txjlh

Hey everyone, I recently purchased a lifted 96 XJ to work on and have some fun with and have stumbled across a problem that has me scratching my head. I am hoping someone might be able to provide some direction. A similar issue has been covered in another post, however, I didn't see where my particular problem had already been covered. The XJ had an aftermarket radio already installed with a cigarette lighter that didn't work. Here is where I scratch my head, after getting behind the panel I see the cig lighter had been unplugged, after plugging it back in and trying to use it, the radio completely turned off. When I pulled the lighter out of the socket, the radio then turned back on. After a few tries of that, the fuse blew. After inspecting the wiring behind the radio, it was clearly an amateur install but I don't see anywhere where there is a wire grounding out. I am somewhat mechanically inclined, however, I can't say the same about electrical issues. Can anyone point me in the right direction for this?

XJThrottle

txjlh

Thank you for your response, I will see if I can grab another and give it a shot.

XJThrottle

Try putting something with a lower current requirement in the lighter socket, like a phone charger, and see what happens.

Ralph77

I agree with this. This is rather embarrassing. '97 and up came with a couple different cigarette lighter sockets. Not the power plug. They all look similar and use the same connector. Not sure where the cut off is. Anyway I installed one that I picked up off Ebay. Bezel, switches, plugs and all. Not sure what year it was from but anything '97 and up works in the newer XJ's. Went to use my cigarette lighter. Kept blowing the 25 amp fuse. Turns out a cigarette lighter is not a cigarette lighter. Then come in different lengths. I was using a longer one and blowing the fuse. Using a shorter one stopped that from happening. Worked like it should. Who knew. My point is maybe you are having the same problem.