Cig lighter not working

[Jhacker1]

I depend on my cig lighter a lot, gps, phone charger, emergency lights. and it stopped working my clock stopped working too. At times it works when the truck idles, then cuts off when i go in gear. At times it'll work when i kick the snot out of the fuse box. obviuosly it's a short. but I need it fixed asap. Can anyone help. I've heard of running it straight to the battery but i don't wanna run the risk of draining my battery by leaving something plugged in. So can somebody please please help me. Thanks!!

 

[jaybirdy2k]

I would try and clean the connections on the back of the lighter.

 

[foonanas]

does your radio stop working as well? I was having the same issue on my 88 v6. i had to take that thing completely apart... and i did not find crap. so I cleaned everything and put it back together and its been working great for a week now..

 

[Jhacker1]

does your radio stop working as well? I was having the same issue on my 88 v6. i had to take that thing completely apart... and i did not find crap. so I cleaned everything and put it back together and its been working great for a week now..

Nope the radio works good. knock on wood. just replaced it not to long ago. But the clock and cig lighter will work but as soon as i kick it in gear it cuts off and if i am lucky itll cut back on when i kick the fuse panel. ill try cleaning the connections. fingers crossed.

 

[cobhobaroblobie]

try the simple things first, check the fuses and wiring. Should be easy to pop out those panels by the gas pedal. Did the clock stop working at the same time the cig light stopped, if so it might be as easy as loose wires

 

[4runnertank]

i had a similar problem once. cig lighter didn't work, so i pulled the dash off and found that the part where the wire goes into the back of it broke off! So I soldered it back together and it was perfect. I'd check for that, loose wires, and fuses. The fuse may not actually look blown, but it'll give you issues anyways.

 

[BucknutBob]

My guess is "Smart Mom" snuck in and stole the fuse--she couldn't get her kids to stop playing the stereo, so she's trying to keep you from smoking!

Seriously, though, 4runnertank makes a good point--the way those are wired on the back, it would be easy for it to have broken loose right behind the unit.

 

[fourwd1]

... At times it works when the truck idles, then cuts off when i go in gear. At times it'll work when i kick the snot out of the fuse box. obviuosly it's a short. ..

If it works sometimes, you don't have a short, you have a bad connection that is going open at times. A short would blow a fuse and it wouldn't work at all.
You could just run a new wire, with it's own inline fuse, from a tap in the fuse box to your lighter or add a new socket.

 

[Bad_Vision]

also the actually lighter unit may be bad it happened to mine and just replace it.