someone please shed some light on this deal please. i recently replaced the cigar receptical. i sanded the mounting hole to asure a decent ground. no help it still popped the fuse each time the male end is pushed into the socket. so... the replacement socket which i purchased at the local ford dealer has a location for a ground. so i ran a ground and plugged in the lighter and again boom. any suggestions. thanks in advance

 

It is your hot lead. Trace it from the hole to the fuse box, somewere it is contacting metal
Robert

 

thanks robert, i hadn't considered a pinched or bare hot lead.

 

Ok just my two cents but if the hot lead was pinched or touching bare metal then the fuse would blow as soon as you replaced it. Since it only blows when the cigar lighter is pushed in I would have to think the problem is at the recepticle.
Since the new lighter has a ground and a power connection try using it without it installed in the dash, of course use gloves when you try it dont want to get burned do we
If it works then the problem is in the mounting, maybe the hot connection is too close to the metal of the dash and when you push in the lighter it touches ground??
If it still blows the fuse I woud have to think the lighter element is bad and drawing too much current.

Sparky

 

sparky the element is a known good piece. tonight i will remove the socket leaving the ground wire in place. if the fuse survives the test what gives. nothing seems to be in contact with the socket behind the dash.

 

Maybe the fuse is too small? If you have a way to measure current, you could see how much it draws on the bench.

 

:P Sparky will catch me if I'm wrong, but a Frayed, corroded, or loosly connected wire will cause so much resistanct the Fuse will blow.
Is the wire 'cooked' at the terminal end plugged into the Cigar Lighter terminal? If the wire near the terminal has that dark bronzed look is bad news. That's like a resistor when it gets heated up.

 

Not really trying to catch you but....the higher the resistance the less current flows, (in a series circuit; parallel circuits are a different story). Just think of wire insulation ; it is a very high reslstance so no current flows thru it.
Now when a wire touches a ground there is very little resistance so the current is way high, usually followed by a "poof" as the fuse blows.
As proof, or useless trivia depending on how you think , current=voltage divided by resistance. So therefore 12 volts divided by 3 ohms means 4 amps flows in the circuit. Now increase the resistance to say 24 ohms and the current drops to .5 ohms.
So all that rambling above means that in order to blow the fuse the resistance has to drop to a level that exceeds the fuse rating. A 15 amp fuse should blow when the resistance is around .8 ohms.
A loose/corroded terminal will usually cause the circuit to stop working, as all the voltage is dropped/blocked at the high resistance of the corrosion. This is extremely frustrating as you can often measure 12 volts and a good ground, at say a light socket, but as soon as you try and use that 12 volts by installing a lightbulb it is all dropped at the bad connection and the light wont work.
Been there done that
Got to go now as I am rambling way too much, just got off work and I am full of coffee....sorry

Sparky

 

won't believe it, but a buddy of mine had the same problem. took it to the garage. found a PENNY in it.

 

well as much as i hate to admit the problem. i pulled the original fuse from the panel and replaced with like kind. the fuse was the the problem. my eye sight failed me, i replaced the 15 amp fuse with a 5 amp fuse. i really appreciate the help and apologize for the goose chase. there is one good thing that came from this deal... i now have 2 good lighter sockets. thanks again.

 

The very worsterest intermittent fuse problem I ever had, was a problem with the Horn fuse blowing and the lights blinking.

It turned out to be (This was on a conversion van) down under the drivers kick panel, where the wires go back to the rear of the Van and the Reading light's, cigar lighter, and custom connectors for the Van Roof were channeled.

Some smart A** put a straight pin through the Custom Light wire. The Pin was laying crosswise of the rest of the wires in that group. Eventually, with enough people stepping on that 'Pin place', caused the pin to work it's way through the insulation of the adjacent wires.

Appearently that aftermarket wire was powered off the same fuse as the horn.

Thanks Sparky, for the very tactful explanation.