Horn out. $875 quoted from dealer for clock spring replacement. Alternative suggestions?

MIght be this item:

CABLE SUB-ASSY, SPIRAL
Genuine Toyota, Genuine Daihatsu (8430774020)

Shows as under $300 CDN (all-in, no extra taxes) for me, through Amayama. Located on this page:

Switch & relay & computer for Toyota Prius a 1 generation 05.2011 - 10.2014 - Toyota Car & Auto Spare Parts - Genuine Online Car Parts Catalogue - Amayama

And detail here:

Buy Genuine Toyota 8430774020 (84307-74020) Cable Sub-Assy, Spiral. Prices, fast shipping, photos, weight - Amayama

If it's a similar deal to your address, you can order the part and have it shipped 'round the world from United Arab Emirates, for significantly less than half what the dealership is asking, around $240 USD.

I've used these guys 3 or 4 tiimes. Takes a week or two, but never any problems.

 

If you wanted to wire up a button, you could just use it to ground the same wire that goes to the clockspring for the horn circuit, no need to add any additional relays or wiring.

Probably only a matter of time though before your other steering wheel controls or air bag go dodgy.

 

Switch & Relay & Computer - 2012 Toyota Prius V (toyotapartsdeal.com)

Dang--showing $400+ on ToyotaPartsDeal. maybe time for ebay?

one new one on ebay for ~$200

8430774020 GENUINE Toyota CABLE SUB-ASSY SPIRAL W/SENSOR 84307-74020 OEM USSTOCK | eBay

 

Advice One: Do this with the negative terminal of the 12V battery disconnected. You don’t want to trigger the airbag when you disconnect/reconnect it.

Advice Two: Get the part from a wrecking yard. Preferably, one they lets you remove the part yourself. That will give you practice before you do your own car.

Advice Three: Replace it yourself. I replaced my steering wheel myself once. Not difficult. Does take a big socket, like 26mm-ish. Only tricky part: Do not turn wheels after steering wheel is removed. You want to be sure the wheels are straight and the wheel is exactly perfect 12:00. Keep it that way when you put the steering wheel back on. It’s not THAT critical; you won’t break anything, but when you replace the steering wheel, before you torque down the Big Nut, turn it and make sure the wheels are straight at 12:00, or else you get to do it over again.

 

Also, if you find you did not set it down exactly at 12:00, lift it lightly toward you and turn it very gently, try to feel where it can be set back down in its original position on the column shaft splines. Don't allow it any rotation on the shaft while you are tightening the nut.

The splines that join the wheel to the column shaft are very fine, and you can more or less grind them smooth by turning the wheel while they are in contact. That can mean getting to do it over again with new parts.

 

Pretty easy to do if the car's on a lift and somebody pushes or pulls on a wheel; harder to do if the car's on the ground, but be careful about pushing it around.

 

It’s not so much turning the wheels, but turning the shaft at all. It’s not THAT big a deal, except that your steering wheel will be tilted right or left when you’re driving straight. Just be mindful of this, that’s the thing.

Remember, you’re working on the steering wheel and a large nut on the splined shaft, so it’s going to move while you’re working on it. When you pull the wheel, maybe it will slide right off and maybe you’ll need to use some force, and if you’re pulling hard, it’s difficult not to turn the wheel, and then it breaks loose, and you don’t know if it was turned left or right.

I’m guessing you’ve never done this. Easy in theory, a little trickier in practice. Since it’s a drive by wire system, I think there’s a way that you can recalibrate it without pulling the wheel, but I don’t know how.

 

A steering wheel puller.

Once you have removed the airbag and the nut on the column shaft, you'll see that the steering wheel has two threaded holes in it, on either side of the column shaft.

Using two of the M8 x 1.25 bolts in the puller set, you thread them through the puller into the wheel's threaded holes. (It comes with different sized bolts and maybe hooks or what not, so it can work with a variety of cars.)

Then with a wrench, you slowly tighten the big bolt in the center, which will push straight down on the steering shaft, and pull the wheel straight off. Usually it will resist for a bit, and then come loose with a pop.

This pulls it straight off without damaging the splines in the wheel or on the column shaft.

Sometimes you read about (or watch on youtube) somebody who just takes the center nut off and just grabs and jerks and yanks on the steering wheel until it comes loose. You might get away with it. You just have to ask yourself one question.

 

I've pulled about a dozen Gen 2 steering wheels in salvage yards. I used a puller on the very first one. The rest I did just by wiggling and pulling, so it can be done if needed. Puller is much safer and gentler because wiggling and pulling can snatch on wires if you're not careful.

And here's another idea. After you remove the nut, you can mark the shaft and the wheel to help with alignment.

 

In a car, "turn the wheel" can mean 2 things:

1. Turn the steering wheel right or left, or
2. Lift the car off the ground and use your hands (instead of the engine) to turn one of the 4 wheels which have tires on them.

In this case, they're referring to #2.

 

lol I was going to say how often do you actually use the horn? People these days don't even stop at traffic lights.

 

Wow! You went from an $875 dealer repair to a $16.75 DIY! That is fantastic!

 

Don't start doing that long division until we hear how long the $16.75 one lasts. There have been disappointments reported in other threads.

 

I bought a new clock spring, installed it without any hiccups. The horn still doesn't work. Any thoughts. Everything was seated, connected, tighten. I even checked the fuse for the horn and it's good. I'm at a lost. Any ideas??

 

Do other items dependent on the clock spring function?
Did you try powering the horn directly from 12-v, to determine whether the horn itself is functional?

 

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the various "horn not working" threads over the years. I just had a situation where I needed the horn but couldn't wait for shipping, so I went to a local salvage yard and they let me take the clock spring aka spiral cable out myself. (I think they said their own guy had broken at least one while removing.) I was not very optimistic, but put it all together and the horn is working! The donor was a 2010 with about 200k. My 2013 PIP is now at 292k.

Special thanks to the PC regular who said you don't need to touch the 12v battery, you can just unplug the big white cable in the under-hood fuse box. I never knew that!