Cigarette Lighter Not Working? (1 Viewer)

[KevinNY]

Here's mine. Contact looks pretty corroded, wonder if thats the issue. Fusible link looks good.

 

[ikeedikeed]

KevinNY, Check out this vid. This guy's fusible link was broken within the black shrink wrap stuff (skip to around 2mins). I don't have a pic of mine but mine was melted not under the black shrink wrap, but right at the contacts with one of the plates. It could be that yours is blown but the break is hidden by that plastic.

Also make sure you have power to the harness that plugs into the back of the lighter. You could have a perfectly good lighter but no power to it.

 

[KevinNY]

I was just checking that with a test lamp, there is power at the fuse but not at the white wire with the black trace at the lighter plug with the ignition in the on position? Am I checking the right wire?

 

[ikeedikeed]

I was just checking that with a test lamp, there is power at the fuse but not at the white wire with the black trace at the lighter plug with the ignition in the on position? Am I checking the right wire?

I'm absolutely not an electrician, but to get your lighter onto your desk for the photos you posted, you must have slipped a (white) plastic connector with two female contacts off of the two male contacts visible in your first photo.

I tested the (white) plastic female connector coming from my dash by putting one probe from my multimeter into each female to find the voltage across the two. It should read 12 or so volts (with ignition in ON). You should be able to do the same thing with your lamp, only your lamp only gives you a "yes or no" for current, not a voltage.

If you can't get the bulb to light up doing what I described, methinks you've got another problem on your hands because you're not getting power to the lighter.

 

[KevinNY]

Checked again with a better ground and have power, going to go ahead and reassemble sans fiber washer. Called local dealer BTW and a new lighter was 44 bucks.

 

[inkpot]

Checked again with a better ground and have power, going to go ahead and reassemble sans fiber washer. Called local dealer BTW and a new lighter was 44 bucks.

Howdy! Has anyone ever replaced/repaired the plastic retainer ring that holds the lighter in the dash? Mine works OK, but it pulls thru real easy. John

 

[KevinNY]

Back together and working perfectly.

 

[Ebag333]

Howdy! Has anyone ever replaced/repaired the plastic retainer ring that holds the lighter in the dash? Mine works OK, but it pulls thru real easy. John

Yup. Super glued it all together. Not sure why it's in multiple pieces anyway.

 

[offroadadv]

Be carefull when replacing that fusable link - it is a heat fuse and is designed to blow when it gets too hot (as in when the lighter gets jammed) and prevent your dash from melting down

 

[ikeedikeed]

Be carefull when replacing that fusable link - it is a heat fuse and is designed to blow when it gets too hot (as in when the lighter gets jammed) and prevent your dash from melting down

Just noticed this post....I'm going to switch out my cig lighter thing with one of those dummy plugs. It's not like I smoke anyway. The whole point of the 12V socket in the dash is for my Blackberry and iPod now.

I wired and mounted a new 12V under the hood for the shower pump with some better wire. I need to open the hood to screw on the hoses so it's actually more convenient.

 

[asutherland]

Put a couple extra in there while you're at it! I did and use them all the time. It's also nice having a couple that aren't on ACC so you can charge your cell phone even when the keys out of the ign.

*Note: I didn't tie into the existing cig lighter circuit. I tied into a new 8 gauge run that I put in for my inverter.

 

[Rotten Lobster]

I followed the instructions on this thread and was able to fix it.

*My fusible link was completely intact. The wire inside the shrink tube was not broken. But I decided to remove the washer anyway and now it works!

Long time reader - first time poster. This website and forum are so helpful. Thank you to the people that made it and the people that contribute.

 

[GoneBoarding]

This happened to me yesterday. Used a tire inflator as another poster had, and it shut my lighter down. Fuse was fine. I pulled the lighter out (mine came out just by pulling on it hard). I noted the fusible link on the back had burned through. The previous posters picture of the back of the lighter shows what an intact link looks like. I called a local scrap yard and went and pulled a lighter out of an old 80 they had. They didn't even charge me. Popped it and in I'm back to charging all my electronic crap.

What the whole thing did cost me is the heartache of sitting in a 1997 that's been wrecked and picked over. I'm still grieving for it...

 

[surfpig]

This happened to me yesterday. Used a tire inflator as another poster had, and it shut my lighter down. Fuse was fine. I pulled the lighter out (mine came out just by pulling on it hard). I noted the fusible link on the back had burned through. The previous posters picture of the back of the lighter shows what an intact link looks like. I called a local scrap yard and went and pulled a lighter out of an old 80 they had. They didn't even charge me. Popped it and in I'm back to charging all my electronic crap.

What the whole thing did cost me is the heartache of sitting in a 1997 that's been wrecked and picked over. I'm still grieving for it...

 

[Cass007]

I just want to blow the dust off of this thread and thank those that contributed previously. I've had my '97 LX450 since '99 and the first thing I did was have a new head unit installed. I was told when I picked the truck up that the lighter no longer worked. I figured "I don't smoke, so no big deal". Fast forward several (many?) years and all of a sudden my winter vehicle not only has only a single aux socket, but its broke as well.

I will add one thing to the thread, check the wiring harness with a meter. If it has current, pull the washer for sure. My link looked 100%, but as soon as I pulled the washer it was functional again. This is a great day, something so ridiculously simple will make the biggest difference in enjoying my truck.

 

[pengfinn]

Yeah, hard to realize how handy it is until you don't have it. When I pulled mine, the link was burned inside the wrap, close to the contacts. I replaced it with a dual USB socket and am going to run wire for a voltage/12v/usb combo panel in the back.

 

[Bustaphoto]

Has anyone gone about replacing this fiber washer fuse? I would love to be able to use my OEM cig lighter as a "normal" 12v socket and not just to charge phones and such.

 

[ppc]

First, the "fiber washer" is an insulator. There is a very short section of fusible wire on the socket itself. Your statement "normal 12V socket" is very ambiguous. Most times the fusible wire has done it's intended job when some has used the socket to power something with an amperage exceeding the capacity of the circuit. Wiring size to the socket is a limiting factor. I suggest that you run a separate wire of appropriate size, fused close to the battery to a new 12V socket.

 

[Bustaphoto]

I guess my concern is after applying this fix, what happens if I do plug in something that pulls to much amperage is there nothing to protect it? Or will the 15a cig lighter fuse in the fuse box still do it’s job?

 

[jvazquez53]

Easy fix...