QuestionQUESTION: vin# 1C4GP54L1TB243983
Dear Roland, Thank you for taking time to help all of the people that seek your advice. My problem seems to be a short or bad ground on the headlights. Most of the time when we turn the headlights on, the relays under the dashboard start to click wildly. I put my finger on the one that was clicking, replaced it & then the one next to it started to click. I replaced that one also & it still continued to click. The funny thing, it doesn't do it all the time, just every now & then. Sometimes, it will be days before it happens, then it will go for days happening every time you cut the lights on. I'm fairly good at repairing my own vehicles, but this has me stumped. I'm not sure if it's a ground issue, ignition switch problem or something else. Any input will be appreciated.
Many Thanks,
L. George Heard
ANSWER: Hi L. George,
I have the '98 manual which appears to be applicable to the '96 model. It would be helpful to me to know if you notice any electrical component that is impacted by the clicking of the relays when it is happening? The relays for the headlamps proper are actually located in the power distribution center under the hood. The ones under the dash are: door lock/unlock relays, daytime running lamp module/combination flasher, rear window defogger, radio speaker, fog lamp, and courtesy lamp relays. I then could try to understand what is the cause by knowing which are the relays that are clicking. If the relays aren't labelled than describe the locations of them. I suspect that something is drawing down the voltage on the actuation coils of the affected relays as the result of turning on the headlights, or possibly the contacts in the multifunction switch (high/low selector) are oxidized. Does this happen with both the low and the hogh beam lights being called into play?
Roland
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Dear Roland,
Many thanks for such a quick reply. The relay in question is the very first one on the left on the bottom run of relays under the dash. It clicks intermittently & does get warm to the touch. It immediately stops upon turning the headlights off. The car was still running. This relay in question & the one to its right (2nd from left) are new & have less than 2 hrs. on them since being replaced. There are no numbers on this relay. The high/low switch works fine & yes, it does click on both high & low beam. I also checked all of the relays & connections in the power distribution center under the hood & there was no clicking & there was no corrosion, so, I hope this info is enough for you, if not, I'll do whatever I need to do & again, many, many thanks for your attention to this matter.
Respectfully,
L. George Heard
AnswerHi L. George,
If the '98 manual is fully applicable to your '96, then the four relays in the very bottom row of relays are assigned the following purposes, left to right:rear window defogger, name brand speaker, fog lamp, courtesy lamp. So the main clicking relay would be for the rear window defogger which I can find no relationship to the headlamp circuits, and the same for the immediate one to its right, the speaker relay. The defogger relay should in any case not be clicking unless at the time you turned on the headlamps you also had asked for rear window defogging. So try to recall if there was or was not that coincidence. If that is the case, then still I don't see how the headlamps would perturb the relay into clicking unless the voltage on the system as a whole was dragged down to too low a voltage level to sustain that relay's closed condition.
There is one possibility: you will notice on either side of the top and middle relay row that there are two small plug-in devices that are 'diodes'. The two on the left side (D1 and D3) are associated with the fuse that powers the defogger relay and if one or the other of those had failed it is conceivable that the circuit would be compromised into the clicking mode. So my inclination would be to replace those two diodes and see if that solves the problem.
The only other possibility I can imagine is that there is an electrical short in the fuse box due to the intrusion of water from the windshield directly above it leaking down into the interior of the box which is interfaced with the body control module. So if there is a coincidence with rain or a car wash and the relay acting up then that would be the likely reason.
Those are my suggestions. I suspect it will not click if you don't ask for the rear defogger, but let me know if that is not the case.
Roland
Roland
