Why is my EGI Relay warm the next morning?

[troopiec]

Hi guys, i was busy working on my S13 and it stood for about 2days without being started, when i tried starting it again the battery was completely dead, not even the interior light would go on, and its a 2month old 75amp battery, after alot of effort i got it running and it starts every morning now, however i noticed that even in the mornings more than 8hours since the car was started the EGI Relay is still very warm to the touch, you can feel it through the fuse holder cap.

What could be causing this? Surely its not normal, my ignition is completely off.

[SonOfAnarchy ZA]

thats not normal! the contacts in the relay must be breaking through to ground causing it ti heat up and causing your batt to die. replace the relay charge the batt if it does it again then you got a wiring or rgi problem

[troopiec]

Ok it looks as if its not just the EGI relay, but also the IGN COIL on the left of it aswell, ive looked for loose connections and cant see anything out of the ordinary, where can i get these relays to try new ones? can i buy a good aftermarket one that will suit specifications and work the same? im sure nissan would charge like R500 each for those things, what else could be making them heat up? my car runs fine, it just stays warm, and if i disconnect my battery and connect it again even though the ignition off i can hear a clicking noise coming from one of the relays as soon as i put on the + terminal

[SonOfAnarchy ZA]

that sounds to me like your relay is definatly broken if you put power on it and it clicks alot then it is screwd just go to any car spares shop they should have it just take your one as a sample. i had a relay that started doing that eventually it stopped working altogether then it heated up and melted it go so hot. if you get a new relay and it also heats up then something is pulling to much current through the relay

[troopiec]

I bought a new relay from nissan today and it only cost R150, however even the new one gets warm with car off, i went to an auto electrican today just to get some info, i showed him that even though my key was out of my ignition if i disconected the battery and reconnected it again you can hear both the EGI and IGN COIL relays click once, and the guy said that its clicking on and something is triggering it, so i stripped my interior looking for shorts etc, i found nothing fishy except for the ECU cabling, it looks as if the previous owners not only swapped the motor out but also the ECU with the ECU unplugged the relays dont click on, so i think it must either be a fault with the way they wired it or perhaps my ecu is faulty, what also looks odd is that on the back of the ECU it has some tippex writtin on it and it says AT, does the automatic model have a different ECU for the transmission?

The car drives fine and the diagnostics mode works on the ecu and it picks up unplugged sensors.

heres some pics for you guys to look at:

[SonOfAnarchy ZA]

There must be something breaking through to ground or pulling way to much current through it or could be a bad ground there so many thinks that it could be. You need to trance were the cables from the contact of the relay go to make sure there's no short trytaking the relay out and measuring for a short across it and or a reading if its breaking through to ground or positive depending on where it goes

[troopiec]

lol, you see how many wires there are, i dont think im prepared for such a mess, but all i know is that with the ECU disconnected the relay does not come on, only when the ECU is plugged in will the relays click on when you connect the battery even with the ignition key off, i think they wired the ECU wrong or something, it looks like they caught on nonense with the wires forsure, look at all the insulation tape and 2 wires goin into one etc.

Does anyone know if Dynotec can sort out my stock ECU wiring?

[rat]

Manual and Auto do have different ecu's. The manual one is mec x 005 or something. Try a correct ecu and that wiring looks bad. Someone must have a std ecu that you can try

[SonOfAnarchy ZA]

http://200sx.za.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8223 cheap ecu here

[rat]

Yes thats a Manual 4 port CA18DET ecu

[300sx]

afaik a auto ecu can be substituted for a manual ecu in a manual car, but not the other way around.
this definitely sounds like a permanent 12v suply wire was used somewhere where a switched 12v supply was supposed to be used.

the ecu has a few 12v wires connected to it, some supply 12v to sensors, some supply a SWITCHED 12v (only when ignition is on) to the ecu , and some are a permanent 12v supply to keep alive the self learning settings and error code memory..

posible someone confused a switched and permanent wires somewhere, causing this issue..

[troopiec]

well it looks as if it is the ECU itself keeping the relays on, i booked my car in at Dynotec as i couldnt find someone with a spare ecu to check, and they told me they checked all wires and they are fine so he says, he said he plugged in his old oem ecu into my car and the relays switched off with the ignition off, so yea, now to buy another ecu.

But why are the wires in the above picture insulated so kak? and in some of the wires you see 2 wires going into one wire, i cut open the main sheath to look if anyone had fiddled with the cables and thats how it looked

[godzilla]

looks like u found your problem. but on my car (not a nissan) my battery died all of a sudden too. and when i put in a new battery it still wouldnet start. i also heard clicking sounds from the relays and it was warm even when the ignition was off. i also swoped out relays and still heard it and ddint start. after some investigating and stripping a wire under the relay housing had completly come out of the housing and not making any contact. after i plugged it in the relay worked and started the car. so now after buying a new battery im thinking maybe just to charge my battery and check if it will hold a charge.

[troopiec]

Hi Guys, just to let you know that my problem has been solved, thanks to Poizen for his ECU my battery is safe

Installed the Manual ecu and the relays no longer stay on, car drives perfect and i have left my car sitting for a week already with the battery still connected and it started no problem, glad thats sorted, i neatened up the cables nicely aswell and re-insulated the joined cables which were actually held with proper clamps so perhaps it was actually connected in the factory like that.