What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
Ford Focus 1.6L Petrol 2009 - Ford Focus Mk2.5 Cigarette Lighter - andyj941

Hi the contacts in my cigarette lighter look badly corroded and when I plug something into it the connection is dodgy to say the least. I'm thinking about replacing it, I'm just after some advice. I am lead to believe I may be getting a dashcam for Christmas, and to have somewhere to plug it in I guess I need to get this sorted. Does anyone know what the Ford part number is for the cigarette lighter in my car - it's between the gearstick and the cupholders in the middle of the car as shown here and currently has a cap saying 'power outlet - 12V' on it. Is it actually a cigarette lighter at all, or a 12V socket? Is this suitable for powering a dashcam? Has anyone had any experience of replacing it?

Edited by andyj941 on 07/11/2018 at 20:12

Ford Focus 1.6L Petrol 2009 - Ford Focus Mk2.5 Cigarette Lighter - elekie&a/c doctor

If it says power outlet on the cover,it is not a cigarette lighter and is solely for use with chargers / dashcams/ etc. If the contacts are corroded ,then it will need replacing. You can get the part from Ford,however there are probably after market sockets that will do the job,but you will need to check the fitting and under panel clearance. Some of the plastic trim will need to be removed for access.

Ford Focus 1.6L Petrol 2009 - Ford Focus Mk2.5 Cigarette Lighter - edlithgow

If the contacts are corroded ,then it will need replacing.

Hard to tell without seeing it, maybe not even then, but the OP says the contacts "look" corroded.

If he can see the corrosion, he can clean it.

The real headaches come when you can't, like inside the steering column switch unit on my car, limping along with ocaissional sprays of contact cleaner.

OP, you might have to use some ingenuity/improvisation if the contacts are visible but hard to access.

I like aluminium as an abrasive. Maybe an aluminium roofing nail in some kind of tubular holder would get there? I use arrow shafts or bits of old TV aerials for this kind of thing, but you might not have them

Wooden BBQ (satay stylee) skewer, optionally with foil wrapped around it?

In the army we used matches and spit to clean residue of propellant from the awkward bits of rifles.If you need something more brutal you can burn the matchead first.

IF you get it cleaned up, apply some protectant (WD40, vaseline, silicon grease, etc) to stop it re-corroding.

You can buy contact-cleaner spray which MIGHT help but its fairly pricy, with no guarantee it'll work, so if it comes to that it might be better to just replace.