(01.5 LE) front cig lighter socket blew out, can’t figure out how to fix it. Ideas?

[Jacksonavenue]

Brother in law plugged in an air compressor into it and it blew. 
 

I replaced the socket itself with a new one (aftermarket usb ported one) and it’s not working. I checked the fuse and the fuse seems to be fine and working. I wired in the new after market socket myself, but I don’t think I made an errors, because for good measure I put the old socket back in after swapping the fuse and it still didn’t work.

 

note: my 01 Le only has 1 fuse labeled for the cig lighter power socket. Other models have 2 fuse locations, but where the second one is typically, mine is blank and has no fuse inserted.

 

I think it’s unlikely I fried a wire, but it’s possible. Is there any other components related to the cig lighter that could cause this issue? Where do I look to continue trouble shooting? If it is a wire, where does the wire connect to?
 

should I just say F it and wire it directly to my battery? Not crazy about that idea cause then I won’t have a fuse. 

Edited December 21, 2024 by Jacksonavenue
Year edit

[Slartibartfast]

EL-146 of the '01.5 manual has the full diagram. It shows three fuses (weird setup), but two of them are for the other two power sockets, which it sounds like yours doesn't have. The lighter should be on fuse 13, 15A.

 

Using a voltmeter or a test light, check from a known good ground to the fuse (check for power on both sides of the fuse to rule it out), then from ground to the center contact of the 12v socket. That'll give you some idea of where the circuit is broken. If it's hot all the way to the socket, check the ground side. Looks like the lighter socket has two ground points. I'd be surprised if they were both bad. I would also be surprised if the wire itself failed (that's what the fuse is for), unless your BIL tried again with a much larger fuse after the first one popped, or one of the wires was previously damaged in a way that made it weaker than the fuse.

 

If you want an always-hot socket, you can run a wire from the battery with an in-line fuse holder. I added an outlet to the back of mine like that. Just remember not to leave stuff plugged in/turned on when the truck is parked, or it'll drain the battery.

 

I used one of those lighter socket pumps a couple of times. It didn't blow up the wiring, but it wasn't good at blowing up tires, either. I remember letting it run for like half an hour trying to air up a passenger car tire with a slow leak.

[Jacksonavenue]

Appreciate the info man, time to try tackling the issue again. Might go the route of wiring it to the battery.