How do you replace a relay switch on a car door?

Question

I have a 1996 chevy corsic v6 3.1. About a month ago my car locks started going crazy. The automatic locks would just keep locking over a over again and the inside light would stay on even after the car was shut off. I originaly just pulled the fuses on the locks and the overhead light, but the floor light would stay on. It is starting to weaken my battery so I need to get it fixed. My sister has the same model car (just with no enigine) that she lets me use for spare parts. I have found out that it should be a bad relay switch in the door. So where is this relay switch and how do i replace it. Or is it easier to just switch doors with my sister's car. Thanks for the help.

I'm going to be doing this myself seeing as i dont have the money for shops or the time for them to fix it and i have all the free parts i'll probably need.

Answer 1

Mostly all your relays will be located under the hud of your car. It most likely will be located in a black plastic box with a removable cover. Now what you want to do when you located the relay box is to operate the door lock locks and feel or listen to each rely to see which one it is. Or you can just simply remove the relays until the locks stop working. If the relay is not under the hud look under the dash, or you can do as I do and go to the auto parts store and sneak a peek at a mechanics manuel for your car.

Answer 2

Relays work by having two separate circuits. One is the "energize" circuit that closes the relay, and then the other circuit takes power from another source, usually a fused battery source, and this secondary circuit is the one that actually sends the power to the item being fed current. Lights for instance. The light switch sends energizing current to the light relay, which closes it. Then the battery supplies current through a fuse on a separate line, to the lights. This makes the light work. Taking the current directly from the light switch would burn out the switch, so a relay is used. Maybe your relay is wired wrong. With the light getting its power from the door switch, maybe the relay is wired into that wire somehow. I don't think you need a relay for the interior lights. So somehow, a wire got put into the relay and is being fed by the interior light, when the bulb is on. The bulb completes the circuit, allowing current to flow, and this then is flowing through the relay, for some odd reason. The relay may not have any thing to feed, so maybe it just then clicks on and off. I don't know. It is strange.

Answer 3

i think the door lock actuator in the drivers door is bad and it is in the drivers door it will be the part that latches the door on the striker ,it may even come off the latch so you may not even have to take the latch out of the car

Answer 4

i cant say it often enough..get a shop manual from parts store... you will learn a lot abiut your car.. saves you money at repair shop.

Answer 5

check at your auto parts store,,

Answer 6

yep