lighter assem. help needed

[RandallNeighbour]

I bought a new cigarette lighter assembly last month. The thing came in, and was in two parts... the electrical part and a clear plastic ring.

I was fiddling with it in my office to see how it would assemble (and the old one would disassemble) and I accidentally snapped it together in place (off the car in my hand).

Now I can't figure out how to separate the clear plastic bit from the electronic bit to install it or remove the old one!

Anyone tackled this seemingly easy project? If so, could you give me a clue as to how to separate them without breaking anything?

[rick3000]

I feel your pain!
I did this a few months ago, and it was the single most difficult mod I have done. The lighter drove me nuts. I spent two hours trying to get it to open, you have to push down a clip or something with a mini screwdriver or similar (I used a knife).
I will give you some advice, don't replace your currently lighter unless you really need to. I would switch mine back if it wasn't so difficult, because nothing fits the new one very well. This is perhaps the first time I have overmodded my Boxster.

[RandallNeighbour]

I gave up. I drove over to the Porsche dealership, walked up to the parts counter, and asked the guy to get it apart for me.

He and a technician put it in a vice and took two tiny flathead screwdrivers and pried the two pieces apart without breaking them.

I just broke out the old one instead of trying to dismantle it to get it out of the face plate.

The new one popped right in and the whole thing took five minutes.

Now my radar detector and GPS plugs stay firmly in place and the lighter doesn't pop out and roll on the floor during hard driving.

I'm always replacing something on the car like this. What's next? The little convenience light housing in the front trunk. Mine has fallen apart due to age and heat.

[Burg Boxster]

Rick3000-

Sounds to me like you got the Euro version cig lighter. You want the US spec one which is deeper and narrower to hold our common access (GPS, cellphone, radar, etc.) The p/n are:

996-652-101-10-A05 Socket ~ $8
996-652-102-10 Lighted retaining ring ~ $5


RandallNeighbour-
The p/n for the trunk light is:

997-632-201-00 (includes the light bulb too ) ~ $3

Prices listed were some Sunset last year so I'm sure they've gone up a bit since then...

Good luck