How to Repair your Relays

[KlassicMotion]

Try this first, before throwing that old relay away!!! Or do this to your relays anyways to get get better current flow out of them:

You can do the same to switches too, like your headlight or wiper switch. They don't use contact points, but they have connections that get oxidized and dirty.

Clean the contact points on your factory relays (headlights, horn, voltage regulator, etc) it's just like the contact points in your distributor. The points get burnt, dirty, and oxidation accumulates on the copper ground straps. Doing this will usually will bring a dead relay back to life.

Here's the headlight relay from my 620; I did the same to the relays on my 510. The 510 high-beams wouldn't work; I did this and they worked again.




Bend the 4 tabs holding the metal cover on, and separate the bottom from the cover:




Cover off:




Remove the screw holding the copper plate on, so you can clean the copper surface. Brass wire brush, or 0000 steel wool works well.

**Pictured are two versions of the screw/nut holding the copper plate on. ***Be careful not to break the wires... Yes they can be re-soldered if they break.




OR



Contact Points: Use Emory cloth to clean/smooth them (Local parts store usually has Emory cloth in the sheet, or roll)




Cleaning the points with Emory cloth. Make sure to spray the points and other connections with some "Electronics Cleaner" when finished, to remove any sanding dust.




I used some needle nose pliers to tweak the points a bit so they made better contact:




Don't forget the connector terminals:




I quickly cleaned the cover and made a new gasket for it:







Don't forget to clean any and all terminals, especially the forgotten ground terminals. This includes making sure the screw holding the terminal on, and the surface the terminal touches has clean bare metal touching all contact surfaces. Cover the connection with dielectric grease to keep moisture and corrosion out of the connection.

[510wizard]

Nicely illustrated how to do. Thanks for posting it.

[yenpit]

Great writeup! I also soak the internals in white vinegar, and I have sandblasted the relay "covers" and sent them out for re-plating.

[bertvorgon]

nice write up.

I also use women's nail boards, they are nice and ridgid, and usually quite thin, they are perfect for these type of contacts..

[KoHeartsGPA]

A++ thread

[KlassicMotion]

Great writeup! I also soak the internals in white vinegar, and I have sandblasted the relay "covers" and sent them out for re-plating.

A media blaster is on my wish list, and re-plating is definitely the best solution!

White Vinegar is great for short time periods and if your able to thoroughly wash it off. I picked up an L16 cast iron exhaust manifold from a guy who had soaked it in Vinegar for a week or two, so he said. It looked like it still had some debris on it, so I hit it with a wire brush.... I couldn't seem to get the debris off, but upon closer inspection, the Vinegar had made the cast iron so soft, that it was the iron I was brushing off!! It was totally ruined....

[yenpit]

Great writeup! I also soak the internals in white vinegar, and I have sandblasted the relay "covers" and sent them out for re-plating.

A media blaster is on my wish list, and re-plating is definitely the best solution!

White Vinegar is great for short time periods and if your able to thoroughly wash it off. I picked up an L16 cast iron exhaust manifold from a guy who had soaked it in Vinegar for a week or two, so he said. It looked like it still had some debris on it, so I hit it with a wire brush.... I couldn't seem to get the debris off, but upon closer inspection, the Vinegar had made the cast iron so soft, that it was the iron I was brushing off!! It was totally ruined....

Yeah, I don't know about soaking cast iron anything in vinegar! BTW use a soft media like glass bead, for anything that you might have re-plated, as it will leave a "smooth" etched surface, thus the re-plating (ie zinc or yellow chromate) will be shiny. A sand based media will leave a "rough" etched surface (better for paint or powdercoat), thus will be dull.

[KlassicMotion]

I see in DQ, Vol 7 issue 3, Jason Gray's article on repairing the headlight relay states; that if all else fails, the 280zx headlight relay will work on the 510. The part number is: 25230-N4300.

[KoHeartsGPA]

TTT

[Rush]

I'm totally necroing this thread, I know

but today, I used the info to clean up my voltage regulator. I was pretty sure it was shot anyway so I might as well give it a go! I was getting 17+v at the battery with the car running; hm, that can't be good.

I took the VR apart & got my geek goggles on (magnifiers) and couldn't see any obvious signs of trouble (no burns, no swollen capacitor(?), no broken wires, didn't stink, etc) so I cleaned up the little points in there with a folded piece of 320 grit, cleaned the ground again, gave it a shot or 2 of contact cleaner & reassembled.

Now I'm purring along @ 14.3-15.2v at the battery. I'm going to pick up a spare VR, just in case but yay!; for now, I'm golden! Thanks for the tips!

[KlassicMotion]

That's awesome. Glad it helped.