New steering wheel ain't friendly

[tdesws]

So, guys, I've got this new steering wheel:

http://www.roadfly.com/new-cars/wp-cont ... -wheel.jpg

How do i get it's horn working? It's everything okay with the horn, i attach it where it should be, but nothing happens..

[Josh]

Depends on what year your MX is. if it is a 94+ it may be a little easier to get it working. the wheel will bolt right on. but you may have to splice a couple of wires, for the airbag and horn. there are aftermarket kits you can buy to utilize the radio controls with aftermarket deck too.

[tdesws]

Depends on what year your MX is. if it is a 94+ it may be a little easier to get it working. the wheel will bolt right on. but you may have to splice a couple of wires, for the airbag and horn. there are aftermarket kits you can buy to utilize the radio controls with aftermarket deck too.

Really? I've never heard about those, maybe you could give me a link or something?

[MrMazda92]

What year is your MX-3, and do you have cruise control?

[tdesws]

What year is your MX-3, and do you have cruise control?

93. And I don't have CC

[Josh]

It depends on the brand and model of your deck. Pioneer has a universal switch that works with most of their decks, as well as a couple of other manufactures.

[tdesws]

Well my pioneer is pretty old it's DEH-343R. How do i find if it's compatible?

[Nd4SpdSe]

Well there's several issues with the horn, cruise and radio controls: the "clock spring"

There's the black ring with 3 sets of circuits with a 3-pin connector sticking out of it, that's where the signals for the cruise and horn go though.
- 1 is for the power of the horn, ground is done through the steering column.
- The other 2 are power and ground for the cruise control controls.

The cruise, as I would assume the stereo as well, use what's called a MUX system, which is where each button has a set resistance, and the recieving unit (radio or cruise control module) recognizes the resistance and knows what command is associated with it. Although it's irrelevant since you don't have cruise, there's a few ways to deal with those controls.
You can relocate then as I had done:

or making your own to replace steering wheel controls for the cruise. Nothing complicated, 2 buttons, 2 resistors and some wires. You can put them anywhere, but here's an example:


The steering wheel controls for the audio work on the same principle. For using the factory controls on an aftermarket deck, which I've done myself on the Xterra, is using the kit from PAC. They have 2 models depending on the manufacturer of the deck, but for Pioneer you need SWI-PS, exactly what I used.


If your Pioneer supports it, it would use a jack on the back. Some companies have a single wire in the harness as opposed to a dedicated jack. My old 7800 and my current 980 in the Xterra both have this jack.


I'm not sure what the Mx-3 is equipped for passing the circuit in a non-cruise Mx3, but you may need to get and use the clock spring from a cruise Mx-3 since it has 3 seperate paths while if your car only had a horn, it might have it's own 1-path ring. Use the one path for horn, and use the other 2 for your radio controls instead of cruise. Pass those 2 through the ring and into the PAC unit. Could/should be pretty easy.

[tdesws]

Okay, there's a problem, I won't get a clockspring... Is there a way to bypass that, and get only the horn working?

[Nd4SpdSe]

To use the horn on the wheel, unless you want a wire wrapping around the column as you turn the wheel...

Or you mount a horn button elsewhere in the car that's not on the wheel...

[MrMazda92]

Or you mount a horn button elsewhere in the car that's not on the wheel...

I would do this.

[kulluminati777]

Yeah i tried a LOOOOOONG wire from the horn button to the dog gone steering column with NO luck. After 20 or so turns it would be wrapped on something and come undone from how I had it rigged up.

[Nd4SpdSe]

Okay, there's a problem, I won't get a clockspring...

Why not? I would assume it would be the same as with putting on an aftermarket wheel with a hub, I had to cut off the connector off the clockspring to fit the hub on the column, otherwise it was in the way. I had cut just the plastic off the connector and kept the pins to make my own connection to my horn button on my aftermarket wheel.

[Josh]

Its not a big deal. Go to the wrecker and pull one from a Mazda. A long wire for the horn is not a big deal either. I have done it and had no issues.

[tdesws]

Its not a big deal. Go to the wrecker and pull one from a Mazda. A long wire for the horn is not a big deal either. I have done it and had no issues.

I'm kinda out of money these days, and somehow they want a lot of money for them :/ I thought maybe it's possible to cut the plastic from old steering wheel, which connects with that thing which reacted when i pressed the horn button?
I guess i wrote a not understandable sentence :O