I have a 1997 CL 3.0. Last night my radio and cigarette lighter both stopped working. It happened right after I used a spliter to power a GPS and Sirius radio. Now the cigarette lighter doesn't work and the radio will not power up. The Radio's anti-theft light is blinking.

I assumed it was just a blown fuse since both the lighter and radio aren't working. However, I just checked all of the fuses under the stearing wheel as other posts had recomended. And all the fuses are good (I even replaced the radio/audio aplifier fuse with a spare just in case).

Any suggestions before I take the car to the dealer and get raped? Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you very much for anyone who can recomend a course of action or solution.

 

Only two things I can think of, fuse, or the wire shorted. You shouldn't split things like that because the fuse is there to prevent fire, and can only handle so much current flowing through. Check the fuses under the hood too.

 

check the fuses under the hood. theres another radio and small light fuse i think thats what its named anyway that one will also take out your radio.

 

I looked at my 97 2.5TL manual. Your car should be similar or same.

There are several possibilites. If you checked fuse no. 11 in the underdash fuse box and it's good, that would eliminate the fuse. Other possibilities are the cigarette lighter relay (under dash fuse box), and fuse 37 (15A) underhood fuse box. Cigarette lighter relay is unlikely since you have other components out. Fuse 37 seems likely since this feeds the relay drive coil and in series powers the stereo system.

Let us know what you find.

good luck

 

there is a radio and cig. lighter fuse under the hood.........seems like the culprit

 

Thank you to all who replied. It was just as many of you suggested. There was a blown fuse in the box under the hood. I fixed it with a spare fuse from the other box. So it did not cost me a dime! (I didn't even know about the fuse box under the hood.)

Thanks again, I'm certainly going to be posting my car problems to this board from now on before I take it to the shop. You all have been very helpful and I'm sure it saved me a pretty penny. Once I had the advice from this board it took about 2 minutes to fix!

 

yea blown fuse. same thing happened to me.

 

Cool bro, glad thats all it was.

 

I had the same problem after I shorted the fuse with a broken adapter in my cigarette lighter, causing both my radio and my cigarette lighter not to work.

A quick trip to Pep Boys and installing a fresh 15 amp fuse into the under-the-hood fuse box fixed the problem. Thanks.

 

Hi Everyone,

This problem as happened to me a few years back. My friend used my cigarette lighter and placed it back while the thing is still hot. Few seconds later, my radio went out. I replaced the fuse under the hood, but only my radio works and not the cigarette lighter. Till this day, I still haven't fix this problem because I don't use my cigarette light. But I would like it fix if possible.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you all for your awesome postings.

 

just replace the lighter unit, i think they're like $5 for a new one.

 

My lighter outlet wasn't working when I originally bought the car, but the inside had some mineral deposit buildup, so I took a screwdriver and scraped it off. Dunno if this is the case for you.

 

I have a similar problem. My 98 CL 2.3L Radio quit all of a sudden. Found only fuse #11 under dash - no problem. Found 2 fuses in the engine compartment for Radio back up and Radio Lighter - all good. The anti-theft light is still blinking, but the radio is quiet no matter what I tried.

Please help anyone.

 

just sounds like the radio is dead. The anti theft feature might work, but the player itself may have just finally let go.

 

What fuse was it?