Clicking Relay - Bad Ground?
#1
Clicking Relay - Bad Ground?
First off, I'll admit it so that you don't have to: I'm an idiot
I was on a date jamming to music in the parking lot with my car off and my car battery died. I grabbed my portable jump starter, hooked it up, and turned it on. In my haste to look calm, cool, collected, and confident in front of my date, I hooked the wires up backwards.
The moment I turned it on, relay R1 started clicking on and off rapidly. Through my testing (I don't have the money to take it to a shop right now) I have determined that the relay is not the issue, and there seems to be a fault in the ground connection. Whether that's coming from a fried computer or a bad ground connection, I don't know. I have checked all fuses under the hood, by the battery, and in the passenger-side interior fuse box. I have bypassed the relay and wired it on, and something in the engine bay continues to click.
I hooked it up to ISTA and it cannot reach the MASK, MOST, ISPB, or DME/DDE modules, but all other modules seem good with no faults.
When I try to start the car, it cranks for about 8 seconds then stops. There is no spark.
Any ideas on where I can go from here?
I was on a date jamming to music in the parking lot with my car off and my car battery died. I grabbed my portable jump starter, hooked it up, and turned it on. In my haste to look calm, cool, collected, and confident in front of my date, I hooked the wires up backwards.
The moment I turned it on, relay R1 started clicking on and off rapidly. Through my testing (I don't have the money to take it to a shop right now) I have determined that the relay is not the issue, and there seems to be a fault in the ground connection. Whether that's coming from a fried computer or a bad ground connection, I don't know. I have checked all fuses under the hood, by the battery, and in the passenger-side interior fuse box. I have bypassed the relay and wired it on, and something in the engine bay continues to click.
I hooked it up to ISTA and it cannot reach the MASK, MOST, ISPB, or DME/DDE modules, but all other modules seem good with no faults.
When I try to start the car, it cranks for about 8 seconds then stops. There is no spark.
Any ideas on where I can go from here?
#2
It looks like the MOST and MASK statement are for media. I have an aftermarket stereo, plus I disconnected power to the stereo system when this issue happened so that the battery wouldn't die as fast when testing, so I'm assuming that's why those are red. My main issue now is trying to figure out why the DME is not reachable.
Are there any specific relays or fuses I should check for this? I'm going to check the power junction box after work today to see what I can find.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE any help would be appreciated!
Are there any specific relays or fuses I should check for this? I'm going to check the power junction box after work today to see what I can find.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE any help would be appreciated!
Last edited by Timmytron; 11-03-2017 at 09:53 AM. Reason: Autocorrect hates me today and changed DME to DAME
#4
I'm in Utah. How do I communicate with the DME directly? In ISTA it showed up as red which meant that it couldn't communicate with it at all so if I remember correctly, it wasn't even able to read the fault codes. And when we hooked up my friend's regular code reader it couldn't connect.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR REPLYING! My Mini has been broken for over three months now and I'm desperate to get it working!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR REPLYING! My Mini has been broken for over three months now and I'm desperate to get it working!
Last edited by Timmytron; 11-04-2017 at 02:06 AM. Reason: Typo
#6
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#12
Do the R1 and R2 fuses go to the computer or come from it? The issue seems to be with the ground going the relay. I bought a new relay and have tried swapping then and it did nothing. R1 still clicks. I even took the relay out and wired the circuit on and the clicking continued in the engine bay. The ground signal powering the relay (not the computer signal but the high power signal) just keeps turning on and off.
#14
That would be awesome! Before we do that though so you know of any way to check the power supply going to the DME? Like what cable is it that actually powers the system? A majority of the ground connections in the car are flickering on and off, but I don't know where in the chain that starts, if it's before or after the GAME. Does that make sense?
#15
Plug that connects the car to the DME is the 3rd plug (counting from top to bottom). There are several power wires in that plug. Mainly, they are the solid RED wires. you can use a tester or a needle tip to test them. take that plug off the DME and connect the battery. run the tester through the holes and see if it turns the light on.
#18
I finally brought it in to a mechanic, who confirmed that the DME is bad. I need to confirm the part number, but would a set like this work?
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F20 2080956473
Would I need to do any additional programming? I hate that this is such an intense and expensive repair for something so little, but I'm excited about finally getting to drive my car again! It's getting a bit too close to Winter to be able to keep riding my motorcycle! 😂
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F20 2080956473
Would I need to do any additional programming? I hate that this is such an intense and expensive repair for something so little, but I'm excited about finally getting to drive my car again! It's getting a bit too close to Winter to be able to keep riding my motorcycle! 😂