Ugh cig lighter fuse keeps blowing, cannot get to the cig lighter socket in front das

[hk20000]

hey,

My E34 does not have any working cig lighter.... I looked at the underhood fuse panel and it's missing a fuse right there. I then inserted a 25A fuse and immediately it blew up on me upon contact. So I was going to see if there is a stray wire behind the cig lighters. But I could not find a way to open up the front cig lighter that's integrated into the ashtray. The ashtray comes off but the cig lighter doesn't....The rear snapped off nicely with the black panel and disconnecting that didn't help.

Please help... I want to use my GPS...:(

If the cig lighter wire is also ok there I'm going to just hack it up and use radio power to power it.

[Alexlind123]

Use matches?

[Fetch]

Use matches?

Matches won't power his GPS too well

[Alexlind123]

Use the matches to power a small sterling engine (or similar heat engine) which would turn a generator and produce power for your GPS.

[ryan roopnarine]

my socket fuse blows when the socket is dirty or the power cord to the device has too many curls in it. clean the socket out with contact cleaner or the cleaner of your choice and see if it still blows.

[hk20000]

it still blows. And I don't feel like buying 10 fuses to test this sucker out.

anyway after some logical assumptions and tampering with the rear socket I have finally came up with a proper way to remove the front socket.

This might even be tutorial worthy: open the ash tray all the way out. remove the actual ashtray by pressing a small tab underneath the tray. Now the cig lighter socket should point upwards by 45 degrees or so. put a small flathead screw driver striking the side of the cig lighter prependicular to it from below the drawer. the socket should have some place where the screw driver will go ACROSS the socket almost. yank very hard upwards from there to push the socket out of the plastic case it sits in. Yes this sounds like bad advice but then removing the rear seat on a BMW involves the same "yank very hard" step anyway so this is perfectly normal. now the socket is out, the wires come loose, but you won't see a proper plug to remove the socket without cutting the wires. Now you should wiggle the socket a bit and use that screw driver you had to move the wires around inside. then a white plug will come out of the plastic case. Unplug it and you can replace it.

I have tried all sorts of things with this socket I even taped + and - away with electrical tape it still wouldn't work properly. So I assume that the socket is fubar'd and I'll pick up another socket from the junkyard / BMW later depending on what they want for it. I now have my GPS using the rear socket and a 4-socket extension that leads to the front. I'll keep that setup since plugging anything other than the OE cig lighter into the front socket will result in some unsightly plugs sticking out of a drawer that's half closed.

Rear cig lighter socket: pry around the black panel - bottom first, and the panel with the socket comes out with the socket itself. be careful not to let the bulb positive short out or else the car will lose its park lights.

new question: The cig lighter is powered even when the car is shut off, is that normal? It's certainly not if it's a Toyota but what do I know....

[Fetch]

new question: The cig lighter is powered even when the car is shut off, is that normal? It's certainly not if it's a Toyota but what do I know....

This is normal. It varies from car maker to car maker.

[Macv]

Hardwire your GPS

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

and a compass and learn how to fold the map.

And never ever stop to ask for directions

Man Law!

[hk20000]

well I don't want to ever stop for directions that's why I have the GPS

and what's with the small item repair hatin' anyway I know it's only an ultimate sluggish machine but even then I want it to get me to where I want to go to instead of just driving around in circles.

[BillionPa]

i was only able to get to the wires by removing the lower part of the dash.

[hk20000]

^ can you write out how to do that too??