electrical gremlin??? again???

[silver]

ok so supposed to go to cars and coffee tomorrow so I checked the car out..battery is dead..what a surprise..ok no problem put it on the charger wait a few hours, come back....bingo it starts.

Then...test lights...hit rain light...blow fuse...ok been here before the wiring probably got shaved down a little in the back....replace fuse, but then...

car won't start.

hmm did I knock something lose.

start switching things around (no blown fuses)

mess with the relays.

no fix.


battery dies again


charge battery some more

won't start....put fused relays back in original positon (they are supposed to be identical) Vroom starts back up.

Here's my question, as it was running I switched the lights back on and off, and I saw a spark come from the fuel pump fused relay....then car remains running and I go to put the fuse box cover back on, obviously being a tight fit it taps the relay, car shuts off AND WON'T START AGAIN.

what the hell is up with these relays.

how come I can take the fused relays out of the low and high beams yet my headlights still work.

how come I can't get my car to start now....and why is my battery draining SOOOO Fast.

could the relay be stuck open and thus draining my battery?  do I need to buy all new relays in the morning?

[John Scherrer]

Sounds like there's a wiring error in there somewhere! As you say, if they're wired correctly and you've pulled (the correct) relay for the headlights, then there's no way you should get them lit up!

Could the relay be switching the earth return rather than the live?

[Terry Kennedy]

ok so supposed to go to cars and coffee tomorrow so I checked the car out..battery is dead..what a surprise..ok no problem put it on the charger wait a few hours, come back....bingo it starts.

Then...test lights...hit rain light...blow fuse...ok been here before the wiring probably got shaved down a little in the back....replace fuse, but then...

Regarding the battery, you get one free pass running it flat. After the second time, it won't hold a charge. I suggest a battery tender (and, most lilkely, a new battery).

For the rain light, all that stuff goes through a hole in the chassis behind the license plate frame (it is behind the license plate light, which is also what holds that sub-panel to the frame. In particular, if you have the HyTech / Sector111 exhaust, heat from the exhaust can damage that wiring.

Here's my question, as it was running I switched the lights back on and off, and I saw a spark come from the fuel pump fused relay....then car remains running and I go to put the fuse box cover back on, obviously being a tight fit it taps the relay, car shuts off AND WON'T START AGAIN.

what the hell is up with these relays.

how come I can take the fused relays out of the low and high beams yet my headlights still work.

The cover shouldn't hit the tops of the relays.

Are you sure you're looking at the correct relays? The low beam is the next-to-the-left relay in the passenger-side box, high beam is one to the right.

how come I can't get my car to start now....and why is my battery draining SOOOO Fast.

could the relay be stuck open and thus draining my battery?  do I need to buy all new relays in the morning?

The relays are Form C (SPDT), so technically there is no "open" side. In a quiet garage, you should be able to hear the low-beam relay open and close (just put the low beams on, pull the right relay, and cycle the others through that position - they're all identical and you should hear a click when you put it in the socket).

I expect you just have a bad battery from running it down more than once. You can hook up an ammeter to the battery to see what the key-off current draw is - it won't be zero because both the immobilizer and PCM are still powered. As a guess, I'd say 50-80 mA.

[silver]

I have a battery tender.....it does still charge up fine, there may be multiple things draining it, but I think just cranking it without it starting too many times is what kept killing it...on top of not fully charging it between attempts.

still don't know what's wrong with the fans or pump.

I really don't want to take it back to the shop who did the work, I will perhaps enlist my friend to help me work on the electronics.

[silver]

if in case anyone reads this........

Solution was mainly the relay for the power train was bad, preventing the car from starting

additionally my battery was bad...and lastly my fuse for the ignition circuit was not high enough amperage.

factory is 20 amp but when they added an extra fan on the front intercooler it pulls too much amperage and needs  a 30 amp fuse.

[DarthChicken]

Be careful with putting 50% more fuse in there than the circuit was designed for, its a good way to melt your wiring and burn up your car.

[silver]

Oh I'm taking your advice and going back and adding a relay for safety, then we'll see if it will run at 20amp again....just wanted to post the immediate resolution for anyone reading.

[silver]

finally took the car out for a drive last night...I got 4 miles and at a slow turn the car just died and wouldn't restart.

the powertrain relay was not functioning properly AGAIN.

what is connected to the powertrain relay that can be causing this weird issue?


also,  my friend never had time to come over to wire up a relay for the fans so that part could be the culprit, but the symptom is not the aftercooler relay it's the powertrain relay...are they connected in any way?

[DarthChicken]

indeed

[silver]

but are they connected.............I guess I'm second guessing this because the powertrain relay being a brand new part is the part that's not operating correctly  whereas the aftercooler relay (connected to the fans is working fine) so when I put the aftercooler relay in the powertrain spot and vice versa after not being able to start the car........everything works again?