horn going?

[thecrash91]

so i noticed yesterday (although it was raining quite hard and may be due to that) that my horn got really quiet and muffled. could it be due to rain, or water damage since its right there behind the grill? i was driving on the highway doing about 60 (actually had to do the speed limit because i have bald ass tires on the front. hydroplaned with only about a quarter inch of water on the ground, no joke.

 

[MazdaSpeeder]

The horn kinda sucks period. I would replace it if I were you...I have a Fiamm highway blaster low-tone, and it's a ton better. It's a pretty easy replacement, you just have to fabricate a bracket.

 

[squig808]

Ever since the Spring my horn has been dying a slow and oddly sounding death. I picked up a FIAMM high tone horn for $13 from one of my favorite stores, Princess Auto. Of course I ended up spending $60 total ...

Anyways, thanks to a couple threads on here I easily located my horn and also avoided breaking those little plastic things holding the grille on. As repayment here are some pics...

To start with take off your Grille. Unscrew the 2 big screws, be mindful of the 2 plastic clips (pop 'em), then pull up and towards yourself. You will reveal the dirty noisemaker. Remove the female blade clip, then remove the 10mm bolt holding the horn.


Here is what you get for $13.


I didn't like the fitment or shiny appearance of the horn mount that came with this FIAMM horn. I salvaged a mount from my stash of MV parts. On the left is a mount from a 24v Hella I'm rocking in my MV.


Put it all back together, making sure to attach the supplied ground. Test before putting the grille back on.

 

[mx-p5]

Stock horn sucks. Swapped that out the first week i had the car with the same horn pictured above.

Save your pennies though and do the Hella supertone kit. It's the nicest loudest horn you'll get without going full airhorn setup

 

[CTt3P5]

The Supertones are nice and this is another option as well...the Nautilus horn which I have on my P5. Install of this horn will require some minor trimming of the backside of the grill. Nothing too bad and only took a minute to do.

http://www.thompson-automotive.com/Air_Horn.html

 

[Flash5]

if you wanna step up your horn game, hella horns are the way to go!

 

[NRRfrogmanP5]

my horn sounds like a dying cat

 

[pasadena_commut]

Which 2 plastic clips are you referring too? In the picture 3 clips along the back/bottom are visible, those hold the bottom of the grill in place. How exactly did you release those without snapping anything off? The P5 is full of plastic clips, all of which become more and more fragile with age and exposure to the elements. After 5 years of sun, wind, and dirt, those three are probably the most fragile ones on the whole car.

To start with take off your Grille. Unscrew the 2 big screws, be mindful of the 2 plastic clips (pop 'em), then pull up and towards yourself.

 

[RockerPro5]

Ever since the Spring my horn has been dying a slow and oddly sounding death. I picked up a FIAMM high tone horn for $13 from one of my favorite stores, Princess Auto. Of course I ended up spending $60 total ...

Anyways, thanks to a couple threads on here I easily located my horn and also avoided breaking those little plastic things holding the grille on. As repayment here are some pics...

To start with take off your Grille. Unscrew the 2 big screws, be mindful of the 2 plastic clips (pop 'em), then pull up and towards yourself. You will reveal the dirty noisemaker. Remove the female blade clip, then remove the 10mm bolt holding the horn.

That's sweet! Did you go with the low or high tone?
http://www.princessauto.com/view-all-products-in-shop?Search_x=2&Search_y=11&keyword=FIAMM

Here's a link to a vid of someone with a Mazda 3 that used both:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICy1HVbfgNs&eurl
He only captured the high tone, and then simultaneously high and low tones, so I'm looking to see what the low tone sounds like alone.

I've been looking for a cheap, but decent sounding horn, and this looks good to me! If the FIAMM low tone sounds good alone then I'll probably go with that.

 

[Wojtek]

step up more and get air horn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNPAPdrVkqE

 

[JDMJNKY]

step up more and get air horn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNPAPdrVkqE

Those are ok....(sssh) Kinda cute

 

[squig808]

Which 2 plastic clips are you referring too? In the picture 3 clips along the back/bottom are visible, those hold the bottom of the grill in place...

Look on the rad support. The 2 outermost holes are the receptacles for plastic clips in the grille.
I avoided breaking the bumper by #1 not being a gorilla with it, and #2 pulling up and towards myself.

RockerPro5, I went with the high tone. I have a 24v high tone Hella on my MV (military vehicle) and it's super sweet. Actually the Canadian military used a combination of Hella high and low tone alternating for the siren.

This one works which is more than I can say for the old one. For $13 I'm happy with it. I'm planning to sell the car regardless.

 

[Albaberg]

Even though I snapped 1 of the 4 plastic retainers (no idea how to avoid that!), thanks very much for all the info and photos! It really helped me replace my dying horn.