Hi everyone,

I'm trying to get the cigar/cigarette lighter to work - I don't think it has worked for years. Would like to use it for the cell phone charger sometimes. I disassembled the whole ashtray unit, and cleaned off all the dirt/grime/corrosion, especially on/around the electrical contact points. Dremel with a little wire brush worked great - the chrome parts are very shiny now!

Anyway, can't seem to figure out how the power gets to the ashtray unit to light up the lighter. There is an orange wire that has been disconnected (probably from a previous radio change-out), just hanging there. I checked some previous posts and could not find anything about an orange (or any) wire connection to the ashtray unit - does anyone know? I can post some pictures, if that would help.

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1991 300E 124.030 103.983KE 722358 03 412178
207K

1979 240D 123.123 250K (Project car)

2000 Ford Ranger, 187K

2015 Dodge Ram 1500 EcoDiesel 37K

Bump....

__________________
1991 300E 124.030 103.983KE 722358 03 412178
207K

1979 240D 123.123 250K (Project car)

2000 Ford Ranger, 187K

2015 Dodge Ram 1500 EcoDiesel 37K

Not sure about the orange wire, but it is either 12v or ground. Check with an ohmeter or such to determine. May need to string a wire from known 12 v source to the ashtray unit to energize lighter, then to ground.

Pull out the entire ashtray unit, and there's a square plug in the back of the cigar lighter. Brown is ground, the 12V source should be black with grey stripe, or black with green yellow stripes (I don't have an elec. diagram for your exact model, but those are on the ones I do have).
Check for 12V with and without ign. on, and whether the fuse is good. If you get 12V, pull the fuse to ensure it's the right one. Previous owner may have moved the power wire for the lighter to the radio. If so, there may be a stub left in the plug to id the color. Generally, though, the switched power for the radio is also the wire that should power the lighter (they would share the same fuse), so if you have to, pull the radio and connect that one to the lighter.
The orange wire may be an illumination lead from the radio harness, seldom if ever used on aftermarket units (if you have an aftermarket radio, as you mentioned a radio change-out). It might be just hanging there, useless. Mercedes doesn't use orange wire in the radio/lighter area, as far as I know.

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1986 560SL
2002 Toyota Camry
1993 Lexus

Do you mean this? There were no wires attached....

Attached Thumbnails

   

__________________
1991 300E 124.030 103.983KE 722358 03 412178
207K

1979 240D 123.123 250K (Project car)

2000 Ford Ranger, 187K

2015 Dodge Ram 1500 EcoDiesel 37K

I took the chance that your set-up might be like mine, but it's obviously not at all. That said, however, from your pictures, it looks like you need 12V+ connected to the spade connector shown. Either that, or a Mercedes single female plug that will attach to the post on the back of the lighter.
Have you tried connecting 12V+ to this lug, and the metal part of the housing to ground (12V-), which you can do with it on the bench? When the coil unit of the lighter is pushed in, it should connect and heat up, or you could push in an adapter, like you want to use, and see if you get a circuit.
I'm intrigued by the little socket-like thing below the lighter body, with the fork straddling the lighter socket. Is that a bulb socket? If it is, it would be on all the time that there is 12V to the spade lug, which makes no sense, or the ground side of the socket only connects when the lighter is pushed in, which means the bulb lights when the lighter is heating up???.
Maybe someone familiar with this arrangement will comment.

__________________
1986 560SL
2002 Toyota Camry
1993 Lexus

Yes it is....this I can answer off the top of my head...the other stuff, well.... it's off to the car to check it out!

Thanks to your comments..the 240D was originally from the factory in Germany, so it does have a lot of unique features....

__________________
1991 300E 124.030 103.983KE 722358 03 412178
207K

1979 240D 123.123 250K (Project car)

2000 Ford Ranger, 187K

2015 Dodge Ram 1500 EcoDiesel 37K