Front Lighter Socket has no power

Hi guys,
I have recently moved to Austria with my company and bought a pre-owned certified 1-er 2005 on 50k km. It looks great and drives great )
I have a minor issue/question and I am posting it here to see if any of you would know a solution, because my local dealership has only one guy who "speaks" English and my German skills are still at the Hi/Bye level ... and any visit there is dreadful

I have two lighter sockets, one is by the AUX cable input at the back of the center console and one is at the "usual" spot at the front by the ashtray. When i bought the car the front socket did not have power and I thought its just a quick fuse change fix ... However, the fuse is fine. I pulled it out and the rear socket lost power also. Then I changed it with a new fuse anyways and the power to the rear socket returned, but still nothing at the front. Is there another separate fuse for the front socket? How would it look like on the fuse diagram?

When I bought the car, the cigarette lighter was placed at the rear socket and there was a plastic cap/plug at the front. Is it possible that BMW installed it there only for decoration? It does not look like the front socket was ever used ...

Thanks in advance for any helpful suggestions and comments.

it is likely that at some point during previous ownership, the cigar lighter/power outlet was used as a power source, and the plug for that appliance caused the metal prongs to "stretch" or spread appart so that they can no longer make proper contact and complete the circuit. This is a common problem for many automotive brands. Despite this being 2010, BMW still recommends that the outlet by the ashtray is only to be used as a cigar lighter. With repeated use, or if you are not careful when inserting or removing the plug, this very problem will occurr. This problem is easily remedied by replacing the socket or attempting to reposition the prongs so that proper contact is made to complete the circuit. Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by parker2453

it is likely that at some point during previous ownership, the cigar lighter/power outlet was used as a power source, and the plug for that appliance caused the metal prongs to "stretch" or spread appart so that they can no longer make proper contact and complete the circuit. This is a common problem for many automotive brands. Despite this being 2010, BMW still recommends that the outlet by the ashtray is only to be used as a cigar lighter. With repeated use, or if you are not careful when inserting or removing the plug, this very problem will occurr. This problem is easily remedied by replacing the socket or attempting to reposition the prongs so that proper contact is made to complete the circuit. Hope this helps.

I am going to have to agree with parker. seems like a circuit issue, possibly due to the stretching out

Guys,
Thanks for suggestions. I haven't thought about that because the outlet looks like it has never been used. But what I can do is get a voltmeter and check if there is power ... if that's the case I will try messing with the prongs ... In any case I will post the result!

Nope, stretching out is not the problem. There is no power to the at the front outlet!
Could it be a separate fuse for it?

just checked with a service tech (work at a bmw dealer), and yes, typically there is a seperate fuse for the front and rear lighters

Thanks for the help parker ...Would you know which fuse number is for the front lighter, or what the symbol looks like?
I think the symbol for the rear one is +/- or something similar ... This is the fuse I have played with (taken out and replaced with a new one) just to turn off and then restore the power to the rear lighter...

looked into this futher this morning. I only have access to a 2009 E82. I pulled the glove box and looked at the fuse card and fuse panel. on the US spec E82 there is only one fuse for the power outlets. It is a yellow 20 amp fuse and goes into fuse slot number "8". Probably the same setup you have in the 2005 E87. If that is the fuse that you have already replaced, then I am at a loss.

@ parker ....

Unfortunately, my fuse diagram has disappeared since that last fuse replacement that I did (... but I think it was fuse #38
I did some more online browsing and i found the following website ... don't know how reliable it is: http://spaghetticoder.org/bmw/wds/e87/
If you go into "Body" --> General Vehicle Electrical System --> Lighter and Power Socket --> Cigarette Lighter and Charging Socket 1 series (up to 2007_03)
The diagram on the right shows that both outlets are run thru the same fuse ... I am not an electrician, but they are connected in parallel which explains why even though the front outlet does not work, the rear one still has power ... So, I think if we can trust this diagram, the Fuse is fine and the problem is local to the front outlet ... I am clueless again !!!

diagram should be trustworthy. sounds like the front outlet has obviously lost its source of power. the wiring harness that provides the cigar lighter with power runs underneath the ashtray, it could be that the plug that the cigar lighter uses to plug into the wiring harness has come unplugged. My next step would be to remove the ashtray so that you can access the back of the lighter and verify that the front cigar lighter is still plugged into the wiring harness. hopefully if it like the us spec cars, the plug will be right under the outlet.

I have to find some dis-assembly diagram for this, cause I haven't done it before ... going on vacation now, but will keep you posted on the result!

It took me a while to gather enough courage to pop the central console open .... and I sure needed all of it The hard part was actually, re-assembling it back.

I have uploaded some pics (sorry, do not know how to insert them in the text)


After popping the shift lever boot and the handbrake boot up, I had to unscrew 6 nuts in total. Two at the rear, two at the shift boot and one on each side of the console at handbrake location, plus two of those plastic pins at the very front of the console.

The worst part was that the middle console is cuddled beneath the radio/ac controller and when I lifted it up everything kind of popped unexpectedly open.

Anyways, I inspected all the wiring to the front lighter socket and all wires were fine and connected appropriately. I found out that the white circle around the socket is supposed to light up when I open the ashtray, but that part does not have electricity either.

There is a third wire, probably a circuit breaker to the ashtray lid, but on visual inspection it seemed fine too. Don't really know how to check if the breaker is the problem?

It was really hard to take the ashtray out, because it is attached with two screws that are accessible and visible only from underneath the console, and as seen on the pics I had it still half-stuck underneath the radio/ac control unit.

After performing the visual inspection of the wiring, I am even more confused as to whey I do not have electricity at the front lighter.

As an advice, if someone endeavors to disassemble a similar central console:be ready to remove the radio/ac control unit in order to properly re-assemble the console.
I did not and it is not popped correctly in place, for sure. But managed to get the nuts on (somehow) and when I put the covers back on, one cannot see the difference


Does anyone know how to make the electricity flow in my front lighter socket???

Thanks again, in advance!

good descriptive write up of what you have done so far pictures are good too. I will confer with a tech again tomorrow to see what his next step would be

Hi guys, just to close up on this topic ... I finally have power to my front lighter socket!

Long story short, I took the car to the dealer for something different and asked them if they know of a reason why my front lighter would not work. They offered to check it out while the other work was done ...
Outcome: The previous owner changed the lighter with some aftermarket peace of s*** that was just for decoration. I have the original lighter now (cost about 14 Euro) and it works ...
So, yeah I guess it was that simple!!!

Thanks for your comments and help though!

good! glad you got it fixed, even though it was not my car, it was bugging me as to why I could not find an answer to the problem.

parker, thx for the help!
It was not something that we could have figured out on ourselves ...