Intermittent Horn

[Anonymous]

Greetings all,

Just wondering if anybody has encountered or heard of the following situation.

I've got a 1980 GS400E on which I might actually use the horn about once a year (usually just before and at the annual safety inspection). Well, that inspection is coming up, and so a month or so ago, I tried the horn just for the hell of it. It honked (well, beeped, actually) the first time I pressed the button in, but not on the second or subsequent attempts. Assuming it had beeped it's last, I forgot about it for about a week or so, but after that interval, when I pressed the button again, again got one beep then silence.

And that's been the pattern. It won't reliabably work on the first try every time, but if I haven't used it in a while, it WILL sometimes work - once. I'm assuming that since it works at all, the wiring, diaphram and button must be working, and if I can, I'd rather avoid paying for the labor costs of several hours of bike shop troubleshooting.

Thanks for any input,
Jim Regan

[Anonymous]

Option #1:
There's a small adjustment screw with a counternut on the backside of the horn. Loosen the counternut and try to turn the screw in or out. You might get it working again.
You could also open the horn. It's rivetted, but you can drill the rivets out. Clean the inside of the horn. It's probably rusted on the inside.

Option #2:
Replace the horn by a new one. Any 12V horn will do. Just look for the cheapest one, they should only cost a couple of $.
I replaced the ones on my GS850 by piezo type horns; cheap (I paid ?7 for one horn) and almost indestructable.

I'd go for option 2. Repairing the horn can be a lot of work and will probably be just a temporary solution.

[Anonymous]

Some links:

http://www.jcwhitney.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=225&catalogId=10101&storeId=10101&langId=-1&TID=100

http://store.yahoo.com/rodi/wol2602t.html

http://store.yahoo.com/rodi/hp3-0195.html

[Anonymous]

It could be the switch or the horn or the charging system. Get a multimeter and put it on th 20VDC or 50VDC setting. Put the probes on the horn connectors and have a friend push the horn button. You should read something like 12V or -12V (either is OK) as long as the horn should be working. If not, your switch is bad. If you read 12V and the horn does not work, it's the horn's fault.

There are two problems on my bike. One is an intermittent switch. The other is that the charging system is sitting in my garage and my battery can't handle the load of the horn. When I push the button (if it's working) my battery voltage drops below the point at which the horn makes noise. Still draws power, just doesn't make noise.

So it can be complicated.

Michael

[Anonymous]

Intermittent Horn

To add to your worries (sorry!) you may have a break in a wire inside the insulation,especially from the switch cluster to the main wiring harness.24 year old Japanese wires will have been subjected to thousands of flexes,they may look fine from the outside,but making contact only intermittently on the inside.Try bypassing the wires to and from the horn button and see if that makes any difference.My bike's wiring had so many chops and splices I eventually had to rewire the whole thing,not as bad a job as you'd think.Makes for peace of mind.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the suggestions and links. Since I don't have a multimeter I think I'll try the next simplest option first - getting a new horn and before even mounting it, just attaching the leads to see if it works. And if it turns out NOT to be the horn, I'll return the new one and use the credit to get myself a multimeter and commence a more detailed inspection.

Thanks again

[Anonymous]

I had the same problem about a year ago. I unmounted it from the frame, cleaned it up a little, shrugged and put it back. It's worked fine ever since. It makes kind of a pathetic bleating sound. Er... maybe you should replace yours anyway.

[Anonymous]

I just came in from doing much the same thing when I saw your post. I went out to unmount the horn so I could take it with me as I went shopping for a replacement, and when I slid the clips off the two contacts, saw 24 years of life in the form of a fine gray corrision over the metal. A few scrapes with a screw driver to reveal something shiny, a reconnecting of the clips, and the horn worked fine - repeatedly.

(As for the quality of the sound, it sounds the same as it always did, which is a typical motorcycle horn, which isn't great, but I can move up to dual air horns later.)

At the moment, I've brought the horn inside for the evening so that I can thoroughly remove the corrision and grease things up with a little dielectric gel before remounting.

So nice when the solution is free.

Thanks again.

[Mr. Jiggles]

For something as important as the horn I think that it's worth the effort and cost of parts to install a relay system and replace the stock horns with a set of Hi/Lo Fiamms.

Jeff

[Anonymous]

For something as important as the horn I think that it's worth the effort and cost of parts to install a relay system and replace the stock horns with a set of Hi/Lo Fiamms.

Jeff

Yes, good horns are legally required here and I consider them an essential safety system.

Michael