Wife and I drove to Oakland from L.A. last week, (furthest Ruby and I have been away from home). It was warm and it was hot going up the Tejon pass, and through the central Valley.
I had a couple of terrifying moments when the car stalled in traffic going up the hill. Long story short I replaced the f/p relay with a used spare, it fired right back up, and we were on our way.
About a half hour later it did the same thing, replaced it with an alternate spare. Off and running.
Bout a half hour later same thing.
The relays were hot as heck, and I've never given any thought as to how hot the relays are supposed to get.
So I put the relays in a baggie, and put them on ice (literally)
So this went on for a while, rotating relays when the motor stopped.
Finally a light came on, and we pulled of while the car was functional, and I pulled the relay apart and wedged a part of a pencil eraser into the relay to keep the contact closed and the pumps running.
So that was that, ran the rest of the way to Oakland all around the bay area, and most of the way home.
Till the relay just gave up about half way up the Tejon Pass south bound.
replaced the relay with a backup, including the eraser part, and we were back on the road in less time then it takes to tell.
So my question here is, what happened?
What do you suppose the underlying problem was?
I'm pretty sure it was Bruce who told me about the relay override when i was dealing with a 740 fuel issue,. So thanks again.
This fix is for temporary use only. Apparently the having the relay in over ride somehow interferes with alternator output, as I had a flat battery when I came out from work Monday, and it refused to charge right till i replaced the buggered relay with a standard.
Other than that the car ran really well. got about 35MPG high about 30MPG average.