Dang cigar lighter

[theogre5150]

Big bird kept blowing a fuse. I unhooked the lighter and now, no more blown fuse. There are two wires going to it.....red and black. If I am not mistaken, the black wire should go to the ground or housing of the lighter. Right? It had the red one going to it before I unhooked it. I tried it both ways and it still blows the fuse. What should I check for?

[Wes]

Look inside the socket where the lighter elements goes there is a spring steel piece at the bottom make sure it's not touching the sides. You may have to replace the socket.

[68F250]

Don't ever assume black is ground.

In this case, black is power to the lighter (there should be a color stripe). The other wire is for the built-in lamp. The ground connection for both comes from being mounted in the dash.

[1970FordTK]

I'm glad this post came up, was wondering about some of the stuff that could make a cigar lighter go bad or not work. Man the stuff you learn just reading these threads.......makes me glad its back.

[theogre5150]

I'm in North Carolina right now so I will look at it when I get home on Friday and post a pic of what I have.

[1970FordTK]

Neat, wich part of North Carolina where you in

[theogre5150]

Cary

[1970FordTK]

I feel for you then, dang traffic is a mess day and night around that town. Hope you have a good time here and hope you get your problem with the bump fixed.

[theogre5150]

Ok. I replaced the lighter socket and still get the same results. Could I have a short somewhere?

[Thunderfoot]

Does it blow the fuse with it just hooked up and no lighter in socket? or is it just when you try the lighter that it blows the fuse? What amp of fuse is it?

[theogre5150]

It blows with no lighter in the socket. As soon as I hook up the battery, pow. I believe that it is a 14amp fuse. It also controls the dome lamp and windshield washer (I think).

[Thunderfoot]

Ok, do you have an ohm meter / volt meter, or a test light?

The socket looks like this correct? I don’t believe these are lighted so the outside connector should be ground and the center one is the power.

I’ll give detail with both but start out with test light as that is what most people have..

With a test light:
Unhook both wires from it and hook battery back up with new fuse.
Check each wire with test light for power, also turn on park lights and test wires to see if one is for lighted socket or light in the ash tray area… (I need to check my truck when I get home on this...)

Then connect the ground lead from the test light to one of the connectors on the socket and to the hot wire you found in the step before. If the light lights, then there is a short to ground unless it is the ground for the socket (the outside connector) the center connector should not light the test light unless the lighter is pushed into the socket and it should light the test light dimly… If it lights with out the light pushed in then there is a short in the socket…

With an ohm meter:
Unhook both wires and remove the lighter, check if the connections on the socket are shorted to each other. Then check each connection to ground. (The one in the center should not be shorted to either the other connector or to ground.)
Check the voltage on each wire with the battery and fuse hooked up. Also check them with the park lights on to see if one is for a light…
If you have one that is has no power to it ohm it to ground, if it is shorted then it is a ground wire.

Hope this was not confusing…

[theogre5150]

Thanks Thunderfoot. I will have to check this out this weekend.

[kid]

Each year on each side of 71 uses a blue white wire for the lighter hot that comes from the 15 amp fuse. Blue Red fed the light in 1969.