Melted cigar lighter knob, or: How to say "dodged a bullet" auf Deutsch

[KSalzer]

Hi all,

So I came down to the garage the other day, sat in my 230SL, looked to the dash and saw something rather surprising: a wilted cigar lighter. Apparently the element had been left in the "in" position (I don't smoke, so it was truly accidental) for some time. The cigar lighter must have heated to ungodly temps as it melted the plastic knob into the sad and impotent shape you see in the attached jpg.

All joking aside I think I narrowly missed a disaster. Anyone have a similar incident? Anyone care to posit whether my cigar lighter could have erupted into flame? I'm surprised that it didn't trip a fuse or something of the sort before frying the knob; anything I should check before replacing my cigar lighter with a new one? Anyone think my car is trying to tell me something about my manhood?

Kris

[tuultyme]

On my 280SL there is no power to the lighter unless the ignition is on.

[J. Huber]

Bummer. Your story prompted me to have a look at mine. Never use it but I have checked it before to be sure it worked. Mine heats up very quickly but it only stays "pushed in" for a few seconds then slides back out. With or without ignition I think. So only thing I'd worry about with a new one is that it doesn't stick in the "in" position.

Now one other thing I noticed -- my blower switch knob is not completely round -- one part is squared off. Is that normal?

Correction: I checked again and like tuultyme, my lighter only gets hot with the ignition on. And thanks Norm for the info on the blower knob.

[Norm]

I have checked two other 230's and all three had the same "flat spot" on the knob.  If you look close, in the dark, you will also see that there is a tiny blue light in the center when the fan is "on".

Norm
66 230SL Blue-Grey

[Klaus]

dodged a bullet; since you were lucky that it didn't catch fire I would translate it into " Schwein gehabt"
(a Schwein is a pig and is a symbol of luck)

[JamesL]

Unless it's Schwein flu