol.

[rixGAphx]

...the leaking caliper was just a bad clamp for the hose.Your brake hose has clamps?
In all my experience, brake hoses (under pressure) have had threaded fittings, never any type of clamp.
Mebbe a guide fitting or two to keep the hose from moving into a dangerous area, but no actual 'clamp' that could result in a leak.

On some cars, the brake fluid reservoir is mounted remote from the actual mastercylinder, and the non-pressurized hose between the two may have clamps.

That being said, leave it to GM to take perfectly-adequate, inexpensive, time-proven technology and f'it-up with a clamp that saves 2 cents on production costs. :roll:

Glad you got it fixed, and you're back on the road!
Thanks for reporting back on the solutions.
-Rick