Allegro Club International

[Chris Williamson]

Seem to have a non working cigar lighter in my VP. It wasnt working when I got it back in September, I assumed the wiring was cut or altered as a couple of non standard switches have been added,but it was only this weekend that I got round to dropping the radio panel and discovered the wiring that is visable is all original.
All the other items that run off the same fuse work but neither the lighter nor any accesory plugged into show any sign of life. Is there some other hidden in line fuse within the loom I should be looking for or is there likely to be a fault in the lighter unit itself?

[Laurence]

If the cigar lighter won't run any accessory, but you know the accessory will run when fitted to another car ie fan, light etc & you have checked for 12volt supply to the cigar lighter, put in a temporary earth wire from the body of the cigar lighter to the battery negative to see if it will work then. If it does, repair/make good the earth to the cigar lighter body.

Also, check the tip in the centre of the cigar lighter to make sure there isn't a build-up of crud on it, the crud will form a good insulator, so the cigar lighter won't be able to power anything. If you use a screwdiver to scrape the tip clean, disconnect the battery first.

I think there is a line fuse behind the radio speaker panel below the heater controls panel, but I can't remember what it's for, so it may be a good idea to remove the speaker panel to have a look to see if there is one & what it's for.