My horn is dead

[ScottRNelson]

Throwing this out there in case anybody has a better idea than what I've come up with.

After replacing the steering head bearings on my 2001 XR650L I put it all back together and the only issue I had was that the horn didn't work. One of the wires had come off, so I plugged it back in but still silence.

Today I took a bunch of stuff apart to figure out where the failure is. I applied power to the horn itself and it honks - that wimpy Honda honk, but better than nothing. Getting out the wiring diagram, I see that it's a light green wire that goes from the horn switch all the way through to the horn. I took the horn switch apart, pulled apart the connector behind the headlight and there is no continuity between the green wire at the switch and the green wire at the connector. Apparently I managed to break it when the bars and instruments were hanging by the wires (yeah, don't do that).

My concern is that the wires from the left handlebar switch go into a big wad of wires that are all wrapped together, then eventually come out at a six pin connector. I don't really want to unwind that whole wad of wires, so I'm thinking of cutting into the wrapping around the wires where it's small near the switch and where it's back small near the connector, then solder in a replacement wire. It won't be pretty, but I can at least make sure that I now have a connection.

Any other ideas on how to fix this?

 

[auntiebling]

run a new wire outside the loom, but put it through a relay while you're at it

 

[ScottRNelson]

run a new wire outside the loom, but put it through a relay while you're at it

Yeah. If I bother adding a relay I'll put a more serious horn on it too.

Where would you suggest getting power from to feed into the relay?

 

[295566]

Direct from the battery would be best.

 

[Cincinnatus]

I use a Touratech mini-fusebox from the battery to power accessories.

Not necessarily cheap at $140, but it's fused and has worked well for years. https://touratech-usa.com/Store/TPS-15-CAN-Bus-Output-Helper-fuse-block

Yeah, and wiring outside the loom is my solution too. :teeth

 

[auntiebling]

Direct from the battery would be best.

Yep, though some hondas have an accessory lug hiding under the plastics which would also work. No idea if an xl would

 

[ScottRNelson]

Looks like I never bothered to follow up on this post. It was a broken wire right at the horn connector. Once I started seriously looking into it with a volt meter and all that, I determined that the wiring from the horn button through the connector behind the headlight was good, then figured out that I had a good connect all but the last quarter inch going to the connector. So I cut the wire, stripped it, soldered it to the connector and the horn was good from then on.

Now if I can just get around to figuring out why the new float valve doesn't seem to seal. Maybe put the old one back in there? I need to replace the throttle cable anyway, because a few strands are broken at the carburetor. Want to fix it before it breaks out in the middle of nowhere.

But my garage is cold...

 

[Cincinnatus]

Duh, bring the bike inside the house. :teeth

Is the new float valve from China? :laughing

I'd compare the old & new side by side, see if there's a flaw somewhere.

Or maybe there's some gunk in the carb preventing it from seating. Seafoam time!!! arty :thumbup

 

[ScottRNelson]

Duh, bring the bike inside the house. :teeth

Is the new float valve from China? :laughing

Japan. Genuine Honda part. I bought it years ago thinking I would need it and never did. But a couple of months ago I decided to change my main jet and went ahead and put the "new" float needle in there. It was only after that that I saw a slow drip of fuel round the float bowl when stopped and the petcock still in the ON position.

I really need to stick to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy. I should know better. :x

 

[auntiebling]

remembering the thread 1 year after asking... should i assume you're getting to the bottom of your To Do list :laughing

 

[ScottRNelson]

remembering the thread 1 year after asking... should i assume you're getting to the bottom of your To Do list :laughing

Something like that. I was looking for some other thread that I started and noticed this one. If I've asked something, I usually try to make sure there is an answer in the thread somewhere and this one didn't have one.

Of course, now it's gone off in another direction. :rolleyes

 

[ST Guy]

You need to look at the rubber seal on the float valve to really tell if it's good. I had some good looking float valves in my ST1100, but under magnification, I could tell the rubber was cracked.

 

[scootergmc]

Ah, you just need a float bowl gasket. That and replace every phillips bowl screw with the corresponding socket head. Regular phillips bowl screws are the devil.

 

[ScottRNelson]

Ah, you just need a float bowl gasket. That and replace every phillips bowl screw with the corresponding socket head. Regular phillips bowl screws are the devil.

Phillips head screws were replaced with socket heads right after I got the bike, in early 2009.

The fuel level with a correctly functioning float and float needle should be below the edge of the float bowl, so it shouldn't be able to leak even if the gasket is not functioning correctly. But I'm going to double-check that before doing anything else. I still have to pull the carburetor independent of any of this, though.