car nearly up in flames....

Hi Folks
Can anybody tell me what this relay is for?



cause after reading another thread i went and checked all my earth wires, as i have  the same problem at the moment no brake lights….etc and the relay in the picture above nearly set the car on fire, now the relay as a fuse on the top, iam right in thinking there is meant to be some kind of a cap covering this fuse? and not abit of tape.

luckly for me it only burnt out the wires to the relay not the whole of the fuse box or the car for that matter.



thanks
mick

Hi
hmhm….since getting over the shock of nearly burning my car out, ive just been out to try start it and nothing…..so relay most be for the petrol pump as there's no noise from it now, could someone tell does the petrol pump relay gone there in the fusebox with the rest of them?
thanks
mick

Its not a fuel pump relay, because those have 5 terminals where yours has 4. Its a general, 4 pin fused relay, so it could be used for a number of things. Its also possible that someone has "bodged" the car previously and fitted this in place of the fuel pump relay. It would have worked in terms of turning on the fuel pump with the ignition on, BUT the function to stop the pump in the event of a crash, would have been missing. This is sufficiently dangerous to advise not to use the car (although you could still start it and drive it, eg if you need to move it around your driveway). As I understand it, Mk1 FI Golfs use a relay which receives the same pulse from the coil to indicate engine turning (cuts off if engine not turning). More modern cars have a crash inertia switch.

Its also worrying that there's a piece of wire bridging 2 terminals!

The fuel pump relay should be fitted into the fusebox/relay panel but a common modification is having the wires extended (and perhaps spliced/differently connected) with one of those things in your second pic. Perhaps this has been done for a reason, eg are there burnt out wires behind the fusebox?

Hi
right after searching through the manual ive now just found the relay for the pump and it looks the same, the one in the picture only shows 4 pins but it does have 5, the 5th one is a really small one, as for burnt out wires behind the fusebox i cannot see any other then the wires in picture 2.
Does anybody know if i can buy a replacement plug for the relay( picture 2) or will i have to rewire it all?
thanks
mick

What I did, was simply to use female spade connectors to the relay, then tie/tape it up somewhere. This saves taking the fusebox out and potentially having to rewire the back end of it. I know its not really that good a solution, but it gets you going and is safe.

When you replace the relay with the proper fuel pump one, the small 5th terminal is from either the coil or the rev counter trigger, in either case its red/black. Hope this helps!

Hi
Just out of interest why as it been linked?……for testing or faulty

BiG_PoPPa said

Hi
Just out of interest why as it been linked?……for testing or faulty

Could be either…

Hi
Right just got around to replacing the fuel pump relay today, rewired everything that got burnt & melt, tryed to start the car and nothinig   so i bridged the relay and car starts, unbridged and does,nt start, can someone tell me what i should test next?
the fuel pump or fuel accumulator? and what do i need to do to test those?
thanks
mick

It can't be the fuel pump because the car runs. Its the way you've wired your relay. Test that you have the ignition-switched feed, the permanent feed and that you have the trigger/impulse connected; and the earth. Then on starting, check you have 12V at the output.

Hi
so what you saying ive got wires mixed up  :dontknow: would,nt this blow relay or pop fuses?
thx
mick

paul_c said

It can't be the fuel pump because the car runs. Its the way you've wired your relay. Test that you have the ignition-switched feed, the permanent feed and that you have the trigger/impulse connected; and the earth. Then on starting, check you have 12V at the output.

BiG_PoPPa said

 would'nt this blow relay or pop fuses?

Not necessarily.  But pump and accumulator and pump side wiring are OK.  I did some trouble shooting on the relay control connections on my car a while back - should help you diagnose the fault - have a look here

The Mk1 Golf Owners Club

Cheers

Rich