Originally Posted by
yellowhammer
Thanks Rob got the relays today.
Took about 20 minutes to remove 2 relays (fuel pump, air pump) had to wiggle them a little to get them out piece of cake, 10 minutes install the 2 new ones. Saved the 3rd relay for a spare looks like the secondary air pump relay and the fuel pump relays are the ones that go bad other 3 look good.
Car runs great no problems, no codes, no check engine light.
yellowhammer
Would you mind elaborating on your desoldering setup/technique? I will admit that I tackled the issue of relay replacement as simply an issue of pride - to be able to get my original RCM working again on my own with as little additional investment (other than time) as possible. Also, as a matter of pride I will not say exactly how long it took me to remove the @#$%$*& traction control relay. I managed to do it using a 25W soldering iron, some solder, several inches of solder wick, needle-nose pliers, small screwdriver, wire clippers, and a cut-off wheel on my dremel tool. As you might imagine my technique was not very pretty but I was persistent and eventually had the new relay installed and operating though I'm not sure I would attempt another with this setup.
However.... my Crossfire still would not crank. I could trigger the fuel pump relay by connecting a 9v power source to the coil terminals but it didn't close when the RCM was installed in the car. I went back and reflowed solder at many joints on the PCB and tested for continuity from the pins to the relays. Everything seemed fine. Then all of a sudden the fuel pump relay would no longer close at all and the resistance increased 10 fold. Then it hit me. I had never actually closely checked the fuel pump relay contacts. Once I cleaned them, I put the RCM back in the Crossfire and it cranked and started right up... and stalled after just a few seconds. So then I cleaned up the engine control relay, and now it seems to run fine. So in the end it appears to have been a combination of 3 things - failed traction control relay, and fouled contacts on the fuel pump and engine control relays that were contributors. Since I had been able to trigger the relays from the coil terminals and had verified continuity on the PCB, I had incorrectly assumed that they would operate properly with whatever current would be supplied by the car's battery. I'm guessing the no crank was caused by the fuel pump relay, the no start/stall related to the engine control relay, and all the brake/BAS/ESP MILs and transmission issues were the result of the traction control relay.