Plugging in something when you have no cig lighter to use

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

For somereason the people who owned the car before me removed the entire cig lighter unit. I lost my phone’s normal charger and was charging via my car charger with my prevouis car, but now can’t, is there anything I can buy, or adapt to be able to use a car charging item. I also have one of those emergency kits that comes with an item to use to with a cig ligter to power it to pump up flat tires, so I can’t use it either.

2

Pick up Taurus cigarette lighter from a salvage yard or buy a generic one from an auto parts store and reinstall it. I installed a generic one in a 98 Windstar when the original lighter failed.

Ed

3

There is a wire hanging down behind where the back end of the cig lighter should go, do you just “plug it into” that wire?

4

You can actually buy something for this. It’s a rubber plug that plugs into the lighter and has a no/smoking sign on it. I have one in my 4runner. I’ve seen them at Wallmart.

5

That wire is probably the one. It may have a connector on it and will just plug into the new cigarette lighter socket. I purchased a new 2000 Ford Windstar and the power socket in the front didn’t work. I checked fuses and they were all o.k. I finally pulled out the ashtray and looked behind the power socket. The connector had never been plugged in from the factory. It took 15 seconds to solve the problem.

6

Test the wire with a test light. If it’s hot that’s probably the wire for the lighter socket.

Whoever removed the lighter socket may have removed the fuse, too, so check that.

7

If you add a lighter back in, make sure the correct fuse is being used. If the previous owner removed the lighter because it was causing electrical issues, they might have tried a higher-current fuse (which is dangerous, of course).

8

This is an easy DIY project, especially is you go to a salvage yard and pull the “Power Point” socket out yourself. Or any auto-sound shop should be happy to install a multiple power outlet…

9

At a parts house you can buy a power socket to put there. ( it will not take a lighter element, power only )

10

What is a power socket? Does it plug in like the cig lighter does or does it have to be wired itself?

11

Agree . . . go to a salvage yard and look for a car like yours . . . pull the lighter socket out of it and watch what you do, then reinstall it in your vehicle. Might cost you a buck. Rocketman