Cigarette lighter keeps blowing a fuse

[IHK 11]

Hi does anyone know why my cigarette lighter keeps blowing a fuse? My cars a 1990 Audi coupe e. Ever since ive owned the car the cigarette lighter has never worked. I removed my centre console around the handbrake and the gearstick and discovered that the cigareete lighter to disconnect the auxilary gauges to change a bulb and discovered the connectors wernt plugged in. I thought maybe theyd come out and when i put them back the cigareete lighter would work. When i plugged them in ensuring the wires were all in tact the same fuse kept blowing. Do you think this is a problem with the wiring or maybe the actual cigareet lighter? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks from Ian!

[Turlough]

My instinct tells me to test 1, the cigarette lighter itself for a short and 2, the unit the cigarette lighter goes into. Sounds as though there’s a short in one or the other.

[IHK 11]

Thanks for replying. Il try and borrow a different cigarette lighter and the unit from my girlfriends Audi which is exactly the same car but hers works and see what happens. Thats reslly helpful thanks. 👍