Yep all,

Hoping that someone here will be able to help lol.

Been using a dash cam for a while now, but suddenly it’s stopped working. On checking it turns out there’s no power coming from the cigarette lighter socket (had someone check with a multimeter). Checked the fuse and that’s perfectly working.

I’ve ordered a new socket just in case I can’t get this one cleaned or fixed, but I can’t find any instructions on how to get the socket out of the surround.

I have a 02 seicento. The manuals I’ve found and tech manuals on here don’t show anything for removing it. I have looked on the forum, but it’s mostly people finding a way of removing it but not explaining how they did it.

Any help would be grateful.

Cheers :worship:

The beast is a metal tube inside a clear plastic sheath (green or orange) which has a plastic "hump" on it's back that holds the bulb.. and an end-ring at the dashboard end that lets the light shine when the bulb is lit.

The end-ring is the bit that stops the lighter falling through the dashboard hole... but you can't pull the whole thing out at once because the hump with the bulb won't fit through the dashboard hole.

You need to stick your finger into the metal tube part and ease it out of the green/orange sheath.... so as you're withdrawing it, keep the green/orange ring part held to the dashboard, in case it wants to come out.

It's likely to be stiff, so when the metal insert is out a few mm, squirt some WD40 between the metal tube and the plastic sheath to lube it up a bit.

Extract the metal part until there's a hard resistance.. probably about 2-3cm.

Now lift out the plastic ring and pull the sheath out until the bulb "hump" touches the dashboad. You should be able to see the connector through cutouts in the plastic sheath.. so diconnect the plug. It has a security "tab" but it's easy to press it in to pull the connector out.

Without the connector attached, you can wiggle the sheath out of the hole (rotate it so that the bottom end comes out, then the bulb hump will also come out (last).

It probably sounds more complicated than it is.. but if you have a new lighter, have a play with that first so you can see how the metal insert moves in and out of the plastic sheath.

To fit the new onw, you don't have to pull the metal part out of the plastic sheath altogether - this is likely to break the lighter... just slide it out, like a rifle bolt.. attach the connector, hook the bulb hump and the bottom of the plastic sheath through the hole, push that home so it clicks.. and then push in the metal tube part.


Ralf S.

Ralf S. said:

like a rifle bolt..

Ralf S.

Click to expand...

statement of the century!!!

D

crikey Ralf-

good write-up!

I had to wrestle with the lighter in my Stilo.. took me ages to work out that the metal sleeve and the plastic sheath were supposed to slide over each other and when in the extended position, it made it a cinch to get the "hump" out through the hole.

Previous owner had obviously failed to work it out (I had the advantage of having a new lighter in my hands) and had just yanked it out, cracking the ring and breaking off the hump altogether, so just looking at the wreckage I couldn't see how it worked. Just the new lighter made it all clear.


Ralf S.

Just wanted to say thank you for your help and advice, got it removed and after doing a lot of testing.. found out it was a fuse that HAD blown lmao. Had been testing the wrong fuse after everything.

But also gave the cigarette lighter a good clean and now looks new again.