Defective cigarette lighter

[MontrealAircooledNut]

Hi to all. Wanting everything to be in working order in my 74 412 wagon, I found out that the cig lighter is not working. I plugged a cell charger in the outlet and there is juice. So I figure it must be the element that is not working. Is there a way to test/ fix these?
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Notchback 1965
Fastback 1970
Beetle 1971
Squareback 1973
412 wagon 1974

[KTPhil]

The actual heating element is often a standard part, fitted in a knob assembly that is custom to the car, so you may find a generic one you can cannibalize and fit to your knob. But do be very careful to test the new one, because some can jam and keep right on heating until something catches fire.

[raygreenwood]

I love this question! There is nothing MORE retro than a car with a working cigar/cigarette lighter....much less one that occupies a prominent place in the dash!

As KTPHIL noted....you have to be careful.

The actual heating element is almost never bad unless its corroded and the spring is dead.

Tell us what yours is doing or not doing.

1. If you pull the heating element out to inspect it.....without trying to heat it up.....and you can push the button in and it springs back out instantly.....and it has no damage to the little coil on the end......the element is likely not bad.

2. You have to clean the coil very well. Without removing significant metal....you need to remove corrosion and tobacco residue. Not so much from just the spiral shaped face but the edges of the disc that make up the outer edges of the element.

3. The element is on a spring loaded plunger. If the plunger/pin is sticky it needs to be cleaned. Alcohol or dish detergent may help.

4. If all is clean and moveable.......what you next need to look at is .....look into the socket. Pull the socket out of the dash. You will note that there are slots cut in the sides of the socket....usually at 180° apart....sometimes three sets at 120° apart.

These slots are dished inward slightly. When you push in the lighter.....the limited spring tension of the metal of these slots.....grips the disc shaped element.....and will not let it back out.
These slotted tabs.....actually the whole barrel of the socket......are the negative contact (it may be positive....cant recall).......but it holds the disc hard against the other insulated pole at the bottom of the barrel.

What happens is that the ground is imparted to the edges of the spiral disc and the + is imparted to the spiral face or heating element . So.....the spiral disc element gets red hot.

Meanwhile.....the tabs in the side of the barrel get pretty damn hot as well. The way the slots/tabs in the barrel are cut......they expand....outward.....releasing their grip on the disc/element.....and the spring causes it to pop out......ready to light your smoke.

But....in a well used lighter......fatigue over time can cause the tabs to no longer grip the heating element so the button will not stay in. Very slight bending of these tabs can fix this but you need to be careful and go just a few thousandths at a time.....just enough to get it to work.

As mentioned....the other issue is that if the button pushes in but the element dies not heat up and pop out....and there are no broken wires or blown fuses......its usually corrosion that is preventing the element from making contact to the the bottom of the bore.

Ray

[KTPhil]

Another minor possibility to check... the lighter assembly is sometimes only grounded through its mounting. Others have an additional ground tab to which you run a ground wire as thick as the positive wire, since both carry the higher current of the heating element.

If it lacks the ground wire, it grounds only through contact with the metal dash-- often a poor conductor. It's possible it carries enough current to charge your phone, but not enough to properly heat the lighter element due to its higher current demand.

It's more likely to be as Ray suggests... note there is a lot of variation in accessory plug configurations, whereas the lighter elements were a little more standardized. I have a USB adapter that often makes poor contact in the socket, even though the lighter works fine. I have to rotate or wiggle it to get good contact. The UBS adapter is not made to the proper specification and the designer probably never actually saw an actual lighter to understand the geometry correctly!

[MontrealAircooledNut]

Thank you again Phil and Ray. I will try to troubleshoot and fix this as per your instructions.
_________________
Notchback 1965
Fastback 1970
Beetle 1971
Squareback 1973
412 wagon 1974