Relays - 92 escort

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Wed 23 Jun 2004 12:26
Relays - 92 escort - escort man
Hi,
just a quick one.

Had an episode the other night when needing to drive - no headlights. The side lights and main beam were still working.

Not a problem i thought, must be the fuse. check fuse - its ok.
After dithering about with the switch and changing the bulbs, all to no avail, had to pull the fuse box out and check the relays.

The relay that controls the headlights was not working at all.
After realising i could do nothing else at 1 in the morning I tapped it a few times with the handle of a screwdriver - it worked! and the headlights now work!!

Question is, do relays sometimes get stuck and need a slight tap to free them, or is this the sign of it on the way out?

ta,
Dave.
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Wed 23 Jun 2004 14:40
Relays - 92 escort - Cliff Pope
Whilst the actual relay mechanism can I suppose stick, perhaps owing to corrosion from damp, the most likely cause of an intermittant relay is the ageing of the soldered connections to the circuit board, causing breaks or high resistance. Depending on the design, it is sometimes possible to re-solder these and make a perfect repair.
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Wed 23 Jun 2004 15:27
Relays - 92 escort - MarkSmith
I believe the fuse/relay box on these cars is notoriously unreliable. On the MkIV cars it was located in the engine bay under the corner of the bonnet, on a ledge, where it got dribbled on and filled up with or sat in a pool of water. For the MkV they moved it down, above the driver's footwell, where it got kicked by anyone clumsy or with big feet.

Just saying that it might be the fuse box, rather than the relay.

Cheers,
Mark
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