Hi everyone, been lurking back and forth with no success. I have found few topics on the related of what I'm about to ask but nothing to really aid me.

So!
I go to you guys now.


While driving one day I hit a pothole which caused a nice thump to the car, for whatever reason the radio display went insane and started showing what looked like crazy alien letters or some matrix display. This was shortly alleviated when I disconnected the battery and reconnected it, and never came back when I removed the radio and put it back in.
Could of been loose wiring from the previous owner, who knows at this point.

BUT. Now my front 12v adapter for the cigarette lighter will not work. I can only see the wiring from the back of the adapter and it all seems fine and dandy from there. I do not have a voltmeter to figure out which wire might be dead.

Any clues? : (

 

Check the simple thing first.... fuse.
The front cigarette lighter is the only device coming off the 15A CIGAR fuse.
So check this fuse in the kick panel.

Also, without knowing what the previous owner has done to the car, its a guessing game.
Its possible he could have added aftermarket gauges or other devices and wires are loose and/or shorting to ground.
You would need to pull-out the ashtray and really look at the wires.
Do you see exposed copper?
Is there evidence of tampering like wires wrapped with electrical wire?

 

^1

Make sure the fuse is OK first before you go ripping stuff apart only to find hours later it was a blown fuse. If the fuse is good do a visual inspection of your wires, looking for anything obvious (exposed wire, torn wire, bad splicing, etc). If you can't find anything its either time for a multimeter or move on without your 12V adapter. Car wiring is a PITA compared to troubleshooting other electronics though. Good luck.