cigarette lighter and cooling fans???

[yohy]

Can someone do me a favor; I need to know the wiring scheme for the cigarette lighter/power outlet for a ’97 Legacy L sedan (or similar). Issue is mine stopped working a while back; fuse was fine so I got another panel with the outlet from a forum member, went to install it today, and this is where the mystery started. I have attached a picture to clarify but there is one black wire that comes off the side of the lighter and goes into a foam covered plug. There is a second wire, green with red stripe with a spade terminal end that comes off of the back side of that plug. Now the male end of foam covered plug has one wire, black which started me thinking, where does the power comes from. Starting with a meter I verified the foam covered plug is only a ground so I had to look for a power source from somewhere. In checking the wiring diagram from the FSM, it showed a green wire coming in and a black wire to ground (via a plug). So I start looking for a green wire with a spade terminal (there is spade terminal on the back side of the assembly) and I find one in close proximity. I metered it and it has switched 12 volts with a spade terminal so I figure out this must be the power source. I connect the plug ends and then the green wire with silver dots to spade terminal turned the key on, then plugged in the cigarette lighter and this is where the fun begins. THE COOLING FANS STARTED, BOTH OF THE FREAKEN COOLING FANS STARTED!!! I pulled the lighter out, the fans stop, I push the lighter back in and both fans started, I pulled out the lighter and the fans stop….you get the picture. So this is why I am hoping someone can give me the “what goes where” on the back side of the lighter. Then we have the real mystery of what is the connection between the cigarette lighter outlet and the cooling fans. Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.

[Manarius]

Well, the plug you plugged in is the right plug for the lighter. Now, I don't know why the cooling fans are going on though.

[Cougar]

I suspect that the black wire isn't going to ground directly. Try tieing the lighter shell to a known ground on the chassis and then see what happens.

[yohy]

Manarius,

Yeh, I figured I got the right plug but am still curious about the “hot” side. At first I figured it was the green with red stripe wire as it had the right spade connector, but it didn’t have any voltage (DUH as there is only one black feed wire coming into the plug). That is when I started looking elsewhere for the “hot” lead. Do you know if when I used the green with silver dot wire as the hot lead if this was correct? Now I just thought about this, if I metered the wire (green with silver dots) and then pulled the fuse for the lighter circuit, that would let me know if I was on the right power source (again, DUH!).

 

Cougar,

I will check out the black to ground although when I was trying to figure the dang thing out, I did meter between the green with silver dot wire and the male end of the plug and did get a complete circuit.

 

BUT, nothing describes WHY I would trigger the cooling fans, and then not just one but both of them. The only possible connection that I could come up with is the switch for the A/C unit is nearby but even if I did somehow get involved with the A/C circuit, wouldn’t that trigger only the secondary fan???? Arghhh!

 

But again, thanks for taking the time to give me some input and direction, it really helps.

[OB99W]

[...]BUT, nothing describes WHY I would trigger the cooling fans, and then not just one but both of them. The only possible connection that I could come up with is the switch for the A/C unit is nearby but even if I did somehow get involved with the A/C circuit, wouldn’t that trigger only the secondary fan???? Arghhh![...]

Both fans could run if the A/C was involved: http://endwrench.com/images/pdfs/CoolingInfo.pdf

 

The only other thing I can think of offhand is somehow having tied into the green test mode connector wiring.

[mdjdc]

What I did in my car was made my lighter full time hot. I wanted a hot plug so I could charge my phone without having to have the car running. I ran a wire from the fuse block in the drivers kick panel to a fuse and then to the back of the lighter. This will end all of the questions you are having without you sitting scrtatching your head.

 

Pm me if you want more info.

 

Mike

[Cougar]

Looking at some info on the AC system it shows a grn/red wire tied to the return side of both fan relay coils and it should tie to the ECU on pin 73. This may be the same wire you are using. By tieing it to ground at least, both fans will turn on. Your meter shows 12 volts on the wire while it is open but it won't be at 12 volts when it is terminated. When you tied the low resistance of the lighter heater element in series with the relay coils it will still allow the relay coils to close. By pulling the lighter out of the socket you disrupted the return path of the relay coils and the fans turned off.

 

I didn't see any info on the blk/wht wire. I would use an ohmmeter to see if that wire is really ground. It should be very close to 0 ohms if it is a true ground lead.

[Gloyale]

Manarius,

Yeh, I figured I got the right plug but am still curious about the “hot” side. At first I figured it was the green with red stripe wire as it had the right spade connector, but it didn’t have any voltage (DUH as there is only one black feed wire coming into the plug).

 

Did you check it for voltage with the key in *acc* or *on*?

 

Cigarette socket won't have voltage with key off in factory arrangement.