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everything from A/C clutch control to EFI main relays. Hella apparently came out with a replacement to “fix” the
failures. They haven’t been working. Whenever I have a strange problem come in, 90% of the time it’s been one of
these damn relays. Unfortunately I’m forced to replace them with what Jaguar provides so that’s what they get. The
relays are developing bad contacts and overheat, failure is usually intermittent. Most of these relays have a light blue
case. You can troubleshoot them by pulling the relay and jumping between the 30 and 87 terminals.”
Leonard L. Peake adds, “There is a Jaguar "Service Bulletin" in regards to all relays on 1993 cars that have a date code
before “183” stamped on the side.”
Gary Penovich says uppity relays cause fault codes. “To prevent it from happening again, you may want to replace the
blue relay(s) with the updated black ones. You should at least pull all your underhood relays, spray the sockets with
electrical contact cleaner, and buff the grunge off of the relay contacts with an emery board. I'll but they're covered in
grunge and corrosion.”
SHOPPING FOR RELAYS: Finding a parts store employee here in the Bubba Belt who even knows what a relay is,
much less whether or not it is the configuration you need, can be a challenge; “What kinda car is that fer?” as he
prepares to type on his computer terminal. Actually, the best place to look for relays is in a junkyard; just about all cars
use relays for one thing or another. They are often hidden inside fuseboxes or other compartments. European cars
often use Bosch relays. All European automotive relays seem to have a little schematic on the outside, so it is a simple
matter to confirm whether or not a relay has the desired terminals. This author had no trouble finding relays that have
the 87a (NC) terminal. If you need a relay with only a single 87 terminal and don’t care what the fifth terminal is or
even if there is one, almost any relay will work; they all seem to have the basic 87 terminal.
If you find relays from late model cars, the schematic on the side is likely to show an internal diode or resistor wired
around the coil (between the 85 and 86 terminals). No problem; in fact, this is likely to be an improvement! See the
discussion on controlling inductive loads on page 557.
Japanese cars often use relays with a totally different configuration, and sometimes they have no schematic on the case.
They are very reliable relays, though, if you can figure out which terminal is which. The layout of the base prevents
plugging the wrong type relay into the socket, and the case color indicates which type relay it is. Gee, some engineer
there musta thought about what he was doing!
If all else fails you can go to an electronics store and buy a generic “ice cube” 12VDC relay and solder short jumper
wires to suitable spade connectors to plug into the original socket. “Ice cube” relays are called that because they have
clear plastic rectangular housings so you can see the innards; no schematic on the case required, you can see what the
terminals are connected to! Ice cube relays may have as many as four sets of contacts, and they always have both NC
and NO contacts on each one. If you buy a relay with more contacts than you need, just wire them all up to provide
extra current capacity.
Starting Circuit
STARTER RELAY: Also called the “ballast resistor starter relay” in the Haynes repair manual. Item 194 on Jaguar
wiring schematics. It is Lucas style 22RA, Lucas part number 33356 or SRB301, Jaguar part number C36611.
Most of the Jaguar schematics show this relay’s internals unclearly or even as a simple box with five terminals and no
indication what goes on inside. If you have a copy of Publication S 57, the “Electrical Guide”, the relay is shown in
painstaking detail in Figures 2.1, 3.1, 4.1, 24.1, 24.2, 24.3 and 25.1 -- incorrectly every time. The relay is shown as
having only a single contact connected to terminals C1 and C4, while in fact there are two separate sets of contacts
within the relay. C1 and C4 are not connected to each other when the relay is not energized. Also note that the C1
contact is heavier duty than the C4 contact, so even though schematically it appears you could interchange them, it
probably wouldn’t work long if you did.