Relays 101

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May 25, 2015 | 05:36 PM

dh_meyer

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Mountain Pass

Joined: Dec 2014

Posts: 243

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Relays 101

I'm hoping my heated mirrors are not working because of a bad relay.

(2012 F-150 Lariat 5.0 Screw)

1) How do I pull the relay (#32) from the electrical box under the hood ? Its a square approx 3/8" x 3/8" relay. Do I need a special tool to extract it ?

2) Can I tell by looking at it whether its 'bad' ? The top view kinda looks like a fuse ... and from what I can SEE, it looks intact/like the others.

Thanks.

May 25, 2015 | 10:45 PM

j.grif

Elder User

Joined: Dec 2010

Posts: 730

Likes: 9

From: plymouth mi

My guess is that you are looking at a fuse, clear top, you should see an unbroken band of metal, that should just pull out, I would get a service manual and study the wiring diagrams of this circuit, I also would not go near any of the electrical with a test light, strictly use a volt/ohm meter. You can try replacing the relay for this circuit as they are generally inexpensive, my experience is that this could be a module, a relay, or a bad circuit, perhaps a bad ground or a loose pin in harness connector, I have not had any experience on the f-150, just industrial reefer units that are controlled by microprocessors, in my experience, the black box is the last component to go bad, ford and their modules, I can't speak to, good luck!

May 27, 2015 | 05:53 AM

hammer65

Posting Guru

Joined: Jul 2008

Posts: 1,302

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From: Morehead, Ky.

Just pull it out, with your hands. You can use one of the other ones in it's place, for a test. Be sure and remember where the test one goes, when putting it back.