Hello, 'board. I have been having intermittent problems with (apparently) my 1988 240 (wagon) fuel pump relay. This relay is in the passenger footwell, in a white case, with six terminals and two relays inside the case. I spent an hour or two reading the excellent and helpful posts on this relay. See especially posts answered by "lucid" at

1991 240 ECU Fuel Pump Relay Problems

Short version of story: After "Brickboard class", and doing a bunch of testing and inspection, I decided the relay had some dirty contacts, was unable to clean them adequately, wanted to drive someplace, and substituted for the relay a simple manual switch (placed at the dashboard) which feeds power (12v) to terminals 87/1 and 87/2 (injector/valve circuit and pump circuit, respectively). Now I switch "on" a few seconds before cranking the ignition, and switch "off" before turning off the ignition. The car starts and runs fine with this workaround, BUT...I know, I know...

It would be dangerous to leave this switch on without the engine running, although I'm not experienced enough to say just what the ugly scenarios would be. As Barry Commoner said, though, "Everything Goes Somewhere" and a lot of unburned gasoline anyplace but a tank or can doesn't sound good.

Now my question: Is this workaround so dangerous I don't get to ask my second question? My second question is: does the ECU ever want to turn off the fuel pump or injector voltage during normal run operation of the car? Is this workaround problematic from that point of view, too? (Since the ECU can't "shut off" either circuit with my switch in place).

Final confession: I did a similar workaround on a misbehaving fuel pump relay in a 1979 245 and ran the car that way for 6 mos. or so. Not thinking of using it so long this time, but I just want to know what I'm dealing with until I get a new relay.

Any thoughts much appreciated.