Electrical problems after inspection of 2005 Subaru Baja

[bklynpa]

I've owned my 2005 Subaru Baja Turbo for 5 years, it has 50,000 miles, and love it. The only problem I've had until now was I had to replace the Turbo charger last year.

I got the car inspected in Pennsylvania a couple of days ago. Immediately after the inspection, the first time the horn was blown, it only made noise for a second, then the fuse blew and the horn stopped working, the turn signals started blinking very quickly, and the parking lights would not turn off. Then when I went to remove the key, it was stuck in the accessory position, and would not release until I removed the plastic housing around the steering column, and moved a small switch under the column.

Since then the key has worked fine, but every time you blow the horn, it blows for just a second and the horn/signal fuse blows out again, also the parking lights won't shut off. I actually had to remove the horn relay to prevent this from happening. NOTE: The problem with the parking lights only stopped when I removed the horn relay, not when I changed the fuse.

I guess my questions are:

a) Could the inspection have caused a short somewhere in the system? (I never had any electrical problems until the car was inspected).

b) What would be a good way (or place to start looking) to troubleshoot the problem.

c) should I just take the car to the dealer to figure this out?

Thanks for any help you all can offer.

Bklynpa

[danielsatur]

Translate fuse # into # circuits being used, see owners manual.
Is the horn + parking lights sharing the same fuse?

If yes, isolate the horn by a disconnect @ horn.

Doe's the parking lights work normal?

If yes, check the resistance of horn, and try drying horn out with a hair dryer.

If you take it to a dealer, they will turn a mole hill into a mountain of debt, see
www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=1081391

Yea - Lets blame it on a bad BCM, it's the owners problem!