relay problems

[Tree Trimmer]

Long story short, I had a bad relay and didn't know which one it was. I bought two new relays, one 4 blade and one 5 blade and started replacing them till I found the bad one. I did find the bad one, but in the process I inadvertently moved one 4 blade relay which I did not know had different numbers on it. This caused the engine to not want to idle and after driving it home the battery drained down overnight. After putting it back in its proper place the battery held its charge and the engine ran fine, but I had a new problem with the windows and fan. Thinking it was still a relay problem I bought 4 more relays and once again began replacing them, this time I didn't find a bad one. As it turns out I had a couple of blown fuses. I think I pulled one relay while the switch was still in the on position. After replacing the fuses everything worked fine. But now the battery has once again drained down since I last worked on it. I think one of the relays may be stuck in the closed position. My question is: can you check a relay with a meter to see if it is working properly and if so how? Please be specific as I am an electronic dummy.

Aren't you glad I didn't give you the LONG story.
Thanks
Tim

 

[tightgroup]

Here is a good wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relay

TG

 

[tightgroup]

Here is another good site

http://www.the12volt.com/relays/relays.asp

TG

 

[tightgroup]

Here is a test procedure, may not apply to make and model, but tests are the same..

http://autorepair.about.com/library/a/1/bl460.htm

TG

 

[Tree Trimmer]

Thanks all, I'll check them out.

Tim

 

[Tree Trimmer]

This is opening up lots more questions. The green relays (for DI) seem to be SPDT relays with resistor. What about the yellow, 4 blade ones. I didn't find a diagram for that type. Also I have two bosh type SPDT relays replaced by the dealership years ago which seem to be non-resistor type. They are on a blue and black relay base. This may be where the problem was because I had replaced one of those with one of the resistor type. Am I making sense? I checked a couple of my spare relays for resistance and some of the 4 blade showed resistance between two of the blades and some did not.

 

[tightgroup]

I would need a relay number to start checking hat out.

If you have the elctrical manual you can easily see the circuitry.

Tg

 

[Tree Trimmer]

I'm going to check out the electrical manual, although easy might be an overstatement.