What the....?

[drddan]

A strange new problem. If I push in the cigarette lighter, my stereo shuts off.
What in the heck would cause that? Never has it done that before.

[bravekozak]

problem solved

Quit smoking!

Just joking. Is this a stock Festiva radio? Or, one of those fancy ones that shuts off after 30 minutes if you leave it on. Did you tap into continuous 12V power on the lighter circuit for something to do with the radio or a phone charger?

[drddan]

This stereo has been in this car for 1 1/2 yrs. No problems.
I used the radio connections, but the lighter is on the same circuit as it shares the fuse. All of a sudden, if I push it in, off goes the radio, started this about a week ago.

[doylerl]

Some of the newer radios shut off if the power goes under 11.75 volts or so. This helps if you have the car in acc mode because you will still have enough juice to start the car. With it being cold outside the batt voltage is lower plus the strain of the lighter might just be too much.

[bravekozak]

I agree. Check your battery voltage with the radio on and then have someone push in the lighter and see what the voltage is when the radio shuts off. I am having a hard time relating to cold weather. It was springtime temperatures here for the last two and a half days.

[drddan]

Some of the newer radios shut off if the power goes under 11.75 volts or so. This helps if you have the car in acc mode because you will still have enough juice to start the car. With it being cold outside the batt voltage is lower plus the strain of the lighter might just be too much.

I agree. Check your battery voltage with the radio on and then have someone push in the lighter and see what the voltage is when the radio shuts off. I am having a hard time relating to cold weather. It was springtime temperatures here for the last two and a half days.

Will check this soon, and thanks, I was wondering about voltage drop too.
Then that gives me another thought. Is my alternator going out?
Why a drop?

I too am having a hard time with the cold weather I dont wanna go outside!

[Team Lightning]

Just wondering if there could possibly be a short in the lighter unit. Not the socket, the actual lighter part. That could drop the voltage on the radio low enough to shut it off.

[1988festivazoom]

Well the liter its self is a short circut and usally when they co bad its bc that short circut is broken. U could try a new lighter that would be a cheap fix but unlikley.

[drddan]

I dont use the lighter much. I keep meaning to stop and get one to see if the lighter itself is the problem, but I keep forgetting, and only rememberwhen its to late to get one. :p

[Darlo]

If you have recently removed and fiddled with the lighter's "socket", you may have rotated the inside part by 90 degrees like I did.......From then on, I would blow a fuze evey time I tried to use the 12V power for something, as it would create its own short when something was pushed in there.....

Look inside the socket, and see if the two shiny metal pieces are over open spaces (like they should be) or if they have been rotated to hover over the metal housing........

When I did it, I was removing the sockets internal fuzeable link so it wouldnt blow every time I plugged something like a heater into it.......

Good luck

Ps. There is one little bolt on the back of the socket, and that is all you need to loosen/remove to resolve any issue. Really easy, even for me (and that is saying something, cause I failed at installing my alternator, lol)

[drddan]

If you have recently removed and fiddled with the lighter's "socket", you may have rotated the inside part by 90 degrees like I did.......From then on, I would blow a fuze evey time I tried to use the 12V power for something, as it would create its own short when something was pushed in there.....

Look inside the socket, and see if the two shiny metal pieces are over open spaces (like they should be) or if they have been rotated to hover over the metal housing........

When I did it, I was removing the sockets internal fuzeable link so it wouldnt blow every time I plugged something like a heater into it.......

Good luck

Ps. There is one little bolt on the back of the socket, and that is all you need to loosen/remove to resolve any issue. Really easy, even for me (and that is saying something, cause I failed at installing my alternator, lol)

Hey, isn't that your car on the new FF.com calender?! Cool! I like the "wet" shot that was used, with the water droplets. Sweet.

[Festiva Time]

Look inside the lighter socket. Someone might have put a penny in there.

[ejp2fast]

Hey, isn't that your car on the new FF.com calender?! Cool! I like the "wet" shot that was used, with the water droplets. Sweet.

yeah, that picture is pretty cool..

[Darlo]

Hey, isn't that your car on the new FF.com calender?! Cool! I like the "wet" shot that was used, with the water droplets. Sweet.

Yup, I was pretty excited when I saw it on the front of the calender! Sept was a good month!

[batstiva]

I'm leaning towards the battery going south. Sounds like you have bad cell(s) in there. It'll hold up as long as no additional voltage is called for. Not sure why it's picking the stereo to kill off, but humor me, take the battery to AZ, or Advance, and have it tested. Tho, it wouldn't hurt to test the charging system as well. Easy enough to do. Tho, when Slick's battery finally crapped, the charging system would test normal, but the battery would go flat dead if the car sat for more than 2 days. Took the battery to AZ, where it came from less than a year ago, and it was farked. New battery, problem solved.