Yellow relays in fuse box

[neal1980]

I have been swapping these around to try and fix the very strange problems with my lights. Seems they are faulty or a few of them. When they fail do they give intermittent faults or do they burn out and die usually.

I need to get my hands on 5 then i think, my car didnt even have one in for the main beam.

Anyone advice on the cheapest place they are the siemens ones...

Thanks

[Cider Andy]

Relays can just die or they can fail intermittently. To find esxact Siemens replacements, take the part number and do an internet search with it. If they are 'standard' 4-pin or 5-pin relays you should be able to find comparable devices from other manufacturers, but it would depend on comparing the operational schematic (often printed on the casing) and the current rating of the contacts, eg. there may be functionally identical relays having 20A, 30A or 40A contacts.

[spend]

Do you know the layout of your fusebox or are you swapping them about willy nilly?

They are all common relays except the timer/flasher relays and arguably the metal ECU ones.
If you look at www.vehicle-wiring-products.co.uk/VWPweb2000/relays/relays.html
they are simply 4 blade Type B layout and 30 or 40A for the fans/lights/horn..

The ignition has a common 70A relay with bigger terminals (like R70N). There are 2 tall timers for the courtesy light delay & the Wiper delay. If you have these 3 located it should be safe to put the std relays (as above) in all the other sockets (so you have spares ready Just make sure you have a 40A relay for the fans.

Basically you should be able to swap the relays around for testing. The fuseboxes are subject to a fair amount of abuse (water ingress, chaffing of loom behind the box etc) and can be problematic... Make sure the relays terminals are clean and wriggle them about - it may be the pins in the fusbox that are corroded.

Dave