[DMCForum] Re: Headlight switch

["cruznmd" <racuti1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ah ok. I follow you.

I've always wondered how in the heck to tell if I had the relay 
update kit also. It looks like that's one of the few recalls that 
were actually completed on my car.

I'll be cleaning my relay sockets too now.

Rich a.

--- In DMCForum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Martin Gutkowski <webmaster@xxxx> 
wrote:
> Hi Rich
> 
> I was suggesting the contacts at the base of the relay where they 
go 
> into the socket may get dirty. That said, they aren't hermetically 
> sealed relays (where they're filled with an inert gas) so the 
contacts 
> inside do get dirty over time due to sparking. There's a reason why 
all 
> the vendors sell a relay update kit - the main purpose of which is 
to 
> replace the original Lucas relays with Bosch ones. We don't sell a 
kit 
> as such but when asked for them we use cheaper generic ones, 
because 
> even though they're not as expensive as Bosch, they're 23 years 
> "younger" and still streets ahead of the lucas design. I recently 
> accidentally discovered a source of lambda relays, in generic form, 
for 
> a tenth of the cost of one from Bosch.
> 
> "crud" in a press-fit electrical contact acts like a resistor - and 
it's 
> the resistor that gets hot because it's dumping current to heat. A 
small 
> contact area in a switch will have a low resistance which will 
become 
> apparent when you try to pass current through it, but the current 
> required by a relay is very low.
> 
> Martin
> 
> cruznmd wrote:
> 
> >What you say rings true. I hear the relays click in behind me when 
I 
> >turn the lights on. I don't doubt what you're saying but how do 
the 
> >contacts in a sealed relay get dirty?
> >
> >The headlight switch isn't sealed. Although it doesn't power the 
> >lights, wouldn't that kind of crud -anywhere- in the circuit cause 
a 
> >heat build up at the weakest point?
> >
> >Also, if what you say is true, do you recommend that I replace my 
> >relays? I don't know how old they are.
> >
> >Thanks,
> >
> >Rich A.
> >#5335
> >  
> >
> >  
> >

---

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