OK, so I put the car in for a service at the dealer yesterday. As you hand over the keys, you’re of course left wondering how they’ll react when they put it on the hoist only to see three massive horns staring at them from underneath.
Well… this year I actually found out
Late last year I installed a BlackVue crash recorder behind the rear view mirror. It’s pretty small so you don’t really see it, plus I’ve got it wired into my dual battery system, so it’s always recording.
Before handing the car over I switched off the solenoid for the horn valve, so blowing the car horn just sounds the normal one. But in my setup I’ve also got the Graham White, which of course you can’t turn off. It’s pretty much in your face as you open the door.
So here’ the dilemma… without knowing anything about the horns, you go to jump in the car and you see a great big handle. Do you,:
a) pull the handle; or
b) leave it alone?
Well after video review… it turns out the unknown handle is not as tempting as it seems. In total, four people drove or moved the car and only one person actually pulled it … along the lines of
“Now what the hell is this?”
HOOOOOONK!
“BAAHAHAHAHAH!”
Now iv always wondered the same. I always pictured in my head that the car would be on the lift and you have 3 mechanics standing under it with a puzzled look. Then you hear one say, “Hey Joe you gotta see this.” Next thing you know you got a whole group of them saying, “WTF!?”
But even worse is when they see this under the hood
Iv had a mechanic say to me, “No way in hell am I touching a thing on this car”…after he opened the hood
Haha that’s classic!! I’ve often wondered what they do while we aren’t there. You should see their eyes when I would pull in for an oil change in this!
Having seen quite a few of those handles on this forum makes it difficult to give an unbiased answer. I’d definitely be tempted if I saw pressure on that gauge…:rolleyes:
When I took my truck in I showed my service manager the handle, told him I had a train horn on my truck (he laughed) and then I handed him a new pair of earplugs. As I put mine in, I told him that I was doing this so he’d know and tell the guys in the service area about it (I figured why not let them have some fun).
I give it a quick full pull, and watch a 300 pound man throw his hands up in the air while he attempts to tap dance.
Then I said … you guys can have fun with it, but use hearing protection. This was, of course, followed by a wicked grin and I knew he would.
We get inside to finish up the paperwork, and one of the women at the parts register wanted to know where the train was … again, I see my service manager flash a wicked grin and I start to think maybe I shouldn’t have shown him.
I had a similar experience like this about 8 months ago before I installed my shockers. I had a set of PVC horns installed on my Lincoln Towncar with a 25 gallon air tank in the trunk run by a ball valve in the front seat (I hadn’t saved up enough for a real set yet). I took my car in for inspection one day to Jiffy Lube and forgot to mention to them not to touch the valve in the front seat. Towards the end of inspection I noticed through the window that there were five mechanics standing at the back of my car looking in the trunk and scratching their heads. I’m guessing they were wondering what the giant red air tank in the trunk was for. The manager came in and asked me and I explained that I had some PVC train horns (which are almost as loud as shockers) hidden in the rear fender-well of the car. He then grinned as he walked over to the door separating the garage and the waiting room and yelled to his mechanics “You know that car has air bag suspension!! You need to turn that valve in the front seat when the car is lowered to balance the air bags!” We then stood there and watched as the car was lowered and one of the mechanics stepped into the car! He turned the valve to full and must have been so scared by the LOUDNESS of the horn that he jumped out of the car draining 25 gallons of air charged to 150psi. I’ll bet that it blew for 30-40 seconds!! All of the mechanics scattered like roaches and the manager and I about wet our pants laughing so hard!! I then had the pleasure of putting the car back up into the air and showing them how much fun you can have with some PVC plumbing fittings!!! That was a good day!!
Yes I would most certainly pull a valve especially if it looked like a horn valve. When i put my setup in i was thinking about a 3/4" electric valve right at the tank. That way i can flip a switch and have the manual valve cut out so nobody plays…
Happened to me too. I have a dash cam recording everytime the key is on. Last time I had a friend’s mechanic service my car, I showed him the horn switch and told him which way is stock, truck and train. He said he didn’t want to use it fear of getting into trouble. When I reviewed the video, I saw him use it on everyone in his shop even asking someone to look at something “while he steps on the pedal”. And there were a few more hornblasting moments as well during test driving and on the way back delivering the car back to me.
Hi all
Being in the motortrade i know we shouldnt touch it.
But if its there and you follow the air lines back to some sweet horns
Its a no brainer for me im gunna pull that handle :D:):)
i drain my tank to below 160psi compressors come on and i turn off then on. if horn blows compressors will kick in and go back to 200psi.
Windows got tinted looked through window to check tint saw tank was at 200psi in cab gauge. Asked how u find the horns. She got all slippy saying we dont touch any thing in the cars. 5 seconds later 2 boys stick there heard arround the corner laughing
Took it to get new tyres i waited as i had nothing better to do. They jacked it up 2 guys were in cab playing with switches while one was wearing ear muffs. I see my spot lights flash, led light bar flash, police siren, police lights then they must of found one of 3 switches i have for horns (led one above radio for passanger, my electric aerial swich or a single black swich near drivers vent) they shat them self. Recption girl who could clearly see boys playing with lights and siren as well) went out abused them point at me i just gave a thumbs up. When she walked back in at looked at me i asked were the boys having fun. Got $100 of quoted price then looked at recipt it said tyre disposal fee $40 (kept old ones for trailer) and check spare $25 (horns sit were spares used to be) so then i got a extra $65 of win win
I’d definitely pull the handle. However, my mechanic doesn’t use my horns despite knowing there are Shockers in the truck, how to switch them on (versus stock horn), and that they’re backed up by 5gal at ~200psi and an EDC. He assisted with the belt sizing for the EDC, though, so there’s probably no novelty in it for him.
Now the alignment shop I visited ~6 months ago was a different story; the shop owner drives vehicles after alignments are completed. I didn’t mention the horns, but he must have noticed my overhead switches and digital pressure gauge (hard to miss) … and began playing with switches and mashing the horn when he was leaving the shop. (One of my switches is labeled ‘horn’.)
I suspect most mechanical types would pull the lever or mash the button.
I’ve had the same dilemma myself Took my car to a dealer to get the tires road force balanced, and of course once the car got on a lift, here comes the question - what the heck are those horns for? I showed them where the switch was, and I said “go ahead and light 'em off, just make sure you warn everybody in the shop first”
Well, they didn’t warn anybody. Sitting in the waiting room, I hear the horns go off, so I run out to the shop floor and i’m greeted with the sight of a bunch of mechanics holding their ears and shaking uncontrollably, and of course the guys working on my car were rolling around on the floor laughing their bums off. It was by far the best scare my horns have ever achieved, and I wasn’t even in the car
Also got four tires road force balanced for $30 bucks, mainly because I think they got such a kick out of the horns, lol.
My girlfriend thinks i’m stupid because of the Shockers in my Chevy S-10.
So when i put Shockers in my VW Passat i “forgot” to tell her. It took a couple of months, but one day when she borrowed my car, she had to honk at some Justin - then she found out.
especially if it looked like a horn valve. When i put my setup in i was thinking about a 3/4" electric valve right at the tank. That way i can flip a switch and have the manual valve cut out so nobody plays…
Took my car to a dealer to get the tires road force balanced, and of course once the car got on a lift, here comes the question - what the heck are those horns for? I showed them where the switch was, and I said “go ahead and light 'em off, just make sure you warn everybody in the shop first”