The horn on my 2005 Chevy Impala had slowly started to sound like it was a weakened, trapped animal, desperate to escape. Finally, it died and wouldn’t work at all. With an inspection looming, I decided to fix this one myself. I had a strong assumption it was just the horn that had gone bad and not anything more serious such as wiring or fuses. Just to be sure, I looked up ChrisFix videos on how to check the horn fuses and wiring. He always has high quality how to videos.
Confident that it was just the horn and upon advice from a ChrisFix video, I decided to purchase an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) horn. The reason for this decision was to make it as simple as possible to take out the old horn, plug in the new one, and put it all back together. However, the initial internet search did not produce the results I had hoped. All AC Delco horns I could find were either for GM SUV’s or Cadillac cars. They were also expensive, delayed on shipping, and designated as not being able to fit a 05 Impala.
After doing more extensive research, I decided upon buying a 03-07 Cadillac horn on eBay. While it says it does not fit a 05 Impala, it is simply because the bracket that it comes on does not fit the car. The electrical component, which was the most important factor in my quest, was exactly the same and would plug right into the existing connector. I simply removed the horns from their respective brackets and put the new horns on the old bracket. It is important to note to place the new horns in the same direction as the old horns. After that, all that was left was to plug in the horn, test it with my key fob, tighten it back into place, and tidy up the rest of the parts I had to move to accomplish this task.
Overall, it did not take much more than a half an hour. I feel so accomplihed to work on my car. Thankfully, that part of the inspection passed with flying colors. The tie-rod ends, however, did not fare so well. Oh well, I can’t win them all…yet.
All Out Octane 