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Has anyone ever had an electrical issue related to the cig lighter?
That wire was disconnected to the cig lighter on my car during some resto work and they did not reconnect it for fear that some cars have experienced over heating or even melting of that wire when cars sit for prolonged periods. Has this happened in the past on your cars (I own a 70-442)?
There are several possible problems that the cig lighter can cause. The heating element can come loose from the **** and short the circuit. That will blow the fuse and interrupt anything else powered by that fuse.
That is the good kind of problem to have. Another is when the metal inside the socket gets so corroded/rusted that it will not make a solid connection. This causes lower that necessary voltage across the heating coil so that it will not "pop" out and disconnect. The heating element stays connected but not get hot enough to disconnect. I have seen wiring and plastics melted pretty badly by this.
To prevent either scenario, just periodically give the heating element a gentle twist to make sure it has not loosened up. I have only seen this on '80s GM vehicles. Also take a look inside the socket to make sure the contacts don't look badly rusted.
That wire was disconnected to the cig lighter on my car during some resto work and they did not reconnect it for fear that some cars have experienced over heating or even melting of that wire when cars sit for prolonged periods. Has this happened in the past on your cars (I own a 70-442)?
When I first got my '69 442 in 1984 I took it to work and when lunch time came went to get something to eat. When it was time to go home the battery was dead. I find that the cigar lighter was hot as hell, I pulled it out and threw it out the window and when it hit the puddle on the ground it cooled off. I disconnected the wire and it's been that way ever since.
Just keep the part of the lighter with the heating element in the glove box. Stick it back in when you're at a car show for the complete look, but otherwise leave it out. If you don't like the empty-socket look, put a plug in it. $5 at Amazon.
Used to get cars into the dealer that cust would complain about lighter fuse keeps blowing. They would keep change in the ashtray and a penny would fall into the open lighter socket and viola! Dead short!
Used to get cars into the dealer that cust would complain about lighter fuse keeps blowing. They would keep change in the ashtray and a penny would fall into the open lighter socket and viola! Dead short!
I believe you were looking for "voila," which is French for "here it is."
Technically it's voilà, but that last character is hard to do. Alt+133 in ascii, if anyone cares.
How about we give the GM engineers some credit for not being morons when they designed the wiring and especially the cigarette lighter in these cars? Frankly, I trust them more than Billy Bob mechanic.
