Ok. Had my car for two years and never I've had to use the cigarette lighter for its intended use. But today someone asked for a light, but it would not work for anything. Couldn't even get the thing warm..

But here's the kicker.. My phone charger and my ipod charger work when i plug them into the socket.

So its not the fuse.. so what could this be?

 

The heater element in the lighter.

 

ok. how would i go about replacing that? Getting a new female end?

 

You can send me your broken one and I will send you my working(I think..I will test it first) one..... NOBODY smokes in my car(s)....

 

Ok, I went out and tested my lighter and it no workie and wont hold the lighter in... hmmmmm... socket works for other things...

Here is the fix for your 'broken' lighter.... make sure the key is OFF(yes, I blew the fuse).. then take a small screw driver and bend the two prongs inside the dash part of the lighter in towards the center some... now stick the lighter in and make sure it is held in by the clips... turn on the key and your lighter should work now... if it dosent hold the lighter in it wont work....

The accessories force the two contacts out far enough that they wont grab the lighter and provide the power to heat the element....


.... by the way, my lighter is working now...but I dont care...

 

I use my socket for other purposes and have not had that trouble, yet.
You can hold the lighter down to check the element if it does not catch, not too long though.
I smoke, but not in cars.

 

I tried holding it down and it did not even warm up.....I remember old lighters that you had to hold in...
those two prongs are the hot side and once I bent them in some they would grab and hold the coil and get it hot.....

 

My lighter works, and I'll trade it for one that doesn't.... I'll be the LAST owner of this car and I quit smoking in 1979 - and will never smoke again.

 

The prongs get that bent, wow.

If you get cremated you will smoke again, just sayin'.

 

First of all, note that the lighter only works when the key is in the ON position. And that power devices make ground .contact with the sides of the barrel.

Second, other power point devices may work when the lighter doesn't because they make the positive electrical contact with a point in the very bottom of the lighter barrel.

The lighter makes positive electrical contact with the two tabs at the sides of the lighter barrel. If properly adjusted, these tabs grab the sides of the lighter itself as you push it in .-. and retain it. They only retain the lighter long enough until they heat up, expand as the element gets red hot, and then release the lighter.

As elegant as the Crossfire lighter is, they often as not fail to work when the tabs go out of adjustment from repeated use or simply 'just because'.

Try to readjust the tabs. Make sure the key is OFF or the fuse removed. Use a small screw driver, dental pick, whatever and pry the tabs inward so that they hopefully make full contact with the lighter as it goes down into the barrel. Don't pry them over too far. Maybe shine them up with a small strip of emery cloth. It's a trial and error exercise, but 9 times out of 10 the lighter element is OK, but the finicky positive contact tabs just need encouragement to grab the element case long enough to heat up, expand, and release the lighter.

So always keep a book of matches in the console.

 

This was likely the last tine he had SEX......

 

THanks all for the information and sorry for the late response. I'll defintely take all this under advisement and try to get it working again. It's not that I need the thing at all because nobody smokes in my car and never will, but I just like to know that if the need ever arises for whatever reason it may be, I know its going to work.

Don't like to have broken things.

 

or the last time he paused.

 

That would be the other "fastfunfor2"