Cigarette lighter

[DrWin]

Hi guys,

Just a quick question about the cigarette lighter:
I've had the center console off and since then the cigarette lighter doesn't function. I just checked that there is power on the purple wire and ground on the black.

It doesn't seem to make a difference if I change them back and forth. Any suggestions or should I just buy a new cigarette lighter?

Cheers :D

6608766088

[Michael]

Hi guys,

Just a quick question about the cigarette lighter:
I've had the center console off and since then the cigarette lighter doesn't function. I just checked that there is power on the purple wire and ground on the black.

It doesn't seem to make a difference if I change them back and forth. Any suggestions or should I just buy a new cigarette lighter?

Cheers :D

6608766088


If you have power to the wires then that only leaves the cig lighter. However it's a sleeve contact and there isn't much to go wrong. I bet a little disassembly and maybe cleaning will fix or at least reveal the issue.

[DrWin]

If you have power to the wires then that only leaves the cig lighter. However it's a sleeve contact and there isn't much to go wrong. I bet a little disassembly and maybe cleaning will fix or at least reveal the issue.

Thanks for the input. I'm a bit mystified here:
1) I get 11.6V across from the purple to the black wire.
2) Test light lights up across from the purple to the black wire.
3) When I connect the cigarette lighter directly to the car battery it works as intended.
4) When I connect the cigarette lighter to the purple and black wire, it does not work.

That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

[Ron]

Thanks for the input. I'm a bit mystified here:
1) I get 11.6V across from the purple to the black wire.
2) Test light lights up across from the purple to the black wire.
3) When I connect the cigarette lighter directly to the car battery it works as intended.
4) When I connect the cigarette lighter to the purple and black wire, it does not work.

That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
The 11.6V stands out to me...
Is the test light LED?

Sounds like one of the two wires isn't doing its job.
Maybe, with lighter disconnected, measure volts:
Across the battery.
Battery (-) to Purple.
Battery (+) to Black.
(and/or the wires' resistance)

[DrWin]

The 11.6V stands out to me...
Is the test light LED?

Maybe, with lighter disconnected, measure volts:
Across the battery.
Battery (-) to Purple.
Battery (+) to Black.

No, the test light is incandescent.
Across the battery 12.6V (Greenbox agrees)
Battery (-) to Purple 11.8V
Battery (+) to Black 12.4V

Does this make sense to you?
AFAIK this means that power delivery is not the problem. (?)
I can't figure why the cigarette lighter powers up readily when connected to battery directly.

Just tested right now, same thing.

I also tested voltage across from purple to black when the cigarette lighter is connected and depressed/activated: 0.6V.

[Bitsyncmaster]

You will want to replace the lighter if you plan to use it to power or charge anything. The OEM lighter was not a standard size.

[Ron]

No, the test light is incandescent.
Across the battery 12.6V (Greenbox agrees)
Battery (-) to Purple 11.8V
Battery (+) to Black 12.4V

Does this make sense to you?
AFAIK this means that power delivery is not the problem. (?)
I can't figure why the cigarette lighter powers up readily when connected to battery directly.

Just tested right now, same thing.

I also tested voltage across from purple to black when the cigarette lighter is connected and depressed/activated: 0.6V.
Seems the lighter basically proved itself (off of the battery) and you are getting <12V on the Purple. So I'd guess that fuse 17 has a bad connection, making it unable to handle the amperage/load??

No chance that you have been working on it and the battery got low?
(It will start as is.)

...If no luck, I'd try:
Black and Battery (+) to lighter.
Purple and Battery (-) to lighter.

[Patrick C]

You will want to replace the lighter if you plan to use it to power or charge anything. The OEM lighter was not a standard size.

Agreed. I’m using this one:
https://www.gowesty.com/product/12-volt-accessories/4471/illuminated-lighter-assembly-

[DrWin]

Seems the lighter basically proved itself (off of the battery) and you are getting <12V on the Purple. So I'd guess that fuse 17 has a bad connection, making it unable to handle the amperage/load??

No chance that you have been working on it and the battery got low?
(It will start as is.)

...If no luck, I'd try:
Black and Battery (+) to lighter.
Purple and Battery (-) to lighter.

I think the battery is fine, I drive the car regularly and always disconnect the battery when I put it in the garage.

Black and Battery (+) to lighter = 12.86V / Lighter works.
Purple and Battery (-) to lighter = 11.80V / Lighter does not work.

So are we guessing there is something wrong with the power to the purple wire?

[Ron]

Black and Battery (+) to lighter = 12.86V / Lighter works.
Purple and Battery (-) to lighter = 11.80V / Lighter does not work.

So are we guessing there is something wrong with the power to the purple wire?
That or the purple wire has a bad connection at the lighter.
It's not supplying the amperage needed. So, from here:

Pull fuse 17.
In its receptacle, one side will have power. Put Battery (+) on the other side.
If the lighter works, there is something wrong with the power to the purple wire. Probably a bad connection at the fuse -- Otherwise, there is something wrong with the power from the Brown wire feeding the fuse.
If the lighter does not work, suspect the Purple wire's connection at the lighter.

[Jonathan]

I have the GoWesty one too and I don't remember if this was something I noticed on the original or the replacement, but if you rotated the outer ring and kept the inner cylinder fixed, it would lose the power connection. Again, not remembering all the details, but that sleeve fit idea means it can rotate itself out of contact. I'd have to try and play with my own lighter a little to see how that went again. Might be something else to try if all else fails.

[DMCMW Dave]

I have the GoWesty one too and I don't remember if this was something I noticed on the original or the replacement, but if you rotated the outer ring and kept the inner cylinder fixed, it would lose the power connection. Again, not remembering all the details, but that sleeve fit idea means it can rotate itself out of contact. I'd have to try and play with my own lighter a little to see how that went again. Might be something else to try if all else fails.

The original will do this, and something more insidious, it will blow the fuse if turned a certain way. Not sure about the replacement. I've installed a few of the modern ones, and do note that they are much tighter (harder to turn) probably because they are 40 years newer.

[Helirich]

You will want to replace the lighter if you plan to use it to power or charge anything. The OEM lighter was not a standard size.

So the problem with the Delorean lighter is it's socket is not deep enough? Will the Delorean lightergo in a standard socket?

I just checked and my lighter doesn't work. Went to poke test lead down it and found that there's nothing hooked to the socket. Lol. I do want to power other stuff, so I guess I will order one.

[David T]

The lighter socket is a "European" style, ie, it is a very shallow type socket. Over the years people have tried to use lights and other things plugged into the socket and many of them do not fit properly. Either they keep falling out or they blow the fuse. Many have added another power socket somewhere else. If you try to replace the socket you don't have much room so it must be a very short one or the console won't fit right. These days most of the time people want to add USB power ports. The original lighter socket does have that nifty (quirky) light ring. Same bulb that goes into the light switches, hard to get. The Delorean vendors have them.

[Bitsyncmaster]

So the problem with the Delorean lighter is it's socket is not deep enough? Will the Delorean lightergo in a standard socket?

I just checked and my lighter doesn't work. Went to poke test lead down it and found that there's nothing hooked to the socket. Lol. I do want to power other stuff, so I guess I will order one.

I don't think the problem with OEM socket is not deep enough but it had a larger diameter and the current power plugs don't hold very well.

[WHO1DMC]

I don't think the problem with OEM socket is not deep enough but it had a larger diameter and the current power plugs don't hold very well.

I believe Dave to be correct. Some Chinese made plugs have a metal retaining ring that holds the halfs together at the end so the ability for it to short out is high because it's not tight. I found this out the hard way. Blowing lots of fuses and wondering why. 🙄


Dave B.

[Chris 16409]

I have ditched the idea of plugging anything into the cigar port. What most people need these days is USB power. So i just disconnected the cigar lighter and left in place for aesthetic purposes. I found a USB power converter box that plugs into the cigar lighter wiring. You get a USB socket to plug in your devices to charge.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/402022108251


You can hide the box under the center console and it makes for a clean stock looking install. Additionally there is nothing that get in the way of shifting as there is not some unsightly plug coming out of the cigar lighter. I hooked my defrost switch up to the converter so I can turn it on and off.

[Helirich]

I have ditched the idea of plugging anything into the cigar port. What most people need these days is USB power. So i just disconnected the cigar lighter and left in place for aesthetic purposes. I found a USB power converter box that plugs into the cigar lighter wiring. You get a USB socket to plug in your devices to charge.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/402022108251


You can hide the box under the center console and it makes for a clean stock looking install. Additionally there is nothing that get in the way of shifting as there is not some unsightly plug coming out of the cigar lighter. I hooked my defrost switch up to the converter so I can turn it on and off.

You can plug a adapter in a cigarette lighter for a USB, but I don't know of an adapter from USB to cigarette for GPS or radar detector.

[DrWin]

I have the GoWesty one too and I don't remember if this was something I noticed on the original or the replacement, but if you rotated the outer ring and kept the inner cylinder fixed, it would lose the power connection. Again, not remembering all the details, but that sleeve fit idea means it can rotate itself out of contact. I'd have to try and play with my own lighter a little to see how that went again. Might be something else to try if all else fails.

That's pretty cool to know. I'm 100% certain that I have fiddled with it. Certainly possible that I may have rotated it. Will check tomorrow.

[DrWin]

That or the purple wire has a bad connection at the lighter.
It's not supplying the amperage needed. So, from here:

Pull fuse 17.
In its receptacle, one side will have power. Put Battery (+) on the other side.
If the lighter works, there is something wrong with the power to the purple wire. Probably a bad connection at the fuse -- Otherwise, there is something wrong with the power from the Brown wire feeding the fuse.
If the lighter does not work, suspect the Purple wire's connection at the lighter.


So, I'm looking at this again. When I pull fuse 17 I notice two strange things.
First: When i connect Battery (+) to the unpowered connector in the fuse box, where 17 was removed from, with a test light, it lights up dimly and briefly, and fades to nothing in less than a second. When I connect Battery (-) to the powered connector in the fuse box, where 17 was removed from, with a test light it lights up normaly and stays on.
Second: When I put the fuse back in, it briefly lights up (as indicative of a blown fuse) but turns off again same as test light.

Actually there is now a third thing: I tried cleaning up the fuse and the fuseblock connectors, put the fuse back in and tried activating the cigarette lighter. Lots of loud clicking noices from the relay compartment and a blown fuse 17...

What is this telling us? That the cigarette lighter itself is shorted?

Edit:
And why can I get the testlight to light up even if fuse 17 is lit up (blown?)
66302

And use the radio?

And why does the cooling fan turns on when I pull out the lit up fuse 17?
Oh my, I think I have something of a major issue with the electrical system. :(

[Ron]

So, I'm looking at this again. When I pull fuse 17 I notice two strange things.
First: When i connect Battery (+) to the unpowered connector in the fuse box, where 17 was removed from, with a test light, it lights up dimly and briefly, and fades to nothing in less than a second. When I connect Battery (-) to the powered connector in the fuse box, where 17 was removed from, with a test light it lights up normaly and stays on.
Second: When I put the fuse back in, it briefly lights up (as indicative of a blown fuse) but turns off again same as test light.
(I see you are editing again.)
First, for the above, the lighter was pushed in during these tests?

[DrWin]

(I see you are editing again.)
First, for the above, the lighter was pushed in during these tests?

Yeah, I was experiencing an ongoing situation there... :)

No, the lighter wasn't pushed in for the testing. When I finished testing and put the fuse back in, that's when I tried the lighter and got the loud clicking noises from the relay compartment and then the fus 17 lit up/blew.

[Ron]

When I pull fuse 17 I notice two strange things.
First: When i connect Battery (+) to the unpowered connector in the fuse box, where 17 was removed from, with a test light, it lights up dimly and briefly, and fades to nothing in less than a second.
Does the test light have an incandescent bulb? (LED type are flaky and don't supply enough load for this type of testing.)


When I connect Battery (-) to the powered connector in the fuse box, where 17 was removed from, with a test light it lights up normaly and stays on.
This is normal. (The brown wire feeding the fuse is currently working.)


When I put the fuse back in, it briefly lights up (as indicative of a blown fuse) but turns off again same as test light.
Use a standard fuse for testing.


Actually there is now a third thing: I tried cleaning up the fuse and the fuseblock connectors, put the fuse back in and tried activating the cigarette lighter. Lots of loud clicking noices from the relay compartment and a blown fuse 17...
And why can I get the testlight to light up even if fuse 17 is lit up (blown?)
And use the radio?
These sound like you may have wires on the back side of the the fuse box shorting together or to something under it (?after cleaning). Check that none of the terminal have pushed out.


And why does the cooling fan turns on when I pull out the lit up fuse 17?
That is wierd! Pulling a blown fuse shouldn't change anything, ever....Again, check under your fuse box.

[Ron]

...Since there are a lot of circuits that are hot at all times and many that are unfused, I would disconnect one side of the battery before continuing. If I didn't find any problems under the fuse box etc., I'd make up a fused wire to go between the battery and disconnected cable, just to be safe.
(Or power it with a trickle charger, only.)

[DrWin]

Does the test light have an incandescent bulb? (LED type are flaky and don't supply enough load for this type of testing.)


This is normal. (The brown wire feeding the fuse is currently working.)


Use a standard fuse for testing.


These sound like you may have wires on the back side of the the fuse box shorting together or to something under it (?after cleaning). Check that none of the terminal have pushed out.


That is wierd! Pulling a blown fuse shouldn't change anything, ever....Again, check under your fuse box.

Thanks for all the help so far. :)
Yes, the test light is incandescent.

This is what it looks like in the fuse compartment:
66310 66315
There seems to have been meltdowns on several occasions. The fuse box looked like this when I got the car. I assume I will be restoring this in the near future...

I managed to loosen the fuse box and found these 3 things:
66311 66312 66313
I think the first could have caused some trouble, the smaller diameter blue wire is uninsulated and was laying around loose under the fuse box.
The second is very, very short and only uninsultated at the apex. The third is the pair of wires, I think have been connected to the 18th socket. The colours match and they were connected to this thing until I touched it. A little handling and it snapped right off:

66314

[MrChocky]

I finally got my lighter ring light to work (LED); I think it was rotated wrong, so it wasn't making a connection.

However, I did order a replacement socket with 2 USB ports and voltage readout - as others have mentioned, we'll see how it fits. Previously I did have
a very short USB adapter which fit pretty nicely, but it's not in the daily driver. The one I had in place was long and wobbled around a lot.

There's also a USB port on the headset, but it might only be for data, rather than providing charging power - need to check.

[DrWin]

So now I got the the fuse 18 connected again and removed the two power-stealers from the wiring under the fuse box. Fuse box still needs to be renovated one day soon. I can now switch things on and off without loud clicking from the relay compartment, which is a big plus....

Also, I got the cigarette lighter to turn on when connected through the purple and black wire, after I replaced fuse 17 with a new one. So I thought I had gotten things working again. Until I put the cigarette lighter back into the center console, and wanted to confirm that it now worked. Pressed the cig. lighter back in, activated it, fuse 17 blew again.

So... Something is still wrong. I can think of two options, one is that the wiring has a loose connection that gets activated when I press the cig lighter back into the console. But I don't understand why that would short out fuse 17, b/c I don't see any place where the power and ground touches uninsulated. Other option is that cig lighter light (that won't turn on) is shorting out the circuit somehow, but I can't get my head around how/why that would happen.

[Ron]

So... Something is still wrong. I can think of two options, one is that the wiring has a loose connection that gets activated when I press the cig lighter back into the console. But I don't understand why that would short out fuse 17, b/c I don't see any place where the power and ground touches uninsulated. Other option is that cig lighter light (that won't turn on) is shorting out the circuit somehow, but I can't get my head around how/why that would happen.
Ok, you got it right that the lighter's purple wire was not getting power at the fuse 17. You fixed that, but now the fuse is blowing. So the purple wire is getting grounded. It is either getting on the a black wire, grounded metal, or the lighter assembly is grounding it. The assembly may have an intermittent internal short (or it could be holding too long). The assembly would be my guess since you have looked over the wiring clearance and the purple wire had tape etc. on it at the fuse end.

[DrWin]

Ok, you got it right that the lighter's purple wire was not getting power at the fuse 17. You fixed that, but now the fuse is blowing. So the purple wire is getting grounded. It is either getting on the a black wire, grounded metal, or the lighter assembly is grounding it. The assembly may have an intermittent internal short (or it could be holding too long). The assembly would be my guess since you have looked over the wiring clearance and the purple wire had tape etc. on it at the fuse end.

Yeah, I strongly suspect an intermittent short at the assembly/internally, I just replaced the fuse again and tried to burn it again. No dice, this time the lighter worked. :) (?) So I think i'll get the Gowesty one and try if that works better.

Also, I found out that I really needs to prioritize looking at the electrical system in more detail. The thing about the fans coming on at the excact same time I pulled fuse 17 doesn't look excactly healthy (even though the engine was hot, so it makes sense for it to come on). My car has hunted for idle while I've had it, but only when warm. 3-5mins of steady idle, then it starts hunting. Or started: As of right now it doesn't do that anymore...

Both of which tells me something needs to be looked at in more detail - having engine heat/electrical system interactions malfunction seem an important problem to solve.

Again, thanks for all the help Ron (and everyone else who chipped in)!

[DrWin]

If you have power to the wires then that only leaves the cig lighter. However it's a sleeve contact and there isn't much to go wrong. I bet a little disassembly and maybe cleaning will fix or at least reveal the issue.

This is actually not bad advice... :) Having squared away the other issues I found, I wen't back to this b/c I kept getting intermittent shorting when attempting to use the cigarette lighter. Disassembly, cleaning with emery board / fine grit sandpaper and tightening the springs inside the cigarette lighter did the trick. The cigarette lighter now works as intended. :)

[Ron]

The cigarette lighter now works as intended. :)Cool! :wink:

[DrWin]

Cool! :wink:

Very much so! It was also a great teaching experience and a great heads up that I need to pay more attention to the electrical system. I'm definately going to redo the fusebox when this driving season is over. :)