I finally got around to fixing my cigarette lighter because I needed to use my GPS and came across a weird issue. The fuse was blown so I replaced it (with the correct 15 fuse) and the cig lighter now works ...but only when my headlights are on. When I turn my lights off, the power cuts off in the socket.. When you push on the orange ring, the light flickers which makes me think there's a short somewhere. I pulled the socket out and made sure all the wires were in good shape and everything connected well and all seemed fine. Any ideas on what could make it only work with the headlights?

 

Swapped the socket out from the boot and now everything works perfectly. Interesting.

 

Yeah, that sounds like a bad socket. Maybe order a replacement from the dealer or grab one in a junk yard (if there is one near you with a MINI in it).

 

New sockets are cheap from the dealer <$10. It's not unusual to have one go bad.

 

Thanks to Surfmax1 for the suggestion of swapping out the rear socket with the front one. My GPS plug came apart and metal parts were inside the cigarette lighter socket. When I fished them out and put the plug back together, the socket didn't work. Aha, a fuse, I thought. So I replaced all three 15 amp fuses (because the fuse diagram in the fuse box itself didn't say which one ran the cigarette lighter.) No luck.

So, I swapped out the sockets, front to back, and voila, it works. But now BOTH sockets work. Go figure.