Can not blow my horn

[la nomade]

oh,dear me...i hope this will not happen to me, once fixed..as soon as it is, mid may or so ,i will let you know..this all is very helpful,at the garage,they are in a hurry fix things the easy way,not restoring....big differece...closest air str.garage is hours away in new jersey....now,nor my radio or back up camera is working,all that was connected to the same fuse where he now put wires on for the regular car horn...a mess.
i should stand there and watch what they are doing.
same with my back up lihgts,i smasched one backing up on a pile of rocks,instead of ordering a new same one,they put 2new ones round,black,and ugly having nothing to do with the style and integrity of the air str...need to replace those. thank you all....M.

[ScrapIrony-2]

Leaving a rally...my own in conception, and when I hit the horn button on the steering wheel; i just blasted for about 30 seconds..I beat on the damned thing for about another 30 seconds...it quit. and hasn't worked since...I KNOW how to impress people, and as Trailer Trash Queen, I will continue to dazzle you...your remarks are anxiously awaited...m

[8rmesse]

For what it's worth I have found that I can not "toot my own horn" when I have my tilt wheel fully raised. If I lower it one notch it works perfectly. I am guessing raising the wheel causes the contacts to become misaligned. Maybe (don't take this too seriously) Airstream or Chevrolet engineers designed it this way so my dog can not honk the horn when he puts his paws on the steering wheel to bark at passersby when we are camping. Those engineers think of everything!

[la nomade]

Originally Posted by 345bill

la nomade- Here's how the AIR Horn is set up on my 1990 345LE.

If your sitting in the driver seat and swing your left foot all the way left you'll hit the 'kick' panel carpeting. Behind this carpet you'll find an air/electric solenoid that has two air lines, one comes from from your air tank for rear suspension and other one goes to the roof mounted horn. Then two wires on it that go to a horn relay. So basically even the AIR horns are also part 'electric'.

On the AIR side of this solenoid they are famous for sticking either open or closed. When they stick open you can't stop the horn from blowing and when stick closed they wont allow the horn to blow. I would take mine apart and lubricate it but after having to do this twice I ended up buying a new one that has been OK for a while now. Condensation in air lines is hard on this valve that's inside the solenoid.

The electric side is fused for protection. On mine it's the same fuse as the cigarette lighter. Regardless, naturally if the fuse is blown, no horn. Finding what's blowing fuse will correct this.

If your problem is intermittant I'd look at this solenoid first. As Bob mentioned above they are more or less universal so you dont necessarily have to go to Airstream for the part. Any decent RV shop or auto part store should have one. Here's a pic. of mine.

Keep us posted.

thanks to you very specific and clear explanation,it was easy to find its location,had to lie down,face up to take things appart,very unconfortable position,and it turned out that the solenoid was fine,clean and dry,it simply had a bad electric connection,so to my great delight,it is fixed.....thank you....now i am dealing with the radiator fan not coming on...waiting for a new clutch.....best,M.

[la nomade]

Originally Posted by crazeevw

Martine,
I truly believe you have the electric 'air' horns. The compressor at rear of coach is for the rear suspension air bags. Still, not seeing for myself, I could be wrong.
My thoughts are that it could be your horn switch on the steering wheel.
How's your trip home so far? Derek

now that it has been fixed,i should tell you that the horn on my A.STR.is both electric and air,it depends on the compressor in the back as i thought,thanks to this forum i could actually locate it,take it appart,and..fix it,it was a bad electrical connection,not the selenoid....one more thing fixed.....

[ROBERT CROSS]

Toot-Toot...Good

Bob

[345bill]

Originally Posted by la nomade

it simply had a bad electric connection,so to my great delight,it is fixed.....thank you.....

la nomade- We too appreciate the knowledge learning / sharing these forums provide. Glad this one worked out for you.

[crazeevw]

Originally Posted by la nomade

now that it has been fixed,i should tell you that the horn on my A.STR.is both electric and air,it depends on the compressor in the back as i thought,thanks to this forum i could actually locate it,take it appart,and..fix it,it was a bad electrical connection,not the selenoid....one more thing fixed.....

Martine,
Thanks for the 'heads-up' on air horn. Seems as if only one of mine on roof is working. By reading the rest of this thread, I now know where to start looking.
Thanks, Derek

[RBonney]

My horn started goin off at times on its own it's a long time till u run out of air. It always happened at wrong times. So I pulled fuse all the time I parked now it just blows fuse as soon as I put it in. I miss tooting my horn

[dljosephson]

I don't know about the 1990 but the 1983 has what looks like air horns are actually electric. There is a horn relay near the fuse block. Do you hear a click when you push the horn button? Also, the wire from the block to the horn is green in mine ... I'd put my chip on that wire getting disturbed when you were fixing the other problem.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by RBonney

My horn started goin off at times on its own it's a long time till u run out of air. It always happened at wrong times. So I pulled fuse all the time I parked now it just blows fuse as soon as I put it in. I miss tooting my horn

Check the wiring for the air solenoid valve, it would stick at times on ours, always at the rong time.
If the valve isn't stuck open then the wiring for the horn relay may be the culprit. Also with a tilt steering wheel the wiring can ground when the wheel is turned or tilted.

Bob

[montreal]

My new electric horn is not working either. I do have electric/air horns fitted on the roof but they are not wired in yet. I have a simple dual car horn fitted as my mechanic was a bit lazy. He is no longer my mechanic.
Questions. Where is the fuse for the horn on my 310? Under the dash? If so which one?
It has new relays and wiring and I started tilting the wheel recently for comfort. How many wires go the horn on the wheel and where does the earth go to? I have a bunch of earths on top of the sheet metal above the engine to the left of the radio.