Dear Atwell,
I don't think it's worthwhile to try and clean the coils, I've tried this
with several lighters using a wire brush but it's better to replace if
possible. Most lighters have the same components inside and the coil part
can be unscrewed fairly easily. I replaced the lighter coil in my Spit with
one from a Ferguson tractor that a non-smoking farmer friend gave me.
With regard to the fuse, it seems that something is drawing too much power
through the circuit, a similar thing happened on my previous Spit when I
fitted a heated rear screen element to the hardtop. If it was switched on
for more than 60 seconds the in-line fuse got hot and began to melt the
casing.
Hope this helps
Regards,
Paul
1981 reg white 1500
----- Original Message -----
From: Atwell Haines <carbuff@nac.net>
To: Bob Sykes <stan.part@worldnet.att.net>
Cc: <spitfires@autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, September 16, 1999 12:20 PM
Subject: Re: Cigarette lighter circuit
>
> At 11:04 PM 09/15/1999 -0700, Bob Sykes wrote:
> >> I tried to determine in the
> >> Bentley manual if the lighter is run off that fuse.
> >
> >Nope (at least on a '78)
>
> That makes sense... 5 amp continuous is really low for a lighter circuit,
> most car's I've seen are 20 - 30 amps on the lighter ("power point" in
> 90's-speak).
>
> ++++++
> >
> >One failure mode for lighters is for the coils to short against adjacent
> >coils.
> >The causes the (already low) resistance to drop even further. Increased
> >current
> >results, followed by (sometimes) blown fuses.
>
> Or, in Triumph's case, melted wiring! <aacckkk>
>
> Anybody ever successfully cleaned-out the lighter's coils? (Mine DOES show
> signs of heavy use from the PO.)
>
> And lastly, does my charred fuse 2 (the 10/5 amp one) indicate a poblem I
> should be looking into? I haven't noticed any functional problems with
the
> car.
>
>
> Grateful,
>
> Atwell Haines
>
>
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