Car DC port not working..Need Advice!

[yourbeliefs]

I listen to my Sirius XM Satellite Radio religiously in my car. Therefore you can imagine my dismay when my radio stopped working one day. I tried multiple adapters, ports, and even docks and nothing worked. From this I deduced that something was wrong with my DC power ports (I have 2 in different areas.)

A blown fuse seems to be the most likely candidate, but there's some issues with that. First off, I am horrible with cars and reading the "diagram" of fuses in my car is like trying to read the Torah. Perhaps I'm just too automobile-knowledge deficient, but none of the descriptions given on the diagram seemed to clue me in that it may be the correct one.

So I called my local Toyota dealer who I have a good relationship with and unfortunately I couldn't finagle them to swap the fuses for free, as they pointed out the fact that we don't know for SURE that it is the fuses and not something else wrong. They also pointed out that it isn't a good idea for me to just start randomly swapping out fuses as I may end up screwing with the computer and doing more bad than good.

So here's my options as I see it:

A: Play a game of "Toyota Fuse Deal or No Deal" and try and isolate the correct fuse and replace them and hope I don't screw up something really important.

B: Bite the bullet and bring it to the dealer and hope it's a simple fix that doesn't cost a lot of money

C: Call around to various other repair shops and hope that they will do this service for free or at least diagnose whether or not it is a fuse issue.

D: Find alternative ways to power my radio. Some quick searching has yielded no results. If there's some sort of battery powered DC power generator device out there that runs on AA batteries I'm all ears for that option.

Before anyone suggests it, no I don't want to just use the Sirius XM app on my phone. I've been using it for the past week and while it is a nice fix, the feed isn't as stable as using the regular radio, not to mention I don't get ALL the channels I get with the radio, specifically the sports channels that carry games and ESPN (I like listening to the radio feed of Around the Horn/PTI as I drive home from work.)

Any suggestions or tips as to how to remedy this problem? I hate not having a working DC power port on my car.

 

[jayn_j]

Take off the cover to your fusebox and carefully look down the rows of fuses. The modern blade fuses are designed so that a blown one can be seen without removing it. A good fuse has a strip of metal visible under the plastic. A blown one will have a gap in that strip of metal.

 

[Peter Parker]

The larger size fuses make it apparent that a fuse is blown but in the smaller sizes it is often difficult to tell. If you or someone more familiar with car electronics can isolate which is the correct fuse try to replace that one---even if you have to usea fuse from the wiper blades or something. At least that way you can isolate the fault. But don't drive in the rain with no fuse for the wiperblades. RIf the problem isa fuse replace the failed one as soona s you can.

 

[tigerprowler]

If you have a local AutoZone or O'Reilly's or similar car parts shop, a CSR will usually look and tell you if a fuse is blown and help you get the correct one to replace it. They have for me. They have helped me find the right kind of gas cap when I lost one, too.

 

[navychop]

There is always the possibility that there is an additional, in-line fuse, behind the radio.

Is anything else not working?

 

[GravelChan]

1. Make sure it's the car port. Plug anything else in the car port. Even a charger for a cell phone, does it light up?

2. If not, buy a package of misc size replacement fuses and swap each fuse in the fuse box on the car one at a time until the dc port works. I don't know for sure how you would screw up the computer but this should eliminate that possibility. Just to be sure turn off the ignition switch between each swap.

3. If the car port is really live, plug your sat radio into another car, make sure it's working.

4. Find another Toyota dealer, sounds to me like they are giving you a bunch of bull! Or at the very least not being very helpful.

 

[Van]

Outlet receptacles usually use a 20amp fuse and the fuse box cover should list it as receptacle/radio or accessory while older vehicles will list it some times as cigarette or cigarette lighter. Since your radio is out along with the outlets I would hazard that both are on the same fuse so find that fuse based on what the cover diagram says. To read the cover properly you have to turn it over so that you can see the diagram and hold it so that it looks like a twin of the top of the fuses, this is easily done because in most instances now there is one or more fuse set at odds to the other fuses and not all fuses are rated at the same amperage. It's also possible that the outlet fuse is located in the engine bay and there will be a diagram under that cover as well, you will also find that there are relays along with the fuses and you should be able to find the box between the battery and the master cylinder.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Problem solved. Finally figured out what fuse it was and sure enough it was busted. Replaced it with a spare and now both ports work just fine again. Biggest pain was getting the damn fuse out. Had to use special clamping scissors from my wifes workplace.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Here is the guilty fuse