1978 XS650 SE - Horn issue?

[Nuke]

hey guys,
real quick.. im almost done getting my bike ready for a safety, but my horn issue persists.
I have replaced the old battery with a new battery and even replaced the original horn with a brand new one. All connections have been cleaned in the button and wiring. The horn works with direct 12v. When I push the horn button it has a faint sound, not nearly as loud as it should be.

Could be a ground issue - any ideas other than that?

 

[5twins]

Yes, it could be a faulty ground. You say you cleaned all the connections and the button, but did you take the button all apart? As you can see, the contact gets pretty beat up .....

When you push the horn button, the pink wire connected to it is put to ground. It grounds through the button frame to the switch housing. There is a ground wire from the headlight bucket connected to and grounding the housing .....

So, that means all these connection points and parts need to be clean - the wire contacts for the button, the button frame, it's mounting point in the housing, and the ground wire connection point. I use copper based anti-seize on all the little screws in the housing. Besides lubing the threads, I think it makes for a better electrical connection .....

 

[Nuke]

Yes, it could be a faulty ground. You say you cleaned all the connections and the button, but did you take the button all apart? As you can see, the contact gets pretty beat up .....

When you push the horn button, the pink wire connected to it is put to ground. It grounds through the button frame to the switch housing. There is a ground wire from the headlight bucket connected to and grounding the housing .....

So, that means all these connection points and parts need to be clean - the wire contacts for the button, the button frame, it's mounting point in the housing, and the ground wire connection point. I use copper based anti-seize on all the little screws in the housing. Besides lubing the threads, I think it makes for a better electrical connection .....

Yes, it could be a faulty ground. You say you cleaned all the connections and the button, but did you take the button all apart? As you can see, the contact gets pretty beat up .....

When you push the horn button, the pink wire connected to it is put to ground. It grounds through the button frame to the switch housing. There is a ground wire from the headlight bucket connected to and grounding the housing .....

So, that means all these connection points and parts need to be clean - the wire contacts for the button, the button frame, it's mounting point in the housing, and the ground wire connection point. I use copper based anti-seize on all the little screws in the housing. Besides lubing the threads, I think it makes for a better electrical connection .....

Hey thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately I never figured out this issue as of yet and it's one of the only issues left i need to address to have it road ready.

We are at the point of possibly finding a new horn switch or possible ordering an entire horn switch assembly. When we opened it up some of the plastic mechanical pieces were chipped or broken. Tried superglue but it didn't really work.

Thanks again

 

[OHRider]

Had similar problem with my SR500. It was a bad ground to the switch housing.