babybaluga32 Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 When i honk my horn makes my rpms drop eventually killing the engine.. Ive done bunchs of stuff with wires but nothing that would interfere with such things, Stereo, speedo, alarm, random etc's. I noticed it a few months ago. In my opinion it shorts my alternator but i have no real reason to suggest that... Just curious if anyone else has had such problems. Ideas?? I don't care that its messed up, as i dont ever use my horn but its odd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carnumber19 Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 Even if the alternator fails completely it would take it a while for the engine to die. I've driven cars miles on a failed alternator, sure the lights start to dim but it's not an instant thing, so I'm inclined not to think your alternator is shorting. I will say that fuel injected cars are extremely picky to drops (or spikes for that matter) in voltage, for the most part the logic that runs the system relies on the voltage supplied to the circuit being in a certain range. Your best bet is to go have a good time with a multimeter. Somewhere in there you've created a circuit that shouldn't be there. Your best bet for check will be at the fuse blocks. Check the voltages to the various circuits with the horn on and off, when one changes drastically you'll at least have a starting point. I will bet apples to acorns that not many people, if any, have encountered this problem, so your probably treading in new waters in that respect. Post updates for sure, I'm pretty interested in whats causing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaz98gt Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 Never, ever heard of something like this. I bet you it's a short, carnumber19 is right about fuel injected cars being sensitive to voltage changes. Did the problem just appear one day, or has it been going on for the whole time you've owned your car? You could just use the bird instead of the horn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fwa2500 Posted October 30, 2010 Share Posted October 30, 2010 this is one where i would call the car talk guys and hope you get accepted to be on the show so you can see what they think. 1-888-227-8255 (is it bad i have the number memorized?) its a 24h number, the show records in the middle of the week and aires on saturday mornings on many NPR stations. with a funky problem like this i would say you have a good chance to get through the screening and on the air Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daddywagon Posted October 30, 2010 Share Posted October 30, 2010 you could also get on usmb. the ultimate subaru message board. i had a problem with my outback that noone could figure out so i asked on there and had a reply about 2 hours later with the problem solver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum_Racing Posted October 30, 2010 Share Posted October 30, 2010 I bet you it's a short... +1 Check for burnt or broken insulation on the wires leading to the horn. If it was a short it should have blown the fuse by now but stranger things have happened. I had a short on the headlights in my Dodge W350 and the fuse didn't blow. Instead my headlights and high beams tweaked out and would go dim at random. If I learned one thing from that experience its... 1) That electricity can cause all sorts of wacky problems. And... 2) That fuses cannot always be trusted to blow when they're supposed to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted October 30, 2010 Share Posted October 30, 2010 i bet it's the aftermarket alarm My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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