Cigar lighter issue

[CableguyJJS3]

Ok I realize this isn't terribly important, but as I have gotten every other electrical thing to work in this car is a matter of principal now. The lighter has power to the wire, yet when connected directly to the lighter well it blows the fuse instantly. Now there is this litte deal that threaded onto the back of the light, see pic, I'm guessing it's a resistor of some kind. I have no continuity through it, so I'm guessing it's fried. i took it apart and while it had some corrosion, I cleaned it, didn't help. Any ideas where I can get a replacement for this? Or do I need to make one? Or is there a way around this entirely, another ground perhaps?? Any help is appreciated. Thanks.   Jim

[wv 57s forever]

napa,
   complete lighter assembley change knob.

[CableguyJJS3]

napa,
   complete lighter assembley change knob.

Been there, done that, twice, no difference. Still blows the fuse isntantly, even with the ground strap on the new aftermarket lighter well connected and grounded. This is as about as simple of a circuit you can possibly imagine and for the life of me I cannot get it to work. I know it has to be something simple and stupid I'm overlooking but I have no idea what it is.

[BWhitmore]

Normally a fuse blows when there is a short in the system. It could be that the wire feeding 12 volts to the cigarette lighter is rubbing against a metal part and the wire has rubbed through to the copper core.  When that happens and causes a short the amperage goes sky high and blows the fuse.

The other possibility is that the fuse is not the proper amp rating.  Hope this helps. 

[CableguyJJS3]

I've had every inch of the harness from the firewall forward open and put my hands on it, no bad wires I can promise that. And flip side, I have an entirely new wire run from the ignition switch over to feed the clock and the lighter only, with an inline fuse holder and that's brand new. I've had everything from 5 amps to 30 amps in there and it blew them all. I've been through all my books and diagrams and can't find a amp rating for the lighter fuse, but I can't imagine it's much more than 15. I know this is an incredibly stupid problem and it in no way should be this hard but I am baffled as to what to do next.

I went to the parts store again tonite and bought yet another new lighter well, and a circuit breaker, I'm going to try that and see what happens. I was digging around the Mac's website and found a listing for what they call a lighter to circuit breaker wire, about 4 inches long with a ring on one end and a bullet on the other. I found that wire in my original harness all burnt up and was discarded. Yet I have not found anything resembling any kind of circuit breaker anywhere in the dash, so I have no idea what happened to it or why that would make a difference. Nor in any of my books or diagrams have I found anything showing the lighter circuit. Except for a hand drawn wiring diagram someone sent me in one of my other posts, but that just shows power from the ignition switch straight to the lighter, so I'm really lost. Looking around on eBay I found a lighter assembly from a 57 T-Bird that had that thing I pictured in my first post, they are calling it a fuse. I found another listing for that thing also called a fuse, but to much money for me to gamble with on such a stupid problem, $40 for the lighter assembly and $13 for just the fuse. I know not alot of money, but for such a small piece and I don't even know if it will fix it, not gonna try until I know for sure.

[BWhitmore]

In this forum (electrical) a few weeks ago I posted a wiring diagram from Bauer Electronic in Oregon.  I used this diagram to wire my Ranchero and found it to be excellent.  Ignore the check marks, I made those as I completed things.  Look in this same forum under "dash lights".  Bauer Electronics is located in Oregon and they are very friendly about answering questions.  I do not have their phone number but they do have a web site. 

[CableguyJJS3]

Yeah that was the other diagram I was reffering to, from my post when I was trying to figure out why my dash lights weren't working. I tried another new well and element tonight. Still the same thing, blowing the fuse instantly. I hooked a circuit breaker in line between the fuse and the lighter, it lasted long enough for the lighter to get sorta hot then it blew both. I'm lost now, I have no idea where to go. I have good power I have good grounds, and I have a hard time thinking I have 3 bad lighter elements. Either way, I'm done with it for now, I guess I'll just have a car without a working lighter.

[BWhitmore]

Maybe an experiment.  You might want to try wiring one of your new lighters to a known 12v source that has the same  known amp draw that the lighter is supposed to have.    If the lighter blows the fuse then you have narrowed it down to the lighter, if the fuse does not blow, then the problem is the wiring?  I hope this makes sense.  I suppose you could also do this off the car using a 12 volt battery, a jumper lead and a meter to determine the amp draw when the lighter is heating. 

[jrw429]

This from the 49-59 Ford Car Parts Catalog. 14429 is a cigar lighter fuse, which seems to be what you have pictured above.

I'd try this on the bench using a battery. Wire it up with nothing else involved. Does it work? Does it blow the fuse if the element is not installed? Perhaps the heater element is causing a short. Do you have an ohmmeter so you can test and see if it is shorted without applying power (and blowing fuses or risking worse)?