How to disable the horn on a 2003 Honda Civic

If you have an alarm system on your car, it can sometimes go off at inopportune times.  Thunder is notorious for setting off car alarms, and precipitation such as hard rain or hail can also cause the alarm to go off.  If your alarm is easily set off by storms, you may want to disable the horn before a big storm comes, especially if it will be coming while you're trying to sleep.

Read on for a step-by-step guide to disable the horn on a 2003 Honda Civic.

1. Pop the hood

The hood release lever is located below the steering wheel right by the driver's door; it is a black lever with the image of a car with a raised hood on it.  Pull this lever toward you to release the hood.

2. Raise the hood

To raise the hood, pull up on it with one hand while feeling underneath it with the other hand to release the hood latch (located just to the left of the center of the hood).  Find this latch and push it up and to the right to free the hood, then raise the hood up and use the bar that lies across the front frame of the car (a metal bar with a white plastic tip) to keep the hood raised.  This bar fits into a hole on the underside of the hood.

3. Open the fuse box

As you're standing in front of the car, the fuse box can be found on the left side of the engine compartment, behind the battery.  To open it, push in on the four tabs (two on the front, two on the back) and lift the cover up and off.

4. Remove the horn relay

The electrical relay that controls the horn is on the left side of the fuse box.  There is a row of three black rectangular relays; the horn relay is the middle one.  Remove this relay by pulling it straight up.  The relay may be difficult to remove, and a pair of needle-nose pliers might help.  (If you want to be absolutely sure that you're removing the right relay, there is a diagram on the underside of the fuse box cover showing which relay goes where.)

Once you remove the relay, put it somewhere safe -- preferably somewhere in the car so that you'll have it when you want to reinstall it.  A good place to store the relay is in the drop-down compartment to the left of the steering wheel.

5. Close the fuse box

Place the fuse box cover back on top of the fuse box so that the large black protrusion faces toward the front of the car.  Push the cover down onto the fuse box, and the four tabs should snap into place.

6. Close the hood

Lift up on the hood slightly with one hand so you can remove the metal bar with your other hand.  Place this bar back across the front frame of the car and snap it into its white plastic clip.  Then lower the hood until it's about a foot above the car and let it drop down and lock.

Things to note:

• Always turn the car off before removing or replacing any relays or fuses.
• When reinstalling the horn relay, it will only fit in one way.  Make sure the terminals on the bottom of the relay line up with the slots in the fuse box housing.  If there is writing on the top of the relay, it should be facing toward the front of the car.

(Originally published on Helium.com, 2011)