Hello! I'm new here, glad for the opportunity to sign up. I hope I can get some help with a fuse situation. I have a 2017 Cooper S Clubman. Bought it used 2 years ago. I've come to like this car a lot, quirks and all.

Until a couple weeks ago, I'd never made use of the rear seat 12-volt outlet (the cigarette lighter socket.) But I had an idea. I plugged in a usb adapter, with two usb-a outlets. I plugged two 5-volt devices into the adapter (a gps and a pair of low-power speakers.) The idea was to allow audible alerts from the Garmin gps to play independently from the car's sound system.

That worked for a couple of days, and suddenly stopped. I suspected a burnt-out fuse. Did my homework, discovered that Fuse 132 governs both the rear passenger outlet, and the one back in the luggage area. The fuse is located under the glove box. Not directly behind, but under it.

That fuse was indeed dead. I pulled it, and plugged in a new one, an exact match, 20 amps. Tried it out again, this time with only one 5-volt gizmo plugged in. (I believe it was the gps.) It lasted about 15 seconds, and died. I've tested to make sure that the usb adapter is NOT the problem. It works when I plug it into the front 12-volt outlet, but not in the back.

I haven't looked yet to verify that it's the fuse again (reluctant to do all the contortions). But I think it's the fuse again. Before I look back down there, I'd like to hear at least an educated guess as to the root cause of this problem.

Thanks!

 

Since it doesn't pop your front 12V plug's fuse, I would have to believe there is either a pinched wire or maybe some corrosion somewhere in the circuit, which is causing the increased current draw. Wonder if it may even be something in the socket itself that is not giving good contact and creating some mild arching pushing the amperage up. You may want to see if you can pull the rear socket out of the console and see if there is anything wrong with it, that would at least give you a start to see if you have to trace wires.

 

Thanks, WhatV8, for the reply! I can start by looking closely at the socket. Maybe something will stand out. But if it's not obvious, the next step would be to get back under the glove box and pull the fuse, then further investigate the fixture. Not sure when I'll get to it, but you gave me a good clue to go on.