20-amp accessory fuse problem.

This fuse is part of the circuit for the cigarette lighter, and the aftermarket stereo that somebody else installed.

I was having no problems with this fuse until yesterday.

I decided to buy a second cell-phone charger so that I wouldn't have to keep sharing the charger from my other car. So, I get the new charger from Radio Shack, and I to to stick it in the cigarette-ligher socket, and I see a small spark at the socket as the charger plug was inserted into the socket.

Then, no juice at the socket.
Stereo dead too.

Inspect fuse panel, and discover 20-amp accessory fuse is failed.
Go to insert a new fuse, and get a small spark at the fuse panel as the metal tab of the fuse enters the panel. Fuse fried.

OK, I can stop that.

Disconnect battery.

Install ANOTHER fuse.

Re-connect battery, and start car.

With motor running, I get the cell-phone-charger from the other car (not the new one that sparked at the socket). Insert charger-plug into cigarette-lighter socket. No sparks... and no juice.

By then, its getting dark, and I'm calling it a day on this issue.

Figure the fuse is probably fried (again) at the panel, but have not verified.
Will check on it tomorrow morning.

I drove this car 1400 miles with the other cell-phone charger plugged-into, and working, from the cigarette lighter socket. Surprised that just plugging-in a phone charger has all of the sudden become an issue.

Suggestions?

It's the socket itself,it's shorting out,change that and your good to go,it's pretty common.

Sparks at the cig lighter.

When you hear hoofbeats, look for horses. Don't look for zebras.

Like the suggestion.

Will replace and report.

OK.

Got the the new lighter assembly installed.

No longer blowing the accessory fuse.

I found the parts on eBay.
The parts I got fit well, but they are not exact replacements of the failed parts I took out of the car.

For Googling purposes:
These parts were simply listed on eBay as "82-92 CAMARO GM REPLACEMENT DASH CIGARETTE LIGHTER with HOUSING NEW ELEMENT"
The socket assembly and lighter element were sold as one unit - BUT WITHOUT THE CONNECTOR - by the eBay vendor (who thankfully stated that they would NOT likely fit the connector originally installed in the car, and who correctly identified the connector I needed to get.)
The parts came in a ziplock baggie from the grocery store.
The element was loose in the ziplock bag.
The socket, and socket housing, came in "Genuine GM" factory-sealed bags, and are numbered GM# 11516142, and GM# 11516140, respectively.

The connector (the part with the white wires) is PURCHASED SEPARATELY, and is called" "GM OEM CONNECTOR REPLACEMENT PACK 12085504 AC DELCO PT125."



I got to have the fun of connecting the new connector to the dash-wiring using butt-connectors. Never used a butt-connector before. The dash wiring has pretty much ZERO slack in it so I had to work my pliers through the hole in the dash while I was trying to get the wires to stay-put in the butt-connector while I squished the butt-connector. Pretty much a three-hands job there unless you take the whole dash apart. At least I DID have a long-reach, outdoor-grille type lighter to put heat on the shrink-wrap on the butt-connectors after I finally got the butt-connectors to grip the stubs of the wire. Getting heat on the shrink-tubing on the butt-connectors would have been nigh on impossible with an ordinary flick-your-bic type heat source.

Here's a comparison old parts vs. new parts.

Old parts on left (less the original connecter, which is also different-looking, and was still in the car when I took this pic).

The old lighter-socket looked pretty rough.

A PO had installed some sort of K-Tel three-socket accessory bay under the dash, and just to the right of the cig-lighter socket. Piece of junk thing never worked since I've owned the car - and even before the original lighter gave up the ghost.

PO loved him some deck-screws.

Used them for electronics-installations, and even seat-belt repairs.

Glad everything worked out

natch' the K-Tel 3-socket Extendo-Bay was tapped into the wiring for the cig-lighter.

Well done!



Not sure what those poor speaker wires ever did to the PO, but he sure had his way with them. (In all fairness to the PO, the bare areas of the butchered wires WERE covered with electrical tape when I discovered them. I just had to take the tape off to be sure what was under there.

Good riddance!

Removal of the el-cheapo accessor sockets revealed an opening in the underside of the dash. This opening looks like it is factory-cut. Whatever was supposed to fit in the hole is, of course, missing. There is some sort of accessory light (wiring also molested by PO) that does light now that I've fixed the circuit.

Can anybody tell me what this light and hole-in-the-dash is supposed to look like when its "right?"

I know the TA has a light just over the radio pod,it lights up the ash tray area.

In terms of location, that's where this hole in the underside of the dash is located.

Any pics of that "pod?"

Camaro pod different from Firebird pod?

Theirs a small lens(in the pic) just above the shifter,between the hatch and rear defroster switches.That's one of the courtesy lights.

The spot you are referring to is a completely different location than what I'm describing.
Your "pod" is on the vertical face of the instrument panel.

The hole I am referring to is on the horizontal surface on the UNDER-side of the the dash lip.
If I stuck my finger up through this hole, it would push the dash-pad up.

Might be same circuit (accessory) as your car though.
Just a different location for the gizzy.

What I'm looking for is the missing dash-piece to plug the hole.
Probably involves some sort of housing for a courtesy light.