How do you test for a broken relay?

Hi,

I have another post in "Security" about how when I jiggle some of the wires in my remote starter's relay satellite, the ignition power cuts on and off, and therefore messes up the ignition controlled features (that I have now turned off).

Anyway, I was wondering how to test these 5-terminal spdt (i think) relays?  I swapped out the relay I thought was broken with a new one, but it still did it (only not as much).  How do you actually test it with a DMM?  (I guess you have to give power and ground to two terminals and test for continuity?)

THANKS!!!

It might even be possible for a bad relay to still make clicking noises....although I've never seen one do so.  But you said you swapped it for a new one, and it's not likely you'd get two bad relays in a row, so I'd say it's probably not the relay.

More likely, one of the pins in the relay socket has a bad crimp, or there's a break in one of of the wires, but it's inside the insulation so you can't see it.

You could probably find a way to attach a test light to the suspected wire(s), and then jiggle them in various ways until you get the light to flicker.  After you figure out which wire is at fault, you'll probably want to slide the pin out of the socket, crimp a replacement one, and reinsert it.

I would say that if you're confident in your troubleshooting skills, and you have some patience, go ahead and find/repair the faulty wire.  But if you think it'll take you a long time to do this, it might be simpler to obtain a replacement relay satellite harness under warranty.

Cool, I'm definitely going to test the relays in the satellite.  For some reason, when I test the wires (either for continuity or resistance), it doesn't seem to "mess up" while I'm testing it.  If I jiggle the wires of certain relays, it clicks sometimes (which is the problem).  Then....when I test them, they don't seem to click anymore.  Grr. 

I was trying to slide the wire out of the female socket of the relay harness, and then maybe recrimp on a new terminal....but I couldn't get the wire out of the harness. 

nope...it's just one of those female harnesses like these: