Any ideas as to why every time I honk my cars horn sounds like a depressed clown??

 

it is a euro thing isn't it?

not sure of teh tone, but each area uses a different one. domestics all use one tone, imports use another and euro uses a different one.

 

most horns are made up of a high and a low tone that sound off together. you may have one of them not firing. I havent messed with the MINI's but my last car I did, I hooked up each horn, one at a time, seeing how they sounded, and finally with both horns firing, it sounds normal.

 

nope, my car's actually mexican and it used to be louder, it's all muffled down now, sounds like the horn's clogged or something and it worked fine about 2 weeks ago, so maybe one of them isn't plugged in right or just stopped working? anybody know where they're located so that I can check them?

 

Maybe if have your head by the front bumper, and hit the horn button, you can track the sound?

 

When I honked the horn on my MCS for the first time, I was blown away with how un-MINI-like my horn sounded. It sounded more like my Jeep's horn (or some other similar American 4x4), than it did a European small car.

 

I replaced my '02 MCS horn with a big-rig sounding horn from WOLO. It sounds pretty sick.

 

I'd check to see if any Dirt Dobbers packed the horn with dirt if everything electrical looks good. I had this happen on an old MGB I owned.

I installed air horns, very cool and gets the attention of those drivers not paying attention on the road.

 

I switched out my OEM horns for "beep beep" horns. Took the afternoon and some demmeling. Still not really the sound I want, but better than sounding like a sedan when I thank people for pulling over and letting me around. (BTW- I live in an area where I find I never use my horn for anything but "hi" and "thanks"

 

.

 

Perhaps you're not tickling its fancy.

 

If you're not satisfied with your horn, check out the Hey Horn.

 

Put a recording of your horn on youtube, I want to hear it. (the OP's horn)

 

I installed fiamm dual air horns behind behind the left blinker.
It took some dremeling and a heat gun to melt the horn for a good fit.

I was kind of unsatisfied with the volume and tone.
they also tok a while to come to life...

I now have twin BAD BOY horns mounted ... one behind each blinker connector...
It WILL get someone's attention

 

I have only used my horn once in more than 5 1/2 years.

 

Each tone of the two-tone OE horns has its own horn. One horn is located at either end of the front bumper, visible by opening the hood and looking at the opening in the bumper just below where the headlight is located. If you're confused, pop the hood and have someone honk! Highly possible that they got corroded or plugged by wasps or spiders or simply electrical gremlins.

I used one of the + leads to the horn as a signal wire to a relay and installed triple Hella air horns. Works great, louder than stock, and melodic. If I were to do it again I'd use that signal wire to a relay for louder horns, possibly two-tone Hellas (high and medium, no low tone) or a loud Stebel.

 

Get one of these:

 

OMG, I would crap myself!

 

Too bad the compressor in the bed of the truck is as large as a Mini!

I put one like this in my Maxima, very disappointed.

 

YIKES! If you need to wear protective ear gear just to use the horn, it's too damned loud!

Aaron (agranger) has an AWESOME airhorn installed on Jango. He used it to signal the start of the Highlands Drive at MOTD. The youtube clip he has simply doesn't do it justice...

 

horns are located in the bumper

 

So I finally checked it out today, found the horns, but didn't really mess around with them. As far as I can tell both are emitting sound when you honk, it's just incredibly muffled down, I tried the typical non-mechanical approach and physically hit the horns a couple times incase something fell out of them, checked the connections, then rubbed my head in contemplation... I guess I'll take it apart tomorrow after finals. You have to remove the bumper to get to them right? no shortcut?

If I do take it apart, but still can't fix it, I'll try to get a clip on youtube, maybe you guys can get a better idea on what's going on... thanks for the help.

 

Do you have a web address for the horns or the clip address on youtube?

 

Search for AGranger's horns - saw/heard them at MOTD - who didn't?

(kudos to Aaron!)

 

Yeah.... the AGranger Horn Mod is NOT for the feint of heart, though... non trivial... here's my copy, and has a link to his thread, which has his clips.

And, yeah, it's MUCH louder and better than the sound clips can convey...