electrical help...headlights, horn, and cigarette lighter dont work.

[1989Quest]

I know this is an old thread, so I hope to see at a minimum a combination of 2-3 comments pertaining to how old it is such as "bringing this one back from the dead" and hopefully at least one clever original comment.

 

All jokes aside, there has been a lot of excellent technical information from other members in this thread which hopefully solved your problem along with assisting many others in the process.

 

At the very least I'm hoping that my experience with what sounds like the same or similar problem may be of benefit if anyone else finds this thread and is in need of a solution.

 

I encountered head lights that only worked for a brief amount of time after turning them on. Then, my horn and cigarette lighter would not work either. The light for the lighter socket also went out if I recall correctly. Those problems were resolved when I fixed my cigarette lighter by properly securing it.

 

The lighter socket has a small internally threaded ring that screws onto the back of the lighter cylinder which secures the assembly in place. The ring on mine came unscrewed and the assembly was not secure.

 

This single issue seemed to be the root cause of my persistent problems. Presumably, this was causing a short in the wiring. After threading the ring onto the back of the cylinder the problem went away.

 

To thread the ring onto the cylinder is simple and straightforward but can be somewhat challenging as there is limited space. The good news is that it is not necessary to tear apart the dash or console.

 

I removed the ash tray completely and was able to get a portion of my hand into the vacant area. I moved my fingers down the wire running behind the lighter until I located the ring. Then, I worked the ring up the wire to position it into place on the back of the lighter cylinder.

 

At that point I was able to thread it onto the back of the cylinder which secured the lighter assembly in place. Following that, my problem ceased to exist.