Bit the bullet so ordered and installed a new GPR. It was working just fine but noticed the past few week when it first activated the volt meter would "flutter" a bit as if arcing inside the relay. It's been a very reliable part over the rears so just went ahead and stayed with OEM part. I always wanted to crack one of these open a take a peek inside, so I did and I can say the OEM GPR is really built like a tank. It would be interesting if someone had an aftermarket GPR that has failed and rip into it to compare.

Here are a few pictures, Enjoy ...

This one of course is just the outside of the GPR removed from the engine.



Had to drill the 4 rivets out on the bottom plate to gain access. Once the bottom plate is removed you can see the solenoid coil. Cutting the two wires off the solenoid coil the entire mechanism slides out.



These parts separate into three items. The main coil and plunger, a large metal plate that goes over the coil and plunger and the actual relay disc which are the relay contacts.



Here is a shot of inside the GPR showing the LUG contacts and how arced they were. The top and bottom are the big LUGS and left and right are the small LUGS.



Here is a shot of the disk that the coil plunger pushes to make the contacts close. You can see how arced looking it is. This disc is just floating in there when not engaged so it is free to rotate.

 

Cool! You can also see that the disc doesn't rotate anywhere near its full potential. There's the two bands, opposite each other, that are all arced, then two bands that look like they've never hit the contacts, or at least very little. Hmm, this inspires an "any port in a storm" idea - poster reporting a no-start, points to GPR inop, remote location/situation, no immediate option to replace GPR, try removing it and giving it a "wrist twist"; it might spin the disc to a point where better contact can be made.

Looks like there's enough copper under the sheath in that coil to cash in and buy a pint of microbrew....

 

Tyler and I took his apart, cleaned the contacts, soldered the coil wires back together, and put the housing back together with small screws. That was a few months ago, and he still has it in his truck.

 

Very neat to see Jim. I just replaced my original one this winter too. I bought one that madvan recommended with a 3 yr warranty. Made in the usa part. It looks just like the stocker, not a big thing like the stancor. I was going to go with an oem one for the same reason you did, but went with this one on madvan's recommendation.

 

Jim I took this one off a few years ago don't really know if it's good or bad, I just replaced it. I didn't really have starting issues but was trying to resolve the smoke on start up. It did help but not as much as I was hoping for. I replaced with the Stancor, When I did injectors a couple of years later I also replaced gp's and that made a big improvement with the smoke. I could take it apart to compare

 

Nice post.

 

Yea, that was my impression. Not sure how that spring thing works, not a mechanical engineer but think when the disc pushes up then releases it should spin a bit.

I can't even imaging putting that thing back together, but ...

Got the part number, think I remember that thread back then but at the time .. duh, I did not need one.

Is that the same as mine, Ford OEM? I never had or I don't think I had start or smoke problems. Just noticed a difference when starting cold on the volt meter and possibly a future issue coming at me.

 

I see only one of the internal contacts is fried. since we're dealing DC voltage I would bet the fried one is the battery side of the GPR, the arcing inside it is carrying bits with it everytime it arcs. I wonder if you could get more life out of them by reversing the battery and GP lugs after awhile. The arcing would then occur on the other lug.

Diesel Rod

 

Actually they are both bad but you are correct, the one big inside terminal that has worse arcing is the battery side.

 

... and I thought my homies over on the Saturn forum site were cheap....

 

Tyler is tighter than bark on a hickory tree! LOL!!

 

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner.
We studies these about 12 years go, cut a bunch open and figured the same thing. Move the hot side to extend their life.
But do you think I have ever remembered to swap my GPR terminals? Maybe once or twice, not as often as I should have. Actually, I think you need to rotate the whole GPR to make the wires work.

 

Truck to-do list.

Fill Blinker fluid.

Drain winter air out of tires and fill with summer air.

Change GPR terminal leads....

Diesel Rod

 

Good post Jim, I tried to rep you but Im in jail

I add this pic of a broken GPR, and Im pretty sure that the pole broken is where the battery power was attached. IDK

 

Jim I think mine is OEM it is stamped made in USA on the metal plate, it looked like the case on yours was black and the case on mine looked more brown. I think the material the case is made from is called Bakelite and likely molded in a couple of different colors.


I took it apart
This is what I found inside so I took some pics showing where I think it failed.


The contacts inside of the case look pretty good.


The disc looked good too.


I think these wire things are the parts that may have failed IDK.