UNDER THE HOOD
Troubleshooting dead phone charger socket
Q:I went to to my plug 2015 in my Civic phone charger and there were a bunch of sparks coming from the socket and then it went dead. Can you explain what happened? How I can get back to being able to charge my phone? —Rebecca B.
A: It sounds like there was a collision of metal within the socket, possibly due to a foreign object such as a coin, earring or paperclip—or perhaps the tip of your charger is falling apart. Try taking a look within the socket using a flashlight, and perhaps swab the interior with a pencil tip, Q-tip or other non-conductive object to remove any offenders. Phone charger plugs typically employ a metal contact button, which may have unscrewed or broken off. Check this as well. In rare cases, the socket may be damaged, requiring terminal alignment or replacement.
Your front accessory power socket is protected by a 15 amp low profile mini blade fuse (blue in color, fuse # B-27) located in the under-dash fuse-relay box, which is under the left side of the instrument panel. The fuse has likely popped due to the shorted condition within the power socket. If my diagrams are correct, there are three horizontal rows of rather tiny colored fuses. B-27 should be in the middle row, right side of center, just to the right of two vacant cavities. If the supplied fuse puller isn’t present, needle-nose pliers or sturdy tweezers can be used to gently extract the fuse for inspection. If you look closely at a fuse, there should be a tiny uninterrupted curving band of metal connecting across between the two metal insertion tabs. If the band is broken, the fuse has popped. In rare cases, a fuse may appear visually OK but
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ABOUT THE WRITER
Brad Bergholdt is an automotive technology instructor at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose, Calif. Readers may send him email at bradbergholdt@gmail.com; he cannot make personal replies.