94 civic - horn problem?

the horn sounded like one was not sounding, one dealer charged me for a new
horn and labor to r & r the bumper, when I picked up the car, there was no
improvement. they said tough sh!t, it's an old car and had an accident
before I bought it. I should have insisted on getting the old horn back.
The serice manager defended his service writers and mechanic. One service
writer even had the nerve to laugh at me on the phone. this was the third
strike at that dealer. I don't know if I should complain to Honda of
America or just let it go.

I took it to another dealer that is larger and has a better reputation, and
was nice enough to give me a ride to work. Odly the horn worked every time
they tested it and even worked after I picked it up, until 10pm tonight.
now it is back to same problem. what is a common cause?
Rocky

 

Things that sometimes work and sometimes don't usually are suffering from
intermittent connections, usually damaged wiring or poor ground connections.

- See if you can trace the wires back from the horn and look for any damage
to the wire.

- Check/clean the ground connection that handles the horns and see if that
make it more reliable.

- Another issue that applies specifically to horns is the ring in the
steering column that transmits the signal from the horn buttons. It can
become intermittent due to wear/crud accumulation. Try holding in the horn
buttons and rotating the steering wheel all the way around. If it
occasionally works at different positions of the wheel, I would suspect the
ring.

- All this is assuming that they actually replaced the horn, so that its
not the problem. Does it look new?

 

the dealer says the other horn has a short and ordered a replacement - will
be here in a few days. they are very nice about it. I wish I met this
dealer before I bought this used civic - I would have bought a newer civic
or crv from them instead of an old car from a private seller. for what I am
sinking into this car, it almost wasn't worth what I put into it.

This dealer also recognized a timing issue that my gas station and my x
honda dealer couldn't solve - the car runs smoother and has more power than
before. I bet the guy that sold it with the head gasket failure would have
kept it if he knew it would have run this well again!
Rocky

 

Nice to hear of a dealer that solves some problems once in a while...

Professor
www.telstar-electronics.com

 

use a bike horn and attach it to your side view mirror!!!!

 

either the bike horn or an air horn!