Okay, So I've cleaned up my interior a bunch and getting it ready for the summer driving. Getting ready to get the A/C fixed, and now i'm working on replacing the cigarette lighter. I bought a Phone charger for my EVO 4G, since i'm always with a low battery before/after school or out on the road. And I use an Aux. cord for the stereo. The old lighter is all rusted up, and everytime I plug something into it, it blows the acc fuse or whatever for the stereo and dome light. I bought onr the says it fits my car, and Im trying to take the old one out. I took the white plug off the bottom, but have no Idea how to take it out. It just spins in the socket, and I have no clue if something else needs to be unscrewed or what. The heat index is 109 here today, and I figured I would ask for your help before I drench the car in sweat and just end up breaking something. Haha. Here is where i'm at:

Rusted up:



How does it come out?:

 

The two pieces unscrew from each other. Stick you finger or something in the socket to hold it steady and unscrew the back turning counter-clockwise. Unscrew and then pull the front out

 

I'll be replacing ours too! Gotta have a charged phone for emergencies or GPS maps, etc....

Ours hasn't worked since we've had the car, so this will educate me too!!

 

Do you know if the auto parts replacement is good, or is it better to find a GM replacement??
Anyone know if anything will inter change??

We have NO 3rd gens in yards around here!!

 

I've never seen this style at the store, usually only the TA style with a tab connector on the back. Since I fixed mine I've made a habit of picking up good clean ones when I come across them at the JY. I've got low use tested good ones if you can't find what you need. Sockets or both parts, but new is newer...

 

He is right. I made the mistake of just looking for ones that go by the years. Bought it at advanced auto and figured, oh cool, and bought it. The bottom piece does unscrew:



But...




The difference:





There's no way you could wire this in is there?
And don't believe the box, Haha.

 

you could cut the old connector off and use crimp on connectors

 

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but I've never seen a Camaro with the lighter there...do you still have the lighter above the defroster switch, to the right of the tach?

Also, unless you get a lighter from a yard you won't find one that plugs into the stock connector. If I were you I'd just cut off that white connector and as the previous poster mentioned attach crimp on connectors. Connect the hot wire to the center section of the new socket and the ground to the outside.

 

By crimp connectors do you mean connect the two wires to the little claw looking things? Also, I figured There is either that, or cut the loss, and see if using mean green rust,lime, and calcium remover on the old holster to get it cleaned up all nice wouldn't mess it up, and then use the shiny new "lighter" piece to just sit inside the old one, since I wont actually be using it. So maybe cleaning would keep from blowing the fuse, and the lighter piece would make it look better and just use it as a place holder that looks nice without anything plugged in.

 

This is in my 84 firebird.

 

Yes, the claw looking things. I highly doubt that the rust is causing the problem. The fuse pops because there's a short, which means the positive and negative are directly connected. On a cigarette lighter the center is pos and outside is neg so probably the center is loose and touches the outside when you plug something in. Or your charger could be bad...have you tried it in anything else?

I would recommend swapping to the new one regardless. The one in your car was designed to heat up the cig lighter, that's it. They didn't design them to be power outlets. The new ones are a different design that work better as power outlets. That new one won't work with a cig lighter though, so if you plan on using it for that you'll need to keep the old one.

Doh...I probably shouldn't be browsing on here while at work...

 

I'm not sure what it is. The charger works perfect on my EVO and the fiance's Driod X in her brand new Saturn. And it worked in mine fine for like a month, and then one day I went to plug it in, and it sparked when I plugged it in, and blew the fuse. Now it does it everytime. The rust is all I could think of.

 

Ours looks like the one 84beaut shows, the 1 on the right, sitting on the console, the shorter one. There was no plastic connector thing.

Also, our console is out of a 90 something Firebird!

henryd3, do you think 1 of yours would work in ours?

It's an '87 Camaro, Firebird dash, gauges, & console. I haven't seen the wiring for about 5 yrs, so IDK what colors they are. I can take the console out sometime next week.

Thanks 84beaut for the thread!! Another project to get done!!!

 

No problem. Haha. I'm just looking to fix up the inside real nice since I have everything else decent. But I looked in our nifty wiring box, and couldn't find any of those connectors. Would any of these work okay?

 

Bottom row,second compartment in on the left,you can use them two,one ground,one hot.

 

Ahh, Thanks. I realized they hook onto the hooks of the new lighter perfectly. This is the first time I have ever wired anything really. besides computer wiring, that only involves plugging things in. Haha. So I have the wires cut, and the ends stripped. My question is, once I fit the wire through the colored piece of the plug/hook, do I just clamp it down onto the wire, which it looks like the used ones I have have been done, then electrical tape up the end/bare, then just install the new lighter and hook these up?

 

If it were me I'd use the red connectors for hot and blue for ground, but it'll work the same wither way.

Yes, you have to crimp the part the bare wire goes through, a specific crimping tool works best but you can make do with pliers. Don't bother taping up the ground because all bare metal in the car acts as a ground. Good idea to cover up the hot though.

 

That's what I'm doing. Everyone cross their fingers. Haha. And thanks for all of the help everyone, I never would have had the courage to do this without the help. Lol. Be back asap.

 

Is your fuse removed? Don't want a spark or shock!

The " spade " should fit snug, not loose.

Strip 1/4 inch of wire cover from each wire.

Make sure wires are run correctly so you don't have to take things apart.

Insert wires thru the opening in the round ( bottom ) portion of the spades.

Crimp them snug so they don't fall out but don't crimp so hard you break the plastic cover on the spade.

Ensure you connect wires properly + and -

Now you can wrap the crimps with elec tape, and the spade ends.

Maybe test it b4 you button it up.

( edit )
JamMaster beat me! LOL
Yup I'm slow in more ways than 1!!

 

And we have power. !

Cut



Clamp



Plug



Power!




Edit: And yes, I had the battery disconnected already. Haha.