Cigar lighter fault

[Salecyoung]

I use the cigar lighter in the centre console to power up my Tom Tom satnav, however I believe there is a short of some kind under the socket -- the indicator light on the plug is sporadic and if I leave the satnav on it runs down as of course it's not being charged -- if I hold the plug hard to one side the socket works and the Tom Tom charges, but of course this is not a fix -- annoying. My question (after the lengthy preamble here) is how do I remove the socket to check the wiring is this an easy thing to achieve or do I have to start disassembling the console?

Thanks for your consideration (2004 X100 XK8)

Steve

[Brakebuster]

a work colleague had a similar problem ( not in a Jag )

I went to investigate, and found the fuse blown ,

however

the cause of the blown fuse was the charger plug for the device its self causing the issue as it had come ' unscrewed from its self ' and the bits fell into the cigar lighter shorting the contacts

sometime the less obvious is the cause , not the effect

BB

[Salecyoung]

Thanks BB, would that it was that simple. it's sporadic, so pointing to a short beneath the socket ... so it has to come out, hence my question!!

Steve

[Brakebuster]

A short would blow the fuse

So probably a loose connection

BB

[Salecyoung]

Very probably ... To find this out I need to remove the socket ... so again, how do I achieve this? Is it a major joib involving removal of the console, or what?

Thanks again for your comments.

Steve

[mike020150]

I seem to recall having a similar problem with an XK8 some years ago. The answer was the design of the socket. For whatever reason, it only accepted certain sized accessory plugs and hence some plugs made permanent contact and some didn't and only made erratic connections or not at all. To get round the problem, I think I may have gently bent the socket internals (after disconnecting the battery) until the offending plug, which may well have been a Tomtom unit, made good contact. Mike.

[PTR200Jag]

I seem to recall having a similar problem with an XK8 some years ago. The answer was the design of the socket. For whatever reason, it only accepted certain sized accessory plugs and hence some plugs made permanent contact and some didn't and only made erratic connections or not at all. To get round the problem, I think I may have gently bent the socket internals (after disconnecting the battery) until the offending plug, which may well have been a Tomtom unit, made good contact. Mike.

Yep agree with this, I had this problem couple months ago with a TomTom rider .. Just used a small screwdriver to bend the terminals in the lighter unit BUT also they had "oxidised" turning black...bit of wet and dry and as good as new.
If it had wiring / short problem fuse would have blown as others have said.

[oldtimer]

Hi BB,
Perhaps you would like to clarify the difference between "short circuit" and "open circuit" seems to be some misunderstanding.

I'm sure you can explain better than I , anyway it is past my bedtime.

Getting very Oldtimer

[Brakebuster]

a 'short circuit' would be the live and return wire being directly connected without the required load between the terminals resulting in an uncontrolled discharge of energy that could cause a fire, thus a ' fuse ' is installed in circuit to prevent the uncontrolled discharge of energy by way of ' blowing ' and severing the circuit

an 'open circuit ' is a situation where the circuit is incomplete even with the load across the terminals preventing the load ( or device ) from operating , the device could still be ' live ' but as the circuit is not complete the device will not work,



personally , and from past experience, i believe that the actual charger plug is at fault and not the cigar lighter its self, but this is not definitive ,

the device plugs usually have a spring loaded contact to compensate for small differences in power connections, the spring loaded contacts become faulty in one way or another

as for taking apart your car , i have no idea


BB