Brundlefly

Hi there, new allroad owner and I quickly discovered the front ash tray lighter does not work. The rear one works so the fuse is OK (I also checked it) so I am assuming the problem is with the wiring or the socket itself.

The rear plug will work temporarily for charging the phone or running an XM but I'd really like to repair the front in case that one turns off when the car is off and not draining the battery (or relying on me to remember to pull the plug).

I read a few posts but didn't find what I was looking for. I have an auto, read someone saying you have to remove the center console cover around the shifter but it sounded like that one was easy on a manual transmission, not so much for an auto.

Anyone know anything I can try to get this operational again? I've read some of the "stuck coins" posts, thinking that may be part of the problem. I didn't find anything that mentioned if the swivel of the cig lighter caused a short or anything.

I also bent the inside tabs of the lighter in to make better contact.

Thanks for any help!

Brundlefly

No one has ever removed this? I was thinking about using the existing wiring to hook up something like this:
Because I'd rather have 2 USB hookups than one cig lighter. I just don't want to break the console or the tray getting it out.

Thanks for any help.

flemmjAR

I took mine apart. I found a write up on another forum to help I don't have it saved anymore though. It was on audizine or maybe VWvortex i forget.

It wasnt too difficult but you do need to pull the radio and the climate control unit and the cover around the shifter. That just lifts off with a little muscle. You are going to need the radio pull keys. You can get them on ebay for under $5. So once you pull the radio out there are two 8mm bolts to undo in the top two corners of the climate control unit. Take those out and the climate control comes right off. There are a lot of wires and plugs so just be careful unplugging everything. All the plugs are a different size so you cant mess up putting them back. Okay so once that is all out of your way you can get to the ashtray assembly. I had a problem with the cig plug not giving power and the problem was just that the connection came off. Just put it back on and it has been fine ever since. Been about 3 month since I did this.

Sorry I am not more specific. Try and google the problem and you should come across a write up about it. thats how I knew how to do it.

Good luck and congrats on the AR!

Mike B

There's a much simpler solution for this. There are cheap, like $5 plugs with 2 USB outlets that you just plug into your lighter socket and you're good to go. Throw the lighter in the ashtray so it's there when you sell the car.

I just saw these at the customer service desk @ home depot the other day and they come in colors and you can get matching color USB cables for almost any device you want to connect.

Brundlefly

Thank you flemmjAR, that is probably specific enough to help me out. Yes, I think my problem is probably the connection. Now that I hardwired my XM player to the car it's a little less of an issue but I think I will take this on if I replace the head unit or get one of the GROMM expanders for Bluetooth and USB, take car of all problems at the same time.

Brundlefly

Mike B, I have a couple of those things around myself. They do work nicely I was just thinking that if it was more of a built-in solution I would be able to utilize the pivoting mechanism, etc. First thing is first.. gotta get it working again.

P4Ring

A wire may have fallen off. My AR is speed MT and my plug-in devices would sometimes interfere with the stick when selecting 5 speed. Also i hate to have to open my ash tray for charging devices.

I have a dash cam that need to be powered evertime i drive, that mean I am only left with the rear sockets or add an even more bulky adapter for 2+

My solution was to install a dual port 2 usb. (One 2.2amp and one 1.2 amp) and one 12v socket. The unit is flush mount and fit in the glove box. Power is taken from terminal 75X so it automatically power the camera on when ignition is in the ACC or RUN position. If you want it on all the time like the factory ones, connect to terminal 30 instead.

Add an ATC fuse holder with a 15 amp fuse on the positive side of your circuit and let it accessible from under the glove box by the carpet.

Use a wire hanger to fish the wire from the driver side to the passenger side.

Holes cut in back of glove box.





Connection





View 1





View 2





Terminals

P4Ring

Holes cut in back of glove box.





Connection





View 1





View 2





Terminals

A wire may have fallen off. My AR is speed MT and my plug-in devices would sometimes interfere with the stick when selecting 5 speed. Also i hate to have to open my ash tray for charging devices.

I have a dash cam that need to be powered everytime i drive, that mean I am only left with the rear sockets or add an even more bulky adapter for 2+

My solution was to install a dual port 2 usb. (One 2.2amp and one 1.2 amp) and one 12v socket. The unit is flush mount and fit in the glove box. Power is taken from terminal 75X so it automatically power the camera on when ignition is in the ACC or RUN position. If you want it on all the time like the factory ones, connect to terminal 30 instead.

Add an ATC fuse holder with a 15 amp fuse on the positive side of your circuit and let it accessible from under the glove box by the carpet.

Use a wire hanger to fish the wire from the driver side to the passenger side.

Brundlefly

Hmmm. Good plan. I may just do that, for the amount of work involved in either removing things to fix the lighter or this trick.

Brundlefly

By the way, how difficult was it to remove that glovebox?

Nevermind, saw this: