please big time help needed.

[mach1stang]

Hey guys,
Well first thing is first, I got a new daily driver Tuesday, it’s a 2004 Chevy 2500HD. 6.0 liter, Allison, BOSE sound system. It is a nice truck.
Well today is the first real day I’ve driven it, I took my sister to her piano lessons as I did not have any work today. Well as I am sitting in the parking lot looking like the worst soccer mom ever and watching the mom next to me chain cigarettes, I pushed the cigarette lighter in and I noticed a little bit of white smoke… thought it was just some junk inside no big deal. Well a little smoke turned into a little bit more smoke, that’s interesting. Well then it started getting ugly as smoke was now rolling out of the dash at a pretty good rate… Ok this is getting a little too sketchy. So I pop the hood and pull the fuse and right off the bat I noticed it has a 30 amp fuse instead of the listed 15 amp. I pull the fuse and go back to the cab to see if I need to call the fire department there was a little bit left in the cab so I open up both doors let it air out then shut it up to see if it was still smoking. It stopped so I turned the truck on and checked everything (CD player, AC making sure there were no shorts in the harnesses or melted wires) all was good. It has not done it anymore since I pulled the fuse. My Dad and I narrowed it down to the fuse being wrong and it cooked the wire…. And I narrowed my sudden limp to the mess in my pants.

I am just glad it was me in the car rather than my sister or mom.

Anyone else out there had this problem?

Thanks for the help I am hoping it is nothing big just a faulty fuse.
Kody

[6'9"Witha69]

You really need to look up under the dash and ensure the wiring is intact. Any exposed wiring may not be an issue now, but could be at a very inopportune moment.

[John Wright]

On my truck, there are two separate fuses...one for the cig lighter, and a different one for the Accessories plug....The cig lighter will fit into either one, but I'm not sure they are wired the for the same amp draw. One fuse is in the panel under the hood, and the other is in the panel at the driver's door(end of the dash).


Maybe somebody can confirm or explain this.

[Frank the Crank]

The reason it kept smoking was because of the 30 amp fuse. I think you have a bigger problem. Safe to say if the 15 amp was in there it would have blown and you would have seen little to no smoke. With the higher value fuse in there, it allowed the short to cook for awhile. It could be something as simple as a bad cigarette lighter element, but after what has happened, I would check the wiring to the lighter socket to make sure it didn't get damaged.

Good luck.

[Vegas69]

The fuse is never the problem unless it's to small for the circuit. You have a short across the element to ground. Replace the lighter assembly and replace the cooked wire.

[79-TA]

The fuse is never the problem unless it's to small for the circuit.

By that you mean the oversized fuse istelf is a problem that indicates a greater problem, ie a short, right?

[justasquid]

I think he meant that the fuse itself isnt the problem. It could have been wired direct without a fuse, and it shouldn't have caught on fire.

The previous owner must have been blowing fuses and instead of finding the problem, just popped in a larger fuse.

And I agree, replace the plug and check the wiring.

[John Wright]

The previous owner must have been blowing fuses and instead of finding the problem, just popped in a larger fuse.

And I agree, replace the plug and check the wiring.I agree with this also.

[John Wright]

Another thought about the cooked wire....

When the heat is created in the wire(from resistance), the resistance in the wire goes up, the more the resistance goes up, due to the math formula(see below), more amp draw is required to keep the 12v flowing...it escallates as the temperature in the wire climbs.

Ohm's law states that the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the potential difference or voltage across the two points, and inversely proportional to the resistance between them, provided that the temperature remains constant.

The mathematical equation that describes this relationship is: I=V/R

[Vegas69]

By that you mean the oversized fuse istelf is a problem that indicates a greater problem, ie a short, right?

Fuses are chosen based on the wires current capacity in a short situation. A larger fuse is usually a band aid for the real problem.