ignition relay

[reddybear]

about 5 months ago my 4.3 chimaera had a running problem which was diagnosed as the ignition relay ,when a new one was fitted the car ran until now about 300 miles but the problem has returned ,syptoms are everything on the ignition side playing up ie fuel guage drops hazards come on all 4 stuck on. dip beam comes on ect ,and of course engine splutters and nearly cuts out,but if i change ignition relay car is fine again for a while ,i have tried another premium relay just to confirm this is not at fault but is just a syptom,my question is it possible my fuel pump is at fault drawing excess current ,when i put volt meter on the pump it drops to 1.5v to 8.5v to -1.5 -5.5 its all over the place

[10mpg]

Could be a bad earth to the fuel pump making it find an earth through the relay and burning it out..

I'd check your earth resistances closely..

[reddybear]

thanks for the replies ,it seems to be if i leave the car for a couple of hours the car recovers appart from the first relay its had it ,probably contiunly overheated, obviously something cooling down ie relay or fuel pump,only happened yesterday when i put the foot down ,but then had to struggle home,how do i check the earth ,and where can i get electrical contact grease tried halfords to no avail

[reddybear]

fitted a new fuel pump and filter today which i had spare so made sense to fit them but after about 45 mins driving problem accured again,so i pulled over and changed ignition relay which seemed to make no difference so pulled over again and changed the 2 fuel pump relays as one felt quite hot which made a difference for 10 mins .i have just got some contralube so will try that spend thanks for the link,could it be the connectings to the back of the fuse box for ign relay should i unplug and put grease there also

[Colin L]

Try your coil then can go and leave you with the same symptoms once it cools down all works again, its worth a try
Colin L

[reddybear]

hi just to confirm i got to the root of the problem on my car it was the earth behind the petrol tank ,it had deteriated to the point of only hanging by a strand ,so my mate stup from sp autobahn fitted a new earth to the chassis and all seems fine ,i thought i should post the out come as it may help someone in the future with a similar problem who may use the pistonheads search engine cheers for all the help