Lighter Suddenly Inop - But Fuze Is Ok...?!

[T.P.]

Hey folks,

electrical mystery here. My cig. lighter in my '94 SC400 went down the other day, was running an air pump off it for sev. minutes, and it suddenly stopped. Fuze checks good (in the driver side kick panel), so I'm at a loss.

Any suggestions on where to look next? Is there another cig. fuze that I don't know about? My satellite radio isn't NEAR as fun without power...

[1990LS400]

I don't know if any of the fuses in the fuse box in the engine compartment have anything to do with the lighter but have you checked them?

Your SC doesn't have a second lighter in the rear seat area you could check for functionality, does it?

I once had an air pump mess up a lighter socket. Pump must have been drawing too much current and overheated the lighter socket ... surprised that the fuse didn't blow and protect it. My "new" (at least newer) air pump runs a lot better and apparently draws less power.

I guess you could remove the lighter assembly and take a look.

If your accessory circuit is good maybe you could wire your sat radio to the kick panel fuse box with a piggyback / add-a-circuit fuse holder -- they come in several configurations but some don't allow fuse box covers to close. There's a photo in this thread: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...mp;hl=piggyback

If go with an add-a-circuit fuse, using a cheap DC extension cord from a discount store will keep you from chopping up the power cord of your sat radio -- better to cut off the plug from a cheap extension cord.

[LexSC400328]

hey man the same thing happened in my sc4. the cig lighter was ca-put and the fuse was fine. turns out the plug unhooked itself from underneath the cig lighter itself! so you have to take out the cup holder, unscrew those screws, then with a philips head screw driver lift up the black shift plate, then unscrew the whole center console surrounding piece or atleast move it until you can see your lighter, and plug it back in. it sounds awful but trust me i did it in the parking lot at work with a buddy it took like maybe 10 minutes to fix it and have it all back to normal. ;)

[T.P.]

I don't know if any of the fuses in the fuse box in the engine compartment have anything to do with the lighter but have you checked them?

Your SC doesn't have a second lighter in the rear seat area you could check for functionality, does it?

I once had an air pump mess up a lighter socket. Pump must have been drawing too much current and overheated the lighter socket ... surprised that the fuse didn't blow and protect it. My "new" (at least newer) air pump runs a lot better and apparently draws less power.

I guess you could remove the lighter assembly and take a look.

If your accessory circuit is good maybe you could wire your sat radio to the kick panel fuse box with a piggyback / add-a-circuit fuse holder -- they come in several configurations but some don't allow fuse box covers to close. There's a photo in this thread: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...mp;hl=piggyback

If go with an add-a-circuit fuse, using a cheap DC extension cord from a discount store will keep you from chopping up the power cord of your sat radio -- better to cut off the plug from a cheap extension cord.

Thanks for the feedback... I'll remove the lighter assy and look, hopefully that is my problem, but I didn't think about the piggyback idea... I'll try that 2nd..

[T.P.]

OK, I'll dig into that area and take a look. Thanks for the advice!