'95 Legacy cigarette lighter wires

An earlier discussion focused on the light, or lack thereof, on the
cigarette lighter. I have a more basic question.

I got this vehicle a year ago and the socket, or power port, didn't
work. I could feel around behind it and fee that the wires were
attached. I finally took the panel off and found that wires -- one
red, one black -- were attached, but they were cut. The red one was
more than a foot long, the black one considerably shorter.

I looked everywhere but couldn't find a dangling black or red wire
anywhere.

Any ideas what to do? I'd like to have the power port to plug in my
cell phone charger.

Hi egcohen!

On 20 Mar 2007 15:24:25 -0700, egcohen (AT) unr (DOT) edu wrote:

An earlier discussion focused on the light, or lack thereof, on the
cigarette lighter. I have a more basic question.

I got this vehicle a year ago and the socket, or power port, didn't
work. I could feel around behind it and fee that the wires were
attached. I finally took the panel off and found that wires -- one
red, one black -- were attached, but they were cut. The red one was
more than a foot long, the black one considerably shorter.

I looked everywhere but couldn't find a dangling black or red wire
anywhere.

Any ideas what to do? I'd like to have the power port to plug in my
cell phone charger.

Mmmmm, you're talking about the lighter socket adjacent to the ash
tray, below the stereo? Sounds like someone tried to install a
aftermarket socket; IIRC the OEM one has fairly short wires, and a 2
or 3 pin connector to the rest of the wiring harness. I seem to recall
the harness wires being white and yellow, in a white plastic
connector.
FWIW, in a move towards "Political Correctness" Subaru didn't install
ashtray/lighters on some cars of this vintage. Wiring harness
connector still there, tho. You might see if you can find the harness
connector and splice into that. 12V should be available when ignition
switch is in "ACC" or "RUN". Alternately, just find an OEM ash
tray/lighter piece at a salvage yard; this should plug right in.
All else failing, splice into one of the 12ga wires feeding the cab
fuse box. Be sure to use an in-line fuse, and also be sure you use the
wire that feeds the accessories and such, rather than the
ignition/ECU, just in case. Determine this by pulling the fusible
links located in the engine compartment fuse box, until you determine
what wire does what.
I will add that this is way easier if you start by removing the
drivers seat. 5 bolts and it's out of your way . . .

Hope this helps.

ByeBye! S.
Steve Jernigan KG0MB
Laboratory Manager
Microelectronics Research
University of Colorado
(719) 262-3101

From the 95 service manual:

The +B to the cigarette lighter comes through a green wire coming from
fuse No.3 in the fuse box inside the car. The connector at the
cigarette lighter is i24 and it is a single pole connector.

The ground comes via a black wire to a 3 wire connector (i25), the
ground pin is the one closest to the locking tab. At the other end of
this wire, it is bolted to the body ground at the bottom left of the
center console (at a point called GB-7), goes through a single pole
connector (i28) and from there to i25. i25 is a brown connector.

I could not find what the other 2 pins in i25 are intended for.

Hope this info helps.

Good luck!

egcohen (AT) unr (DOT) edu wrote:

An earlier discussion focused on the light, or lack thereof, on the
cigarette lighter. I have a more basic question.

I got this vehicle a year ago and the socket, or power port, didn't
work. I could feel around behind it and fee that the wires were
attached. I finally took the panel off and found that wires -- one
red, one black -- were attached, but they were cut. The red one was
more than a foot long, the black one considerably shorter.

I looked everywhere but couldn't find a dangling black or red wire
anywhere.

Any ideas what to do? I'd like to have the power port to plug in my
cell phone charger.