danwat12345

The following video shows the symptom of my fuel relay's problem. After the car has been running a while and I shut it off, then try to turn it back on, the main fuel relay doesn't want to give power to the fuel pump. Luckily I was able to slam the glove box shut and that got it to work. Just recently became noticeable but some time ago sometimes I hear a little delay between turning the ignition to 'on' and having the fuel pump come on for 2 seconds.


39400-s01-a01 http://www.hondapartsnow.com/genuine...0-S01-A01.html

39400-S10-003
http://www.hondapartsnow.com/genuine...0-S10-003.html

Looks like there are 2 compatible part numbers. The s01-a01 has only a couple compatible vehicles whereas the s10-003 has more vehicles it is compatible with.

Anybody know the difference between the 2 and which is more reliable? My civic is a '99 DX 240K miles on it, automatic

I may try repairing mine after installing the new one by looking for cracked solder joints. Hopefully the new one will have a better solder job. I wonder if the mechanical portion of the relay ever goes out (the part that physically moves).

Thx

ezone

US car?
What's your VIN?

Stock 99

Why don't you do that first? I would.

danwat12345

Yes USA, california ULEV (EDIT: "LEV" not "ULEV" but not important for topic) emissions. VIN is 1HGEJ6223XL076567 . Called a Dick Hannah Honda and they said s01-a01, didn't need VIN

ezone

Gravy this.
Retouch ALL the solder joints on the board.


The joints for the relays crack, and if you really think about it each time a relay makes that CLICK it's actually moving. Eventually that repeated movement can fatigue the solder around the pins, and crack the joint. Crummy soldering at the builder contributes to early failure.

Back over a decade ago when OEM main relays were on eternal intergalactic backorder I was resoldering them with no failures as far as I am aware of. Done many for friends and an occasional emergency at work since then, no prob.

ezone

The #003 relay option comes in under Sedan and it's for a Japan built car.


Your VIN takes the 39400-S01-A01 number.

HTH

danwat12345

I'd rather have a good backup spare before attempting repair of the only relay have of my main vehicle. I could return resell the good new genuine part.

Too bad hondapartsnow doesn't show if the cars for 39400-s10-003 is for Japan or elsewhere.

Does the relay itself ever go bad (the component on the PCB)? It has some limit of the number of cycles it can do.

Thanks

ezone

Did you enter your VIN on their catalog site to eliminate the extra choices?

I'm sure there's some point it would expire, but I haven't witnessed it.

danwat12345

Nope will try later, going to work

thanks

danwat12345

Yep Hondapartsnow says 39400-S01-A01 is correct for my car but 39400-S10-003 is not.
I can find it on Ebay for about $47 shipped new. Or I can buy it used for about $17 shipped from a '99 Civic with 122K on it. Hmm thinking of the latter but then again a new one may have a better soldering job, assuming they corrected their manufacturing mistake

ezone

The used one is used, and unless it was recently replaced with a new unit, it's gonna fail sooner or later.

If you can solder, I'd say just fix the one you have now. It's FREE that way. Takes about 10 minutes of soldering after you get it out of the dash.

Stock 99

Are you saying that 16 years and 240K miles is unreliable? Seems pretty alright to me. You want something more reliable now....so your planning on keeping/driving this car for another 16+ years?

Honestly that relay was probably made with a lead dipped solder process where the PCB was dragged through molten lead solder until it stuck to the contact points....so 16 years is very good for that kind of solder and that sort of process. Like ezone if you just retouch all the points it will probably last the life of your use. Really though... lead solder or solder in general really doesn't want to be reheated and losses some of it's strength, becomes more brittle and requires more heat to liquify a second time.

To redo it well you should get some desolder braid, flux paste and some silver bearing solder. You should be able to find all at any half decent electronics shop and cheap...like a couple dollars cheap. If you don't have a soldering iron then buy one that can function in a 15w-25w range or 600f - 750f. Swab the old solder joints with the flux paste, place the desolder braid on the joint and with the iron at it's hottest setting touch the braid for a second or 2. If it's done right all the old solder has jumped into the braid and there will be a nice shiny clean contact area to apply new solder. Again swab the new clean joint with flux and with the soldering iron at a lower temp flow some solder onto the tip and place the tip on both pieces of metal to be soldered for a second or two. The solder should flow off the tip and bond to both metal pieces and if you need to flow a little more solder on the tip while joining.

danwat12345

Yes I realize 16 years and 240K miles is pretty good! But hey it would be nice if Honda acknowledged the weakness.
At this point, I plan on buying the used one on Ebay as a backup (test it to make sure it works) and use your method of removing the old solder and then putting fresh solder on. Or maybe just touch it up, we'll see.
I plan on keeping this car until the wheels fall off. So far it doesn't show any signs of wearing out. May eventually become my non-primary car, a nice metallic red 2013-2015 Chevy Volt is in my future some years from now. Though there's a ton of things that can go wrong with a Volt.

Stock 99

Honda is all powerful and mighty car maker and will never admit weakness, lol.

...but really on the whole Honda makes really mechanically reliable cars. If you'd driven many other brands you'd know this. I also have a old POS Ford and it makes me shake my head alot.

Funny, that's the same plan I have for my '99. Most people don't keep a car for more then 5 years so they have a different approach car maintenance/repair than someone like you or I.

hope things work out for you