i've been through 2 main relays in 2 days(brand new oem) what could cause this? faulty fuel pump? bad ecu? im stuck as we speak so help asap. how can i test the wires for shorts?

 

if it was a bad ecu you wouldn't even get the car to start. its gotta be a short somewhere. use a multimeter and check voltage across different wires

 

yeah there has to be some kind of short somewhere

 

<FONT SIZE="4">bad ground</FONT>

 

no one thinks a faulty fuel pump would cause a draw and kill the main relay? a bad ground also sounds possible. i'll go through and check. i also added a ground wire fromt he intake manifold to the firewall, but i doubt that would cause it coz its been there for a while. what wires should i check for resistance or voltage? please help asap

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 91EFate &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i've been through 2 main relays in 2 days(brand new oem) what could cause this? </TD></TR></TABLE>
What's happening to them? Do they smell bad?

 

they are burning out and they click for days and the car wont start. they are bad but i don't know what wires need to have continutiy and what voltage should be where

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 91EFate &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">they are burning out and they click for days and the car wont start. they are bad but i don't know what wires need to have continutiy and what voltage should be where </TD></TR></TABLE>
Do they click real fast, like a buzz?

 

yup, trust me they are blown, they smell too.

 

check your battery, and make sure you didn't bypass any fuses, fuses are there for a reason.

Let me explain something, when a main relay dies.. a relay doesn't go CLIKCLIKCLIKCLIKCLIK because it's bad. It's going clikclikclik because its getting amps into the magnet, the magnet pulls the switch.. like a light switch.. but then all the power goes away, because with that light switch on, there's no power to charge the magnet, so the switch turns off.... then the switch turns on.. why.. because it has power again so long as the light switch goes off. and it repeats this process.

Thats because the battery doesnt have enough power to give both circuits.

Did you check the relays with a volt meter like the manual says, to determine if they're blown .. because its nearly impossible to short out a main relay, they carry too much power to weld the circuit open. And thats what happens if it goes bad, it gets stuck open or closed, which either gives power all the time, or never gives power. It doesn't make a sound. Your fuel pump just doesnt prime, or doesnt turn off.
http://www.norcalcrx.org/library/
manual links are on the left.


Modified by NikoZai at 7:43 PM 6/9/2005

 

it stops clicking when i ground pin 8 on the main relay connector which goes to the ecu @ pins a12 and a14

 

JW...how much is a new main relay? I think I killed mine.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 91EFate &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yup, trust me they are blown, they smell too. </TD></TR></TABLE>
Have you checked the small ground wire on the t-stat housing? Is it clean and tight?

 

yep check that ground and fixed some others . but i found the problem. the black ground wire thats in the main relay connector harness has an open. it reads 19 ohms resistance. so where does this ground go to? can i just re-ground it to the neg. batt. terminal?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 91EFate &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yep check that ground and fixed some others . but i found the problem. the black ground wire thats in the main relay connector harness has an open. it reads 19 ohms resistance. so where does this ground go to? can i just re-ground it to the neg. batt. terminal?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Sounds like you found your problem. That black wire coming off the main relay goes to that little ground on the t-stat housing. I suppose you could ground it elswhere, but it may be a good idea to trace out the wire to find the unwanted resistance because there are other critical components using it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 91EFate &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yep check that ground and fixed some others . but i found the problem. the black ground wire thats in the main relay connector harness has an open. it reads 19 ohms resistance. so where does this ground go to? can i just re-ground it to the neg. batt. terminal?</TD></TR></TABLE>

There should be a ground behind your drivers side kickpanel. Should be around the hood release. The interior harness grounds there( main relay does too ). Bad ground or low voltage in your battery will cause the relay to click fast or buzz. My friends car did the same thing 2 weeks ago when he swapped in a whole interior harness. Found out that it was the interior harnesses ground.

You are also lucky you are just burning up relays, it could be worse and melt you wiring harness. Hope that doesn't happen.

Good luck

 

Just had the same exact problem. It was a short in the engine harness and a blown ECU fuse. In my particular case that is.

 

problem still exists. i bought a new relay and re-grounded the main relay str8 to the neg. terminal on the batt. and the damn thing still clicks and the car just turns over and wont start. the fuel pump primes on and off simotaneously with the relays clicks but when i stick my test light probe into pin 8 of the main relay connector the clicking stop. basically when i ground out pin 8 it stops clicking, but still wont start(pin 8 is a12-a14 at the ecu.) also the yellow and black wire underneath pin 8 opens and closes as the relay clicks, please help. my grounds are good. what does it mean when you test for continuity and the guage reads -XX is that good or bad? any help is appreciated. im without a car

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 91EFate &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">problem still exists. i bought a new relay and re-grounded the main relay str8 to the neg. terminal on the batt. and the damn thing still clicks </TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chiovnidca &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I suppose you could ground it elswhere, but it may be a good idea to trace out the wire to find the unwanted resistance because there are other critical components using it. </TD></TR></TABLE>

 

so what should i do? i don't wanna have to go through the whole dash and the main harness. what does it mean when the voltmeter reads a (-) negative value in resistance?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 91EFate &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so what should i do? i don't wanna have to go through the whole dash and the main harness. </TD></TR></TABLE>
I would try to narrow down where the problem is located and go from there. First i'd check the wire from the t-stat housing to the connector on the right shock tower with an ohm meter. If that was ok, i'd check it from that connector to the main relay and the 4 ground wires on the ECU. (i think there are 4)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 91EFate &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> what does it mean when the voltmeter reads a (-) negative value in resistance?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Have you tried a different setting?

 

what does -11.XX mean on the voltmeter when i test for continuity? thats what i get when i test main relay ground to body.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 91EFate &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what does -11.XX mean on the voltmeter when i test for continuity? thats what i get when i test main relay ground to body.</TD></TR></TABLE>
I'm not sure. Maybe some voltage sneaking through?

 

Check your ECU fuse in the underhood fusebox.