relay help

[auh]

How can you tell if a relay has gone bad?

My headlights always go up but don't always go down. Sometimes when I rev the engine it helps but not always. I pulled the relay off the headlight motor and everything sounds very loose on the inside, but I didn't wanna open it cause I wouldn't know the diff between a good and bad relay.

Is there a way to tell?

[SoCal Driver]

Think of it as a light bulb; if it rattles inside it's no good.

[livewirevoodoo]

<< goes outside to rattle his relays.

[cruzermusic]

hey auh... where did you get your wireing harness...i can't find one in calif.

[Jmasters]

try silver star recycling, its in sacramento, CA area, but will ship anywhere. I used to go there all the time before I moved.

http://www.silverstarrecycling.com/

[auh]

I never got a new harness, I made a temp fix. But now I'm wondering if my short could hvae been in my headlight motor relay? Who knows, I feel like anything is possible with this car.

[cruzermusic]

i have the same gremlins that you have.....my short seemed to start at the wiper switch......something in there went to ground and cooked the wires about 1 foot back... as it was burning i popped the hood and the hood light was working??? pulled the bat. cable and stopped the burn...it didn't blow the fuse,,..my ignition switch melted shut....any of the helps..... pass the info to the board.

[auh]

turns out it was just corrosion on the relay contacts

[SoCal Driver]

Noisy corrosion.

Supposed to be a rubber boot over the relay as well as the entire motor. Keeps the water out.

[IceShark]

Originally posted by auh
turns out it was just corrosion on the relay contacts

Corrosion on the relay legs or inside the relay?

Corrosion will happen if the rubber boots have tears in them so patch those up or get new ones. That is a cheap basic relay so only costs around 5 bucks to replace.

The other problem area is the contacts inside the motor that tell it when to start and stop which can get crudded up and need to be cleaned up. Clark's Garage has some drawings of this little "race track" so you know what to look for.

[auh]

That rubber boot it pretty torn up, I'll see about patching it today, or maybe I'll use something else for the time being to cover it up.

[IceShark]

Originally posted by auh
That rubber boot it pretty torn up,

Yeah, that is your root problem then.

You can get the rubber boot that goes over the plug and onto the motor for around 10 bucks from the Porsche dealer. Only problem with that is to get it on you have to pull the plastic connector off which requires a little tool to release the pin "prongs" that engage the plastic socket. The socket will never fit through the boot entry as it is too big. Easy to ruin the pins on release if you don't know what you are doing.

There is a self sealing rubber electrical wrap that sort of welds itself together when you put it on. Look in the electrical section of the hardware store. That would probably fix the old boot up at least for a few years. Made by 3M, but others make it also. It really sticks together well and is flexible, unlike regular plastic electrical tape. I like to use it when you can't apply a glue lined heat shrink tube.

[Jmasters]

self vulcanizing tape

[IceShark]

Originally posted by Jmasters
self vulcanizing tape

Thank you. Also called self fusing tape.

In any event it has a backing on one side you peal off. It really fuses together and does a great job.