Cigarette Lighters...

[1991LS400]

Weird thing I realized the other day. When you plug something into the front or rear cigarette lighters nothing works. Even when you push the cigarette lighter down into the lighter it never comes back up. How could the cigarette lighters just not work anymore? Any ideas on what I should check?

[kcpth]

first check the fuse for the Cigarette lighter. If the fuse is popped... then we have a short... probably inside the lighter.

I remember having this problem a long time ago. Wut happened was i had something metallic n it would just short the whole fuse. So i checked the fuse... sure enough something has shorted it... n when i checked... there was a metal piece in there.

If the fuse didn't pop... hopefully someone else might have a better idea.

Good luck B)

[flanker271]

You have to put your car on "accessories" before your 12V DC will work. I assume you tried that already right?

[1991LS400]

Where is the fuse for the cigarette lighters (front/rear)? And put my car on "accessories" first before my 12V will work? What?

[Lexusfreak]

Your owners manual should explain where to locate your fuse box(es) & if both the front & rears are not working I suspect that the fuse is the problem. hopefully an easy fix. B)

[1991LS400]

but what causes the lighter to pop out after a certain amount of seconds? If I push the lighter into the hole it just stays locked in. What makes it pop back out? because that's not even working...sorry guys but please help... :cries:

[flanker271]

Okay, got my manual with me...Before you check any fuse, turn your key to "accessories" position or "on" position, do not start the engine. See if your lighter works. The pressure created from the heated coil is what makes the lighter pops out. If the light doesn't work, it obviously won't create any presure so it won't pop out.

The fuse you are looking for is fuse #5, rated at 15 amp. This is located in the Driver's side kick panel. Exit the car, duck under the steering wheel and look up just above the gas pedal. You should see a fuse box. It is covered with a plastic cover. This is driver's side kick panel. You are looking for FUSE #5

[TexasLexus94]

I found that my 94LS front lighter module would not work with many plug-ins-that a 10 year old receptacle was not compatible with many plug-ins. For example, my radar detector did not work with the front receptacle. So I removed the receptacle, and found that there was actually power going to it. So I wired the detector directly to the power source, and all was fine. I've also found that the same is true for the rear plug-in-some things work, some don't. Curiously, my Sirius radio plug-in works fine with the rear receptacle.

So basically, if it's not the fuse, I bet it's incompatibility with the plug-in of the particular device you are trying to use. Check for power to the receptacle first-and go from there. Best of luck.

[TexasLexus94]

Oh, I'd like to add that my lighter didn't work either. So there is a problem with the receptacle. But as long as there's power to it, you can make it work.

[kcpth]

I don't know... i kinda have to disagree. I'm not sure though, but my lighter works on all the accessories i've tried to put in . I've yet to experience anything where my lighter didn't work. Perhaps i didn't try some of the things u guys did ... but as of now, they all seem fine to me.

Like wut i stated in my previous post was.... the only time it didn't work for me was when there was this extra metallic piece in there which caused a short :chairshot: .

For my roommate, he has a FORD CONTOUR... though it's not a Lexi <_< , he had similiar problems. He had a cigarette lighter accessories tip fall in . When i removed it last week for him... he tried plugging something in. It didn't work. Y because his fuse was blown due to the short piece of metallic tip that was left in as well. But when i removed the metal piece as well as replacing the fuse... the other accessories he was plugging in worked.

I'm not going to pretend i know electronics, cause to be honest... i don't and i'm rather retarded when it becomes even more technical. This is from my simple observations.

First check to see if your fuse has been blown. If it has... replace the fuse and look inside the cigarette lighter for foreign objects. When u replace the fuse try using the rear lighter first.

Good luck with it. B) I hope all goes well for u. Let's hope it's the fuse, so it should be a easy fix. Has it worked in the past?

[VBdenny]

I have used my radar detector and my phone charger in both of the lighter outlets and they both work. Both go off with the key though.

[90LS400Lexus]

When I tried to plug in my portable CD player into my outlets, it would not work. I posted about this a while back- it seemed as if it was not completely going in, but obviously was. I also tried the lighter elements themselves to see if there was actual power to the circuits and neither worked. In addition to my own thinking, I was also told it could be a fuse, so without going through all of the trouble of crawling under the dash and looking at the fuse, I looked at the owners manual to see what other features ran off of the same fuse as the lighter power outlets. I cannot recall exactly, but I think the radio was one of the things on the same circuit and it was working, as was everything else on that circuit. Obviously those outlets go bad.

[SKperformance]

crawling under the dash????

do you own a cumming diesel tractor?

Check your fuses, most if not all cars have seperate fuses for a cig lighter of about 15 amps on their own cuircit to prevent overloading.

To answer the other question of how a cig lighter pops out , it has a spring and a grovved edge when you press it in it locks ,as the coil is heated by current through the filament it causes the edge to move away and the spring pushed it out and stops the current causing ti to start cooling and be available to use.

[90LS400Lexus]

I knew that if I put "crawling" that someone may have a comment. Its not that bad, but you do have to get down and then reach up under the dash. Being someone that had a severe car crash about 10 years ago- my back will not always let me get in areas of a car like I used to without pains. In addition, the last time I tried to check a fuse on my LS (when the airbag light was not working) I was not able to get the fuse cover off of the fuse block. I did not want to use force, because I did not want to break it, so I thought it would be too much trouble to try that again to check the fuse to the outlets. That is why I had the idea to see what else was on that circuit to see if that was working. It was really obvious it was not a fuse anyway since everything else was working. I have never heard tell of a lighter outlet running on a fuse by itself. At least according to the owners manual of a 1990 LS400- it does not, unless I did not see it. Sorry if I made it sound like a difficult task to check a fuse on these cars- it may not be that bad for most people, but it is a little more difficult than other cars I have owned- Japanese cars included.

crawling under the dash????

do you own a cumming diesel tractor?

[SKperformance]

no problem, it is more difficult for you for a good( you know what i mean) reason .

their are a systems sharing fuses i change atleast one a day on the Benz's at work and all are seperate also.