My cigarette lighter isn't working. The fuse keeps burning out every time i replace the fuse. How do I fix it?

Question

I drive a 1996 Ford Taurus. I bought a new cigarette adapter and that still doesn't fix the problem.

Answer 1

Take a look down inside and make sure there isn't a coin or something laying inside shorting it out, this is a common problem as lighters are usually near a convenient place to keep change, like the ash tray.

Answer 2

The socket has something down in it, or the heater coil in the socket is all mangled.  

Answer 3

If you quit smoking, that's the end of your problem.

Answer 4

Adapter meaning the socket itself? Did the wire on the back side look burnt, or was really hard and non-flexible? Usually it's the wire that cooks and goes bad. It MIGHT have cooked enough, melted,and touched some metal somewhere, and now it  is shorted. So if it looked scorched, cracked, hardened, etc. you may want to trace it back to the fusepanel to see if it indeed has melted somewhere and shorted out. It's not a long wire, so should be doable. Only other thing is if it melted the contact inside the fuse panel, it might now be touching metal there. If you have an Ohmeter, you can keep the fuse out, and touch the hot wire with one lead of the meter, and ground with the other, using the Ohm function to check for resistance. If it shows up a dead short, you have your answer. An ohmeter will REALLY help you out here, you can get cheap China ones for $4, they'll work well enough to tell you the resistance. Good luck!

- The Gremlin Guy -