Stylemobile

Just repaired my minor problem of the headlights coming on in retracted mode and staying on no matter what I did (with the exception of disconnecting the battery ground strap). I took the relay apart and cleaned all the fine contacts. (I was surprised at how complex this old relay is and now understand the replacement cost for a unit.)
Anyway, upon testing my efforts not only did I correct the problem, but my lights are now noticeably brighter! This is a subjective observation but I don't think that what I am experiencing is the 'freshly washed car goes faster' syndrome. My eyesight is a little compromised for night time driving and I noticed a very big difference in the illumination.

Perhaps a little cleaning up of the relay contacts is a good prophylactic treatment for better night time visibility. The process took me about 30 minutes. Tools employed were a small needle-nose pliers to bend the relay case edge back to pull the mechanism, some fine emery folded in half to delicately pull between the quite a few several sets of contacts and some electrical spray cleaner from Radio Shack.

dr bob

Allen-

Just a heads-up on relay reconditioning as you describe it: Most auto relays have silvered or some other precious-metal contacts. All of the Bosch relays I've worked on fall into this generalization. Filing a relay contact, or (don't try this at home...) using emery to 'restore' the contact surfaces almost always turns out to be a short-term solution. Once you file off the protective and conductive coating, the contacts will deteriorate quickly. You are now getting comfortable with the relay insides, so you'll be tempted to take a little file or abrasve to the arc-damaged contacts and restore them again. And again. My luck would have the relay fail when I was actually in need of the headlights. Truth is that they seldom if ever seem to fail on bright sunny days while the headlights are off. If your luck is anything close to what mine is like, start saving your lunch and milk money now, and get a new headlight relay. Pull the old 'restored' one and keep it for a spare if you must. You bought some time to go shopping for the best deal on a new relay. Maybe not a lot of time though, at least it wouldn't be a lot if it were my relay.

HTH!

Stylemobile

Thanks for the words of caution and advice. I did clean them with just a few strokes of 1000 grit emery so I think there was no harm to the plating which was bright silver when I finished. . I have done this on many relay contacts in the past and have never had an accelerated deterioration effect but care should be taken to not affect any plating such as silver over copper contacts. 1000 grit emery should not remove any plating as long as the process to remove the tarnish or corrosion is gentle and spartan. The contact spray cleaner also has a corrosion inhibitor in the ingredients that supposedly leaves a protective film once applied. (I mainly used this to blast out the remaining dust from the contact surfaces.) So, I am confident that I am OK but know where to start looking if I am not.
You are right about when the headlights will most likely be a problem. After all, the roof never leaks when it is not raining.

Brett Jenkins

How about cleaning them with a thin eraser?

Imo000

I was told that the only real way to try cleaning the contact of a relay is to use a stiff cardboard and slowly polish it. Sandpaper, regardless how fine it is, will leave microscopic ridges/gouges on the contact surface and will also reduce the surface. This will cause arcing and the relay will prematurely fail.

jpitman2

Silver is common as it has a very low resistance, AND its oxide is also conductive, unlike most mteal oxides. Its softness aslo provides silent switching (ie no audible click as contacts hit).
jp 83 Euro S AT 52k

Stylemobile

Feel a piece of 1000 grit or 1500 grit emery paper. Your computer's printer paper will feel more coarse. If your relay's contact surfaces are that sensitive, perhaps they should be sealed in vacuum tubes. I believe that a light touch with appropriate materials should be fine. It was common practice to clean the contact points in our car's distributors with emery paper oh so many years ago and they opened and closed hundreds of thousands of times more per day in a much harsher environment than our headlight relays. Corrosion, oxidation and dirt between the contacts is more likely to be a problem than ultra-fine scratches. Scratches from a delicate cleaning would only be an issue if the current applied was so low that it needed optically flat surfaces joined together to conduct the electricity. And the silver plating is not so thin that light emery wipes it off in a few strokes. We are talking relay contacts here- not camera lenses. Be careful about bending the fine, flat copper arms that hold the contacts should you ever perform this task. If you're not comfortable with delicate processes, don't do this. To my advanatge I guess is that most of my life I have been a fine jeweler with a steady hand for fine work. The 10X optivisor helps with the visibility as well.

Cheers,

Allen

mdarney

I found that it is not that expensive and well worth the price to simply replace the relays. Just my opinion. Mark

dr bob

The headlight realy is a lot more than one of the common 53B relays both in fuction and is cost. They are generally under $100, if that qualifies as 'not that expensive'. Upside with new: the lights work!

Imo000

What I was told was, from an electrician with decades of experience and training.
Surface area on a 12V relay is extremely important and using a stiff cardboard is the only proper way of cleaning one. Technically they shouldn’t be cleaned anyways but if you must, try not using a sandpaper. The sandpaper you suggested will work too but it won’t be as effective or long lasting as a cardboard.

A regular printer paper is much less abrasive than a 1500 or 2000 grit sandpaper. Don’t believe me? Take one to a painted surface (not clear coat) and see if it leaves the same mark as a sandpaper.

dr bob

I think we are talking about how much the life has been shortened by using the abrasive, when the real discussion is how much the life has been extended. It didn't work before the touch-upon the contacts, and now it does, so anything that was done is a move into positive territory.

I want a custom programmable headlight relay. When I'm popping the headlights up in a show-off situation, I want the bulbs to come on while the lights are still retracted, so they cut an arc from vertical to normal position. This is pretty cool if you have HID's, with that initial start flash point up. In regular driving, I don't need to blind other drivers as they pop up, so normal function would be fine.

fraggle

I'd just like to pop them up and have them OFF so I can clean the housings. IS there an easy way to do this that I'm simply ignorant of?

I do like the on-then-swivel idea, just because I think it would look cool.

and I do believe the contact cleaning will extend life, because it works. Don't do it to a new one, though.

jayc67

Turn them on, let them pop up, then turn the key off. The lights will stay up. At this point, with the key off, you can turn the headlight switch to "off" and the lights won't retract, but the parking lights will go off.

Clean away.

That's assuming everything is wired and working like it's supposed to

fraggle

That's what I've been doing, but I found the sequence a little tiresome. Maybe I'll bodge up some wiring and upset some future owner with a mystery toggle switch under the pod.

Stylemobile

Dr. Bob,
Our car's were built before HID lamps were ever incorporated into automobile headlights. If your lights came on every time at the baseline position as you described, the momentary flash at another driver would be tantamount to the flash you get from every Audi coming at you going over a dip or hump in the road- a momentary and benign inconvenience. I would like for someone to figure out how to modify a standard relay to have the lights come on at the beginning of their travel to the end use position. (Alan?) A BOTTLE OF CHAMPAGNE FROM ME TO THE FIRST PERSON TO DETAIL THIS DESIRED MODIFICATION !
Seriously!

All Best,

Allen in Allentown, PA