I have a 96 accord LX 4 door manual transmission sedan.
My cigar lighter socket stopped working after I plugged in some cheap heater from harborfreight. The heater is resting in a landfill somewhere but now my lighter doesn't work. I checked for DC with a voltmeter and got nothing, and nothing works when I plug it in anyway so the lighter is definitely dead. I checked the fuse in the engine compartment. It's clearly labeled and is OK. I checked every other fuse in both the engine compartment and in the interior fuse boxes. I didn't check the really big ones. They must be OK since the car still runs. All fuses are OK. I checked them both visually and with an ohmmeter.

1. Is there one of those fuse-link wires for the lighter circuit ? If so, where is it?
2. Maybe I melted a connection or something behind the lighter. Is it hard to get the lighter out? I tried prying it out with a screwdriver but stopped short of breaking the plastic. Please tell me I don't have to remove the entire dashboard.
3. If I can't get the lighter out, are there any easily accessed 12 V wires in the cabin? I can splice a replacement socket in. It would look crummy but at least I'd be able to use my new GPS.


Any suggestions and help are very much appreciated.

 

The lighter socket does not pop out the front; you need to remove the panel to get to the back of the lighter socket. [tricky screws in the ashtray area]
Then on the back of the lighter socket is a little plastic case with a fuse link inside it.
You can resolder it if you have a "pencil" soldering iron, and some small pliers to hold it in alignment.

 

Thanks HondaDude. That did the trick. I'd have never seen that little link in that connector. There's no mention of it in the Chiltons repair manual. But then, there's no mention of a lot of things in Chiltons.
To complete the thread for the archive. The rear console comes off with 3 screws (2 in armrest compartment, one under cupholder.) The forward console comes off with 3 more screws (one in the ash tray, 2 behind the stick.) The whole thing pops out. The faulty fuselink is in the large plastic connector that goes to the center pin of the lighter. Pull it off and pry it open. The broken fuse is inside. A little dab of solder patched it up.

 

[sm=smiley20.gif]HondaDude comes thru again..that's why we let him stick around in this forum. Plus one day he's going to shave off that beard and we will see who he really is....

Thanks Bill

WheelBrokerAng

 

hey the pigtail on the lighter does it have the prongs or do the prongs go in it?