I ran into an old friend in a parking lot, and her car would not start. She had stopped at the store on the way to take her sick son to urgent care. She explained that the car had a removable chip under the dash (theft deterrent system), installed by the dealership, and she occasionally would have to wiggle the chip to get the car to start. I tried the ignition key and the wiggle with no luck but noticed that the dash lights would at least come on, so figured out only the starter was out of the loop. I crossed the starter terminals with a screwdriver and she was ready to go, but she still had to go to urgent care and who knows where else. I could not expect her to climb under the car in a dress to jumper the starter with a screwdriver. I looked around under the hood and noticed the starter relay on the firewall....right next to the horn relay. So, I swapped a couple of wires, got in the car, turned on the key, and leaned on the horn. Bingo! She would not believe me, so I turned it off and had her get in the car and try it herself. She was still laughing shaking her head when she drove off.
I found out later that she thought it was so cool that she left it that way for weeks until someone pulled out in front of her and she hit the horn. No honk, but lots of grinding. No serious damage done, but the car went to the dealership for chip removal and swapping the wires back the next day. The service writer would not believe her story until she made him sit in the car, turn the key, and push to horn to start.
