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I replaced the spring on the horn button (switch on left) after I installed the switch it started to smoke and the plastic button holder melted. I got a new one and after a month it failed. The same thing happened, the spring collapsed. I replaced the spring on the new one and the spring collapsed again when I tried the horn. The plastic holder got hot, but did not melt. Has anyone had this happen to them.

You have a short somewhere if it's melting buttons like that. I'm amazed that a fuse to protect this hasn't blown. This hasn't happened to me with my LUV yet. I would start tracing wires starting at the steering wheel, to the fuse box, to the horn. I hate electrical issues, my weakest point admittedly. I can look up a procedure for you and copy it tomorrow if I'm not working. It's a good way to chase a short.

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In life there is the "Way things should be" and then "There's the way they are".

2005 Silverado 3/4T Crew Cab
1981 Luv 2WD
1979 Luv 4x4 Currently going through Open Heart and Cosmetic surgery
1995 Roughneck JetBoat
1981 Luv parts trk

To burn like that you have to be shorting 12 volts directly to ground. Either it is misswired at the horn or the horn itself is shorted out internally. If a Mikado it has a horn relay and two horns, if not it has one horn, no relay.

Not a Mikado. I installed an after market horn button under the dash so I can have a horn. That horn button/switch seems to work without any problems. I tied it into the plug from the old switch at the steering column.

I think the horn is a ground side switch. If it is, your problem might be that you have the horn switch hooked up to the wrong side of the horn...
Good luck.

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1980 4X4 LUV daily driver, as stock as can be.

saw a bumper sticker that fits right into this

"horn broken, watch for finger!"

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zyanug
75 luv stepside... Work in progress
76 fleetside 350hp 1968 327cu
"No replacement for displacement!"
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[_@l__l__@_]***

This is the horn button I installed. The horn works every time and the button doesn't get hot.

lol, how often do you use your horn for the button to get hot?!

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1980 4X4 LUV daily driver, as stock as can be.

Hi I had to rewire my horns, mine has 2 from the factory, I ran the fused power wire (hot) straight to the power side of each horn and I ran the ground wire side of the horns to the horn button on the steering wheel, the steering wheel horn button is ground only, no power wire goes to the horn button, I didnt include a relay in mine but could have, it's really a simple switch if you think about it and its not that hard to rewire, the only problem that I had was I had to find the wire that ran to the horn button in the wiring harness under the dash, of course the wiring diagram helped alot, if I can help let me know, Terry

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1981 Chevrolet Luv/Pup, Long Bed, 3-Speed Automatic Transmission, 2 Wheel Drive, Gasoline Powered

I got it working. I added a relay just like the wiring diagram for the Mikado. The power goes through the relay straight to the horn. The horn switch activates the relay only. Now just minimal power through the horn switch on the steering column.

Cool. That sounds much safer. The horn(s) require a lot of amperage which is why they are almost always behind a relay.

Eric Q.

P.S. On a somewhat related topic, I was looking through the wiring diagram and noticed that the lighter only gets power when the ash tray is pulled out. That's a pretty neat safety design. I was rolling down the road in my '72 El Camino and smoke started coming from the dash. I opened the ash tray and noticed it was coming from the lighter. I attempted to pull the lighter out but by that time, the knob had melted away from the actual lighter unit so the knob was all that came when I pulled. I finally got the lighter unit out but burned my fingers a bit. I never left the lighter in that car again.

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'75 body with '82 diesel running gear
My build thread.