I have a 2010 Mazda 3
My horn got wet and it sounded muffled, I replaced it with a new horn and all was well for a few months. Then I started getting intermittent failure of the horn. Some days it would be fine and some days when locking the car it fails to beep.
I have checked the horn fuse under the hood. When the horn is not working and I press the key to lock the car and sound it I DO hear the relay clicking in the front fuse box. Maybe it is still bad?
More concerning this past week I have developed an intermittent problem with the AT Shifter being stuck in Park. It happened on Monday when I made a stop on my drive home from work. After returning to my car the shifter would not move out of park. I tried it about a dozen times, pressing the brake, even restarting the car between some tries. It finally worked and I was able to drive home.
After getting home I parked it and tested it some more and it was intermittently failing. It would get stuck in park 9 out of 10 tries. I did some research and learned I could override it manually with the shift lock override using a small pen or screwdriver. When I went outside later that night to test the override I found the car was behaving normally and the problem had gone away.
Drove to work the rest of the week and the shifter worked perfect every time.
Today, after 5 days of no issues with the shifter it is now locking up in park at least 9 out of 10 times, maybe more. It DOES work properly sometimes so it isn't failing completely.
Things I have checked:
I pulled the fuses for anything related to the horn/brakes and they all look good (I'm going to pull every fuse tomorrow)
The brake lights do appear to be working when the brake pedal is pressed yet the shifter won't move out of park. (going to test more tomorrow)
What else could I check or replace?
Could the brake pedal switch be failing to activate the shifter solenoid but still be lighting up the brake lights?
I saw some threads for older generation Mazda's that indicated there was a passenger junction box that could be the culprit, but I haven't found any reference to the 2010 and newer Mazda's having that box?
I've seen some indication that the horn & shift lock issue may be related, a few threads for the pre-2010 Mazda3's saying that their horn was not working along with the shifter being locked into park.
I don't know much about relays... when the horn does not work the horn relay still click's under the hood which I found a thread saying that meant the relay worked but I'm tempted to try replacing it anyway since it is only $10 bucks.
Trying to avoid a trip to the dealer that will cost a fortune.
My horn got wet and it sounded muffled, I replaced it with a new horn and all was well for a few months. Then I started getting intermittent failure of the horn. Some days it would be fine and some days when locking the car it fails to beep.
I have checked the horn fuse under the hood. When the horn is not working and I press the key to lock the car and sound it I DO hear the relay clicking in the front fuse box. Maybe it is still bad?
More concerning this past week I have developed an intermittent problem with the AT Shifter being stuck in Park. It happened on Monday when I made a stop on my drive home from work. After returning to my car the shifter would not move out of park. I tried it about a dozen times, pressing the brake, even restarting the car between some tries. It finally worked and I was able to drive home.
After getting home I parked it and tested it some more and it was intermittently failing. It would get stuck in park 9 out of 10 tries. I did some research and learned I could override it manually with the shift lock override using a small pen or screwdriver. When I went outside later that night to test the override I found the car was behaving normally and the problem had gone away.
Drove to work the rest of the week and the shifter worked perfect every time.
Today, after 5 days of no issues with the shifter it is now locking up in park at least 9 out of 10 times, maybe more. It DOES work properly sometimes so it isn't failing completely.
Things I have checked:
I pulled the fuses for anything related to the horn/brakes and they all look good (I'm going to pull every fuse tomorrow)
The brake lights do appear to be working when the brake pedal is pressed yet the shifter won't move out of park. (going to test more tomorrow)
What else could I check or replace?
Could the brake pedal switch be failing to activate the shifter solenoid but still be lighting up the brake lights?
I saw some threads for older generation Mazda's that indicated there was a passenger junction box that could be the culprit, but I haven't found any reference to the 2010 and newer Mazda's having that box?
I've seen some indication that the horn & shift lock issue may be related, a few threads for the pre-2010 Mazda3's saying that their horn was not working along with the shifter being locked into park.
I don't know much about relays... when the horn does not work the horn relay still click's under the hood which I found a thread saying that meant the relay worked but I'm tempted to try replacing it anyway since it is only $10 bucks.
Trying to avoid a trip to the dealer that will cost a fortune.
