hello guys. new to the forums so be patient. i did my research and to no avail. picked up a new sc300 and had no cigarette lighter power. the harness for the lighter has been melting itself for a while. meaning the entire harness has had melted wire. im trying to find out what harness piece i need to replace the entirety of it. pictures once i figure this forum out. the harness runs from the socket over the glove box and then? maybe i can get away with new wires but i doubt it. blue and gray connectors on the ends under the stereo

 

If your harness has a melted or overloaded wire I strongly *hesitate* to recommend you do this before finding that fault. IF you in fact do not have a melted/overloaded wire in your cigarette lighter harness then you may have an issue with a washer fuse going bad in the DC receptacle assembly itself. Common with 90's Camrys, some other Toyotas and as I found out myself, SC's.

I performed this DIY fix on a 1994 Camry a couple of years back. Same symptom and the fix worked. My DC port went bad in my SC300 and I suspected it might have been the same issue. I was right and the same fix did work for my SC. The idea is that there is not only a panel sub-fuse to protect the electrical system from overload but also this small round conductive disc in the receptacle itself that also serves as a secondary fuse for that circuit. Removing it and reassembling the receptacle without it still leaves you with the standard cigarette lighter fuse in your panel under the dash. It was an overkill decision by Toyota and it is generally a reliable one for a couple of decades at least.

If anyone knew what material the little disc is made of and we were able to find the correct inner and outer diameter then the same procedure would apply in replacing it but this is not a Toyota service part you can buy to my knowledge.

Here is a youtube DIY explaining the process on a '99 Camry dash panel. The configuration is different but it's still Toyota and the assemblies are surprisingly similar to dismantle and reassemble.

Again, if this really is not your issue and you in fact have a melted wire... you will need to replace that section of the harness because the little disc-fuse is likely not your issue. There is no need or value in replacing the disc fuse unless you can pinpoint the no power issue directly to the receptacle itself.

As to the wiring harness routing for the cigarette lighter receptacle I am a bit rusty there. If you just want to swap in an entirely new harness that may be your best bet. Surely ebay should have a couple of these listed?

 

I have not ever tried to chase it down, but it looks pretty simple from the diagrams. First, at least in a 92 model it appears to feed from the acc wire on the switch to the input side of the 15amp Cig fuse.



Then it appears to be just a Blue/Red wire from the fuse to the cig light, then it it a Black/White to ground point IF with a couple of junctions in between.

 

see, this is why i love this forum. you guys have an answer to almost everything

 

thanks guys. so yes the harness is melted all the way towards the back of the stereo. I opened the harness as much as I could. separated the cables and I got 12 volt reading to the harness. so I'm going to go ahead and redo the harness with new cable from that point onward. thanks for your imputs. I will check to see if the harness is shorter but it didn't seem so simple. it loops around the airbag module for some reason. regardless I will get it solved. socket is fine. what caused this issue was the whole socket spun enough times that the copper contacted between the cables behind the stereo cover. crazy