ASD Relay - Intermittant "clicking" Fuel Pump relay etc...HELP

Bugeater

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ASD Relay - Intermittant \"clicking\" Fuel Pump relay etc...HELP

Electrical Gremlins...Long, but more info the better I suppose. Anyone have a clue?

Power washed car on Tues. Drove it in gargage.

Last night wanted to cruise, but car battery was drained, could barely hear a relay SLOWLY clicking on and off. Figured it was just doing this since there was no juice to power much of anything.

Tried to charge on home charger. No dice. Battery wouldnt take. Figured I needed more than a 50 amp chargr.

Had friend help me roll car out of gargage to jump start off his car. No dice.
What I did establish:
* ASD Relay *clicking* faster - couple times a second.
* Fuel Pump Relay in hatch doing same thing. I figured this was due to the function of ASD as its supposed to stop fuel/ignition if it cant get readings from the plethora of sensors that report to it.

Rolled car back in, jacked car up removed wheels and battery.
My Optima turned out bad as tested @ Autozone. Weeee! I thought I found my problem...NOPE.

Returned with new battery, hooked up and put key in ON position. ASD Relay tripped as well as Fuel Pump again. Took out ASD relay and now Radiator Fan Relay tripping (clicking). Also Clutch Position relay clicking. Put ASD back in. Didnt want to deviate from original problem.

Jacked rest of car up and started checking all grounds, and sensors that affect the ASD relay (O2's, crankshaft/camshaft ODBII **** etc..) All looked OK.

Cleaned up some powersteering fluid that overflowed. (Found cap off from previous spirited driving session!)

Put all fuses back in and tried to start car, even though the clicking was still happening in ASD relay. Got car to start.

Turned car off. Put key in ON position. For a couple seconds NO Relays Clicked, then I heard the ASD trying to click, and then the click would sound like it was shorting out, if that makes sense. (bad ground?)

This is driving me nuts. Anyone know where to look?

1. Is it possible to have O2's going bad or are they only good/bad and no in-between?

2. Crankshaft sensor on passenger side? The one with the little heat shield on it?

Help....
 
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Bugeater

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Re: ASD Relay - Intermittant \"clicking\" Fuel Pump relay etc...HELP

Or, a more concise question,

Anyone have experience troubleshooting ASD Relay problems that sound like mine?
 

HP

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Re: ASD Relay - Intermittant \"clicking\" Fuel Pump relay etc...HELP

First make sure you have good contact with your battery cables -
Try turning on a high drain item like your head lights - are they bright?
How about when you try to start your car - do they dim?
From there - check your ASD relay switched power wire - DB/GR fused wire I think. If it is around 12V - then check the grounding switch wire from the
PCM - does it ground when it should?(check continuity with ground)
Have you hooked up a code checking unit to see if you are throwing codes -
if so what codes are present?

Relays and solenoids generally respond to low voltage by clicking -
the power is just enough to overcome the spring separating the contacts -
but not enough to hold the contacts - so you get that annoying clicking - like
a door bell.
 
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Bugeater

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Re: ASD Relay - Intermittant

Hugh, Thanks for the tips -

I havent done the code or voltage checks yet, as I am still unboxing all my tools from a recent move...I wonder if I can use autotap and interface the ODBII on the Viper. I bought it for my past Vette...

What doesnt jive for me is that today I have the car on a brand-new battery and the clicking was still present (but much faster) than when it was on the bad battery. Seems that it was shorting out/clicking/actuating (proper term?) the relay quicker with more juice. This was the case when it was on the another cars battery being jumped as well.

Also, after starting the car and letting it run 30 seconds, turning it off, then putting the ignition key in the "ON" position, the ASD relay this time had a "harder time" clicking and it even sounded like they were crackling. They nearly quit clicking, like I had a short that might of eliminated itself.

I know the ASD relay looks at the crank, cam and O2 sensors. Can these go bad slowly, or are they a "good one day, then worthless another" item? Dont know if they can go bad slowly...Man, it may be time to start getting spares in relays and sensors too.

Thanks in advance all.
 

striker79

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Re: ASD Relay - Intermittant

well i most likly screw this up as i have no experiance on vipers but beemers are gonna have to be close enough.Alright usally when o2 sensors go bad the get "lazy" when they are working properly the go rich lean fast when they go bad they go rich lean alot slower and to see this you would need a o scope or a sweeping needle voltmeter to see the pattern.Next the cam sensor and crank sensor i would assume they would be more there for spark timing and if your starter isn't turning you can rule out those two so my next question would be have you tryed a diffrent relay if you have and i am to assume the same type of relay and it did the same thing you can almost bet the relay is good and you are haveing some other problems check your voltage up to the relay you should have battery voltage if you do run a jumper wire to ground and see if the clicking stops if you can rule those two out move on to the work side usally pins 87 and 3 you should also have battery volage up to one side also and when the contacts are closed you should see no voltage across the the contacts if you do replace the relay.Like i have already said it would help if i had some experiance with vipers so i tryed to give general data.
 
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Bugeater

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Re: ASD Relay - Intermittant

Thanks striker - your description of the O2's has me thinking it may be the next place to test...

My starter is turning, as I did get the car to run. So they are still in the running for the source of the problem I suppose.

Have not tried different relays. May go buy spares if I can find a shop that carries them, or will have to order the parts (most likely) from Mopar.
 

HP

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Re: ASD Relay - Intermittant

Hook up the OBDII scan reader that you have - it will give you the basic
readings - as far as the ASD relay - I don't think that is your problem -
but you can swap any other relay - such as the fan relay if you want. Also
in a pinch you can buy any generic 5 prong relay and do a check.
My thought is - if your problem originally caused your battery to drain -
then some positive wire is shorting out - Go through the steps in your manual,
and trace your circuits. I can think of a few shortcuts to factor out some
of the possibilities - but I would rather you do a scan on the codes first.
 
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