DIY: Aftermarket horn install

Donuyen18

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Items needed

Aftermarket horns
12mm socket and wrench
10mm socket
Horn adapter harness
Horn harness
Zip ties

Remove the front bumper. There are multiple walk through on this forum and youtube so I won't bore you with the steps but I will provide some helpful tips. Removing the side markers will make the bumper removal easier. This bumper is held in by tabs that are going in opposite directions so the tabs need to be pressed down to remove the bumper. Do not pull blindly on the bumper or something will break. Go to home depot and get a free metal paint can tool from the paint department. This thing is perfect for removing the pushpins in one quick motion.
Honda Civic 10th gen DIY: Aftermarket horn install 20171112_105336

Honda Civic 10th gen DIY: Aftermarket horn install 20171112_142613

Disconnect the battery
Honda Civic 10th gen DIY: Aftermarket horn install 20171112_083651

Use a 12mm wrench to remove the horn bracket from the vehicle
Honda Civic 10th gen DIY: Aftermarket horn install 20171112_105904

Use a 12mm socket or wrench to remove the horn from the bracket
Honda Civic 10th gen DIY: Aftermarket horn install 20171112_105822

There are different setups for installing the horn. I used the original mounting point for one of the horns. I used the spot where the horn bracket attaches to the vehicle. Have the back of the horns with the terminals face backwards as the opening in the grill will cause water to come in
Honda Civic 10th gen DIY: Aftermarket horn install 20171112_114128

Now, you can cut the original oem wiring and just splice additional wires to the positive and negative terminals on each horn and it would work. I decided I wanted the process to be as plug and play as possible. I purchased a horn adapter from Collegehillshonda for $8. After reading the forums about adding a horn, I decided to add a harness with a relay to not damage the original wire and to prevent blowing a fuse. I purchased a horn wires harness from eBay for $4. It's a universal harness and fit perfectly for put car. Here's some photos and a diagram
Honda Civic 10th gen DIY: Aftermarket horn install 20171112_105639
Honda Civic 10th gen DIY: Aftermarket horn install 20171125_113817

Plug the horn adapter harness to the female oem connector
Honda Civic 10th gen DIY: Aftermarket horn install 20171112_110201

Attach the horn adapter harness to the eBay horn harness
Honda Civic 10th gen DIY: Aftermarket horn install 20171112_111027

Take a positive wire from the horn harness and attach it to a metal terminal on each of the horns. The horns are polar positive so it does not matter which side you connect them to as long as each horn has a positive and negative connection. Take a negative wire from the horn harness and attach it to the remaining terminal on each of the horns.
Honda Civic 10th gen DIY: Aftermarket horn install 20171231_101207

Attach the grounding bolt to the car frame. Word of advice, do not use the horn bracket as a grounding point because the part of the vehicle that it attaches to is plastic.
Honda Civic 10th gen DIY: Aftermarket horn install 20171125_120302
Honda Civic 10th gen DIY: Aftermarket horn install 20171112_130312

Attach the relay somewhere so that it doesn't flop around. Run the long wire through the engine bay to the positive battery terminal. Be sure to zip tie the harness along the way.
Honda Civic 10th gen DIY: Aftermarket horn install 20171112_114135

Remove the fuse from the fuse holder on the horn harness.
Honda Civic 10th gen DIY: Aftermarket horn install 20171112_115357

Attach the horn harness to the positive battery terminal. Connect the battery
Place the fuse back into the fuse holder
Honda Civic 10th gen DIY: Aftermarket horn install 20171112_115646

Test your horn to make sure it works. Honk it 10 - 20 times. Vary the amount of time you hold down the horn. Congratulations, you have a working horn.
Honda Civic 10th gen DIY: Aftermarket horn install 20171112_142622
 

pwee08

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GREAT WRITE UP!! the adapter you bought from college hill was a direct fit to the oem connection???
 
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itbedave

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Thanks for the write up! I was looking to do this last summer and never got around to it. Kind of hoping SOMEONE came out with an easier method - and it looks like that's happened now as College Hill Honda has a direct fit replacement horn kit available for $17.

http://www.collegehillshonda.com/product/3802.html

I'd already bought a set of recommended horns off Amazon but was going to have to splice and fit - so I decided to purchase the College Hill kit and give that a try the next warm weekend we have. I'll try to do my own write-up then.

Thanks for the tips on bumper removal! I think that's everyone's biggest fear!
 

pwee08

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Thanks for the write up! I was looking to do this last summer and never got around to it. Kind of hoping SOMEONE came out with an easier method - and it looks like that's happened now as College Hill Honda has a direct fit replacement horn kit available for $17.

http://www.collegehillshonda.com/product/3802.html

I'd already bought a set of recommended horns off Amazon but was going to have to splice and fit - so I decided to purchase the College Hill kit and give that a try the next warm weekend we have. I'll try to do my own write-up then.

Thanks for the tips on bumper removal! I think that's everyone's biggest fear!

well you can always buy the adapter so you don't have to do no splicing at all. I'll be doing my horn replacement this upcoming weekend. I'll get a video up of what i bought and what you need to do. also you don't need the horn harness our civics were made to house 2 horns but only has 1.
 
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itbedave

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well you can always buy the adapter so you don't have to do no splicing at all. I'll be doing my horn replacement this upcoming weekend. I'll get a video up of what i bought and what you need to do. also you don't need the horn harness our civics were made to house 2 horns but only has 1.
I know I could, but I want it to be even simpler than what he did here. And the horn they offer is plenty loud for my needs. Plus, I'm only out $20 on the replacement I'd bought and can likely resell it.

The one thing I'd suggest to others is -don't put your bumper back together before you test your horn! That would suck to get it all assembled only to run into a problem and have to take it off again.
 
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Donuyen18

Donuyen18

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I know I could, but I want it to be even simpler than what he did here. And the horn they offer is plenty loud for my needs. Plus, I'm only out $20 on the replacement I'd bought and can likely resell it.

The one thing I'd suggest to others is -don't put your bumper back together before you test your horn! That would suck to get it all assembled only to run into a problem and have to take it off again.
Be honest, if I saw the replacement from college hills, I probably would have just gone that route. Live and learn
 

itbedave

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The funny thing is, after I went back and listened to both the horn I ordered from CH and the one I'd already purchased from Amazon, I liked the sound of the dual horns better! Lol!

So I went ahead and bought the wiring harness off eBay as you did because the CH horn comes with the other harness, and I can try both options and decide which to go with.
 


imccly89

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The funny thing is, after I went back and listened to both the horn I ordered from CH and the one I'd already purchased from Amazon, I liked the sound of the dual horns better! Lol!
Which one is the dual horn? Would you say the CH horn is a significant improvement over stock? Thanks
 

itbedave

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This is the one I bought from Amazon: http://a.co/6sKyViN

The one from CH is STILL a BIG improvement over the stock though. If I end up not using it, I'll probably post it for sale here.

Which one is the dual horn? Would you say the CH horn is a significant improvement over stock? Thanks
 

itbedave

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I've STILL not had a chance to install my new horn(s) yet due to some unexpected "honey-do's" when we had nice weather last week. But I wanted to pass along that the stock horn in the Civic is actually dangerous IMHO.

I drive on interstate 75 and 675 in SW Ohio for a 35 minute, one-way commute to work daily. On my way home the other night, as I getting onto the highway and in a lane that does not merge but next to a lane that does, a pickup truck in a lane that ended didn't even look to see that I was already in the lane the continued on - and just decided to put himself where I was. In spite of laying on my horn, he apparently could not hear or see me. He didn't even turn his head to look - and I ended up slowing down while driving off onto the shoulder of the road to give him room.

My wife teases me all of the time about my Civic's "wimpy" horn. And I HAVE had issues with it being heard when picking someone up and honking in the drive but not getting anyone's attention. So the upgrade can't happen soon enough for me now - and hopefully that will end some of these issues with other drivers not hearing my horn on the roads.
 

itbedave

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well you can always buy the adapter so you don't have to do no splicing at all. I'll be doing my horn replacement this upcoming weekend. I'll get a video up of what i bought and what you need to do. also you don't need the horn harness our civics were made to house 2 horns but only has 1.
Can you explain further about how to do 2 horns without the harness? I'm actually getting ready to post my experience doing the single horn install from CH with some video. But I'm still iffy on the sound of the new one and liked the sound of the duals better. So I may still do those if I can figure out the wiring. I DID order an eBay harness, but I was running out of light and weather when I did the installation, and looked like I was going to need to splice a couple of connectors or wires on still.
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