Horn not working all the time.

peterz

peterz

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Joined
Jun 22, 2007
Messages
538
Age
68
Location
The Finger Lakes
Bike
07 ST1300
My horn has started doing the working when it wants to thing. I've taken the switch assembly apart and cleaned it up with CRC quick clean and put the air hose to it to clear out any crud that was there. I applied electric contact grease to the contacts and it worked well for a while. Can you replace the horn contacts or do you have to buy the whole switch assembly? Thanks.
PeterZ
 
Any other electrical issues on the bike? Could be a dodgy ground.

Bit of a faff, but since you've already cleaned & re-greased the switch, I'd take the front end and left side plastics off. Stock horn position is by the right fork leg (along with air temp sensor), left side allows access to the 24pin block that most of the front grounds come through.

Unplug wires from the horn, temporarily run wires direct from the batter - is it still inconsistent? If so, time for a new horn, and might as well upgrade it IMO. If it's consistent wired to the battery, then you're likely looking at ground issues. Clean/re-grease them all. Maybe get busy with a multimeter.

Also while the plastics are off, check for chaffed wires.
 
@peterz mine only worked when I pressed the button. The rest of the time, nary a peep (or in the case of the stock "horn substitute", more of a "meep"). ;)

Hope you get it sorted. If you elect to replace the horn, you can do worse than the dual high+low tone FIAMM units. Run an extra circuit if you haven't already, and use the original horn wires to trigger a relay that fires the horn.
 
Exactly as @ibike2havefun said. Using the original horn leads to trigger a relay (I mounted mine on that rod that holds the oem horn, and mounted my Fiamms up behind the mirrors per another post on this subject) allows the switch to see a minimum current that will not damage the contacts. Should you have dodgy response from the new horns, then the switch is the problem.
 
Try turning the bars lock to lock while operating the horn to be sure you dont have a broken wire in the harness that is intermittent and dependent on bar position
 
It's almost surprising anyone could tell wether the factory horn is working or not considering how quiet the meeper is on a good day (no competing ambient noise). I agree with replacing the horn anyway after finding the cause of the problem. A pair of FIAMMs on a relay will help alert the casual pedestrian/vehicle operator.
 
Don't know why I forgot to mention it, Stella has had a Stebel for quite a while now.
 
I'd forgotten mine had a horn, until the other day when I accidentally pressed it instead of cancelling the indicators. I nearly wet myself when the bike went honk!
 
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