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I bought my first corvette with some of my Navy signing bonus money and it was very adorable but there are some small issues.
I’d like to tackle the easy ones first so that’s why I thought I’d be able to fix this non-functioning cigarette lighter it I can’t for the life of me figure it out.
I was told it was most likely a fuse. Ive checked my fuse panel on the passenger side but cannot find the fuse that corresponds to the cigarette lighter. If anyone could give me some advice, still young and learning and generally don’t know what I’m doing.
I know you said '89. My '96 it also did not work. I could see that it had never been used. I found that the plug was not on the back of the element. I actually had to get under the console cover to attach the power wire.
Last edited by puterami; Jul 22, 2019 at 04:29 PM.
Welcome to the Forum, and the fun of owning a C4! My first suggestion for making your life easier, get a copy of the FSM (Factory Shop/Service Manual) for your car. Don't bother with the Chilton's or Haynes manuals. They are too generic, and can be very misleading.
I believe the CTSY/CLK fuse circuit includes the cigarette lighter, but if this fuse is bad, you'd have other things that don't work! That's the fuse for earlier C4's, and I don't have a '89 diagram, so I may be wrong, but I suspect that I'm correct.
It should be the CTSY/CLK fuse, if that is out though your radio and some dash lighting in the center stack will be out too.
The cigarette lighter can be a pain, you basically have to take the whole dash apart and remove all the bezels covering it to get to it. You will need a pair of circlip/benttip pliers to get the shifter **** out because theirs a little ring holding it in place.
Probably the power is just disconnected, be sure to test it before you put the bezels back on, because they may have just unhooked it because it shorts very easily and pops that fuse. You'll need the diagram in the manual to make sure you put it back together exactly right, or it will continue to pop fuses. There is a specific order to all those little pieces.
Mine was unhooked and it took less than half an hour to fix it.
The silly connector did not hold very well on my C4 so I secured it and now I would like to replace it with a pair of USB ports to supply power to the accessories.
I might add another 12 Cigarette lighter port someplace hidden like under a seat or in the glove box in case I need it for powering something.
Those lighters short out stupid easy. The plug on the back either fell off or the PO took it off as it kept popping fuses. It's just two wires that connect to the main harness next to the radio so not super complicated to replace if you wanted to.
Do you smoke? If not, assumption is you want the cigarette lighter to power something or charge your phone. In that case, get one of these. Super easy to install. Just have to expand the hole a tad. I just installed mine into the factory ground wire from the lighter and the power line going to it.
That is exactly what I did. If memory serves the original hole was about 25mm(1") and the USB assembly was 30mm diameter. I opened the cigarette lighter hole accordingly. Connected it up as did 85WHITEZ51.
That is exactly what I did. If memory serves the original hole was about 25mm(1") and the USB assembly was 30mm diameter. I opened the cigarette lighter hole accordingly. Connected it up as did 85WHITEZ51.
Went
Yeah, the one I got was 29mm. Used a sanding disc on my dremil and opened it up just a little bit and had to shave the bottom of the USB port cover flat. Fits nicely and powers 2 devices now.
I used this USB socket. Has spade lugs on the back end. I took off the flat panel and cap thing and mounted it after opening the cigarette
lighter socket hole. I had to make a small flat on the face edge too. Not as fancy as 85WHITEZ51's but it works okay.
Went
I like the look of that unit you are using to supply the USB to the car. What brand is it and where did you find it? I need to put one of those in both of my Corvettes!
I thank you in Advance for you time and help with this matter!
I like the look of that unit you are using to supply the USB to the car. What brand is it and where did you find it? I need to put one of those in both of my Corvettes!
I thank you in Advance for you time and help with this matter!
Best regards,
Chris
Sorry for the delay in responding to this. I hate the excuse but it's true, life kind of got in the way the past week so I was offline for a bit :-(
That is the one I have. Just a FYI that the backlight stays on all the time. It's not seen with the cover closed but if you store your car for long periods of time without a trickle charger it will drain the battery. I keep my car on a maintainer since it's not a DD but you could easily attach it to a switched 12v source instead of the factory source which is constant. Just wanted to give this heads up in case you connected to the factory power source.
I actually cut the factory wire and solder in the new connectors. I want to say I had to open it up about 6mm or so. No modifications needed to the sub assembly, it was just the center console plate. The charger is plastic so trimming it was easy as well with a cutoff wheel on the dremel. That was necessary so it would sit in there nicely. Overall it was a fairly easy install/mod.
Another way to install would be to just connect directly to the battery if someone didn't want to make any modifications to the factory harness.
Stupid question: Broken 12v/Cigarette lightee
