Quick bit of background info. I drive a 1998 Ford ZX2. The model I have only came with a power driver door lock, so I added 2 additional relays and an actuator to give the passenger door lock power.
Today my driver door actuator would only unlock the door and no longer lock, I immediatly checked the relay. The driver door unit is an OEM part, 2 relays incased a plastic 'container' I turned this container side ways a fluid spilled out, this fluid has a burned electronics smell to it. I pulled it off the harness and took it apart, one relay was hot to the touch and was cracked/melted at the bottom.
I put it back on the harness to see what would happen, it sparked a little when connecting it, then I heard a sizzling sound. As soon as I heard this I pulled it off the harness.
My question is do relays usually burn out like this and puke out their fluid? or do I have a short somewhere elese in the circuit? ANY help would be appreciated.
first of all, relays should not have liquid inside of them. It is just a magnetic coil that when activated attracts another peice of metal and closes a circuit. If there was liquid in the relay it probably shorted the relay out. You could pop the relay open and try to clean it or just buy a new one and check for a leak of something where the relay was at.
Matt
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Matt Adams
Electrical Engineer Major
York College of PA
Chevy Cavy Rally Sport
The relay is killed I think, forgot to mention that instead of popping the lock, it started popping the trunk (I think it shares the same relay, that possible??)
The trunk still pops, the actuator still 'unlocks' but it doesn't lock.
Managed to grab a pic of the unit:
The relay that's damaged is on the left (I think). If it means anything, the name stamped on the plastic container is 'IMASEN' all I've learned is that they're a Japanese auto parts company, not even sure if they're still in business. I forgot to take a picture, but the underside of the PCB was corosion all over it.
The image on the right looks like a SSR (Solid State Relay) next to the black box you mentioned as the relay.
Is the black box the housing, and the picture to the right of it the internal part?
Regards
EVIL Teken . . .
Yeah the black box was just the housing. I've since replaced the unit by using 3 additional relays, 1 for trunk, 2 for doors. I know I could have just spliced into the other 2 existing relays, but this was more fun and I was able to get a pretty good deal on 3 new relays.
Everything works just fine now and I had no problems during the install. It appears I have a water leak somewhere in the area of the passenger kick panel, about an ounce of water collected in the relay housing. I've also noted water damage on the contacts of one of the aftermarket passenger relay's. I've now mounted all 5 units further up into the dash with the contacts pointing down.