As part of my ongoing upgrade of the electrical system I have just replaced my fuseblocks with Birdmans improved units. As you can see from my attached photos the relays are ancient and I have been having some intermittent minor electrical issues that I believe could be solved by replacing them. My question to you guys is, how likely is it that the relays have fused with the connections on the relay board? I dont want to risk damaging the board getting them out. They seem pretty well stuck but I have not tried pulling in earnest since I wont have the replacement relays for a week or so. I am in Thailand and they have been a bit difficult to track down. I seem to remember seeing relay puller tools available but my attempts to find one here have resulted in blank stares. How would you guys proceed with this? Thanks in advance. MB Image Unavailable, Please Login
Mine looked just like that and they pulled right out with no problems. Uh, have you tried pulling them out by hand to see if they are "stuck"? BTW, if you find that Italimec relay please post where you found it!
Big pair of pliers, and gently wiggle+pull. They will come out fine. You can pry them off with something flat under the relay, just make sure it's not metal or it can short across the terminals underneath and blow a fuse or worse. The majority of the relays are extremely common and can be had from multiple sources. Birdman
Apart from a Daytona that used to live in chiang mai, I didn't think there were any older Ferraris in Thailand. Thought it was current and recent cars only. Did you get yours there or bring it in?
I used a pair of long needle nose pliers to get the relays out of my 308. You can order the metal cased replacement Bosch relays from rockauto.com. Just make a chart of which relays go where before pulling them out. To avoid mixup, I just ordered the new ones and left the old ones in until I had the new ones in hand. Then changed them one at a time.
p.s. As Birdman said, just wiggle them as you pull, and they will come out. Don't be too aggressive, just wiggle gently and pull, they will come out. Also, I disconnected the battery before pulling any of them. When working on electrical parts, better safe than sorry. It's too easy to short something out and cause bigger problems.
Thanks all I will get the pliers out and gently remove them. I just wanted to be sure that the panel could handle the gentle application of pliers before I head down that route. Relays will arrive tomorrow so I will give it a shot. MB
Bwanajoe, I have not tried it but it appears that the Italmec relay can be replaced by an Tridon/Stant EP36 electronic flasher. This guy has apparently used it with no issues http://www.jeepsite.com/andrew/ferrari-1985/ Only 16.99 here http://www.autoparts2020.com/rsdev/by_brand_jp.jsp?brand_id=1807 MB
Hate to post when others have provided your answer, but just in case you can glean a tiny bit... In case you didn't know, the entire relay panel can be removed by lifting it slightly off the 3 posts. When I've had difficulty getting to a middle relay, I start at one end by putting a screwdriver between relay and panel and twisting the screwdriver, while keeping the relay parallel to the plate so the base won't break. Then working my way inward to the relay I'm concerned with, rather than trying to remove a center relay simply by pulling upward. All standard replacement relays have plastic covers and are under $5 whereas replacement Ferrari relays with authentic metal covers are in excess of $30. Some relays do heat but the metal really doesn't help to cool them, and coils and contacts are the same. I've used a label machine to mark all relays for function.
gently removed all the relays and replaced them over the weekend. Only a couple were hard to get out but in the end they released with no damage to the board. Thanks for all the help MB
A quick answer for anyone else looking for relay puller, I just bought and used the Lisle 46950 Relay Puller Pliers. Worked like a champ. Got mine through Amazon, but also saw they're being sold by Snap-on as well. New Birdman fuse blocks and new relays, what a difference!!
