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How to repair your relays:


KlassicMotion

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Try this first, before throwing that old relay away!!!  Or do this to your relays anyways to get get better current flow out of them:

You can do the same to switches too, like your headlight or wiper switch.  They don't use contact points, but they have connections that get oxidized and dirty.

 

If your not confident to do this, contact me, you pay shipping, and I will do it for free.

 

 

Clean the contact points on your factory relays (headlights, horn, voltage regulator, etc) it's just like the contact points in your distributor.   The points get burnt, dirty, and oxidation accumulates on the copper ground straps.  Doing this will usually will bring a dead relay back to life.

 

Here's the headlight relay from my 620;  I did the same to the relays on my 510.  The 510 high-beams wouldn't work;  I did this and they worked again.

 

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Bend the 4 tabs holding the metal cover on, and separate the bottom from the cover:

 

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Cover off:

 

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Remove the screw holding the copper plate on, so you can clean the copper surface.  Brass wire brush, or 0000 steel wool works well.

**Pictured are two versions of the screw/nut holding the copper plate on.  ***Be careful not to break the wires... Yes they can be re-soldered if they break.

 

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OR

 

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Contact Points:   Use Emory cloth to clean/smooth them (Local parts store usually has Emory cloth in the sheet, or roll)

 

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Emory cloth:

 

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I used some needle nose pliers to tweak the points a bit so they made better contact:

 

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Dont forget the connector terminals:

 

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I quickly cleaned the cover and made a new gasket for it:

 

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Don't forget to clean any and all terminals, especially the forgotten ground terminals.  This includes making sure the screw holding the terminal on, and the surface the terminal touches has clean bare metal touching all contact surfaces.  Cover the connection with dielectric grease to keep moisture and corrosion out of the connection.

 

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Great writeup!  My add on from my experience in Ballistic Missile, Anti Ballistic Missile and Satellite work.  Emery Cloth and its dust are conductive.  Either scrupulously  clean all residual dust or use "Crocus Cloth" to clean points [and then clean anyway].  If you are depending on a bolted connection for either ground or power and you have an intervening washer, Tin the washer [using resin, not acid, flux] and 60/40 electrical solder, not plumber's solder.  Plumber's solder has an excess of Tin and will eventually grow "whiskers" of Tin and short out the connection.  Electrical solder is Eutectic and has a mixture in which the Lead and Tin both solidify out at the same temperature and leave no excess Lead or Tin crystals on which "whiskers" can grow.  Acid flux defeats the very purpose of tinning the interface to prevent subsequent corrosion,  Also, after "sanding" the contacts you will have microscopic peaks and valleys.  Trust me, the peaks WILL align and arc over welding the points when it is most disadvantageous to you.  Solution, burnish the cleaned points with a hard paper like a magazine cover slipped between the closed points before calling it "done".  Old Military overhaul manuals would recommend the cover of Time magazine but today the closest you would come is Playboy's cover.

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