Is this sign of a failing dme relay? Or?

[Jreyes94]

My 944 is a daily, always turn key and go.
The other day, went out to warm her up, and the fuel pump wasn't coming on (Mine is ziptied to the body so the hum is rather loud). Sat there and cranked.
So, i unplugged the dme relay, plugged it back in, and it fired right up.
Is this sign of a failing dme relay or likely problems elsewhere?
The fuel pump and relay are both a few months old.

Note: My 944 has always had trouble starting in cold weather for various reasons which i believe I've sorted out already, but it the morning this happened it was 50 degrees outside. Not very cold.
TIA

[mytrplseven]

It's equally possible that either could be the issue. I've had what I thought was failed relays in the past but after rubbing a pencil eraser on the plug ends of the relay before plugging it back in, it made a better contact. Erasers are great contact cleaners. Not knowing the condition of the fuel pump or it's connections, I would lean towards the DME relay. These things are a common failure item and buying a Stribel or OEM replacement relays are suggested. Avoid the Uro brand as they are commonly failed right out of the box. Carry a spare, too.

[Jfrahm]

I have never had a DME relay fail but it is supposed to be due to:
1 - Solder joints cracking, possibly due to the weight of the relays hanging off them
2 - The braided copper wire that goes to the armature interfering with the action of the relay.

I am running one, old 944 part, where I reflowed the solder joints and added hot glue to help support the relays. The last thing I did was to put a blob of hot glue on the top relay and put the case back on it hot so the top relay is now glued to and supported by the outer plastic case. I also made sure the braided wire was clear of the mechanism.

Seems to work. Make sure you know which way to put the case on before you daub the hot glue onto the top relay.

In the least case I'd suggest getting a quality replacement from Stribel (not the URO cheapie) and running that. I also have a Stribel DME relay that I was running before I modded the old relay. 993 part number, made in Hungary. I pulled the top off of it and the solder joints looked OK, the braid was not an issue, and the relays were better supported than in the old 944 part but what the hell I did the hot glue treatment to it as well. Can't hurt unless you glue the wrong thing.

I suppose you could have fuel pump or alarm or ignition switch problems also, hard to guess without more diagnostics. Could also be the DME itself.

[Jreyes94]

I checked the dme relay, it was a Uro product, and i have since replaced it and all is well again...yay!