Rep Power: 0

So my wife's car, an 03 Civic EX Coupe (Auto), has had a "CODE'd" radio and a bad lighter since we bought it a while back. I was told that the battery had been replaced (hence the "CODE"), and we didn't find out about the cig lighter until a few days later when we tried to plug in an iPod.

Anyway, I finally got around to pulling the stereo and getting the serial, and I figured I'd look into the cig lighter problem while I was at it. Broke out the multimeter, and there was no power to the +/- wires leading to the lighter. So I checked the fuse, and there was a 25A in the spot where the 15A was, and it was burnt out. This leads me to believe that there's a short, and the person selling the car knew a bit more that I was led to believe.

Is this a common problem? Is it easily fixed? I would prefer to do it myself if I can, but for the purposes of this thread, assume a low electrical experience, decent general car knowledge, and an ability to learn.

Thanks in advance,
-ldm

 
Rep Power: 518

Remove everything from the lighter socket. (Including the dimes and pennies that the kids dropped in there.)
Replace the blown fuse with a good one of the specified rating.
If it will charge your cellphone or power the ipod, you are done.

An accessory or a bad lighter blew the fuse. Some accessory plugs will short out when the tip is mashed all the way in. So pay attention to WHEN that fuse blows.

 
Rep Power: 0

Fair enough. I'll get around to putting it all back together tomorrow. It's just that there was no foreign material in the cig lighter. The fact that it blew a fuse that was +10A "bigger" than the stock one led me to a possible short. I was only asking if this was a common problem before I start popping fuses again.

Nevertheless, thanks for the info
-ldm

 
Rep Power: 518

Make sure the socket is empty.

If you stick in a fuse and it blows as soon as you do, then you can worry.

Most likely someone had a bad accessory plug in causing it to blow, and just stuck in whatever fuse was handy.

A bad or wrong length lighter will blow the fuse too.

 
Rep Power: 291

A valid concern. Most people don't realize how dangerous putting a larger fuse in really is. You can catch your car on fire.

Disconnect the wire from the socket, them replace fuse. If new one blows, you've got a wiring problem to chase. If it doesn't blow, you likely have a bad socket.