I was hooking up the cig lighter in my dads 85 pickup 2wd and it turned out to be faulty. Hooked it straight to the under dash fuse panel and now nothing has power except the ignition on that fuse panel. What can I check to fix this tonight, we need the truck to get to work in the morning. Thanks in advance!

 

It sounds like you got the wrong side of the fuse and then grounded it out by accident. This would cause the main fuse (in the engine compartment on that truck?) to pop. It should be marked. Look at all the labels for the big square fuses / relays and try to find one that says main. If it has a clear cover on it you will see that it is either shiny copper (good) or burnt. If it doesn't have a clear cover you will need to put an ohm meter on it to see if it is good or bad (near zero ohms is good near infinity is bad).

Now don't stick a wire in place of the main fuse or you might just burn down your truck.

 

Wow, I just checked that and that's the problem. I feel stupid, lol. I checked all the other fuses but didn't think of that because I'm not used to fuses like that. Where can I get a new one, parts store? right now I got a jumper wire going to the fuse panel so I can drive it tomorrow until I get the new fuse, I thought that I burnt up the wiring because I seen smoke. Thanks dude!