BRD Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 Would like to replace my 1990 Buick Reatta's existing relays and greatly appreciate some insight from the forum. Discovered that I currently have three different types (brands) in my 1990 Reatta Passenger Side Fuse Panel. The three Hella relays all have prongs that look burnt. I can’t remember if they looked like this when I purchased them or if they are the original relays put into the car. I thought maybe these are aftermarket but noticed in another photo posted in the forum that that fuse box was also full of Hella relays (is this just a coincidence or do most Reattas have Hella relays?). Have posted photos of my driver’s and passenger’s side fuse boxes for further illustration. Questions: 1. What relays originally came with 1990 Buick Reattas? 2. Can I just buy six of the exact same relay to replace for each of these six functions listed in Passenger Side Fuse Panel? They seem to have the same electrical composition/capability. 3. What is the best relay currently available to purchase for 1990 Buick Reattas? When I researched this I found a number of different relays that seemed to be for same/different functions and priced from approximately $3-30 dollars. 4. Do the Hella relay prongs normally look burnt as mine are in photos? If not, what could be causing this? Thanks! BRD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 The Hella may have been the relay installed at the factory. I don't know for sure but I have saw them in photos of the breaker box. The burnt looking prongs might be normal for Hella relays. It might be caused by their manufacturing process. I like Delco best. Standard Motor Products would be my second choice. As long as you get a name brand you will be good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2seater Posted November 23, 2019 Share Posted November 23, 2019 Pretty sure Hella is the oem installed relay but not sure about the appearance of the prongs. I generally look for Bosch brand relays in the 30amp capacity for my personal use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2seater Posted November 23, 2019 Share Posted November 23, 2019 I was able to access my 90 and I pulled several relays from the relay center under the hood. Fans, a/c and a couple others. All are Hella brand and all exhibit the discoloration of the same two terminals to a greater or lesser degree. All are original as far as I know having owned the car since 93. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRD Posted November 25, 2019 Topic Author Share Posted November 25, 2019 On 11/22/2019 at 6:37 PM, Ronnie said: The Hella may have been the relay installed at the factory. I don't know for sure but I have saw them in photos of the breaker box. The burnt looking prongs might be normal for Hella relays. It might be caused by their manufacturing process. I like Delco best. Standard Motor Products would be my second choice. As long as you get a name brand you will be good. Thanks Ronnie - will try to get a deal on these over the upcoming holiday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRD Posted November 25, 2019 Topic Author Share Posted November 25, 2019 On 11/23/2019 at 4:13 PM, 2seater said: I was able to access my 90 and I pulled several relays from the relay center under the hood. Fans, a/c and a couple others. All are Hella brand and all exhibit the discoloration of the same two terminals to a greater or lesser degree. All are original as far as I know having owned the car since 93. Thanks 2seater - really appreciate you taking the time to pull, check, and compare the relays! Glad to know that the discoloration is not necessarily a problem with my electrical system and more likely a function of Hella's manufacturing process. Since simply swapping out the Hella "Fog Lamp" relay with the Hella "Fuel Pump" relay, my car has started on first attempt for last few days without fail. Will still replace the relays just to be safe and keep the original ones as backup. Can hopefully find a deal with the upcoming holiday sales. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2seater Posted November 26, 2019 Share Posted November 26, 2019 I am not an electronics savvy person by any stretch so you can take this for what it's worth: way back when I was doing a headlight relay conversion, one of our resident electronic guru's suggested I use relays with a diode across the trigger terminals to prevent possible voltage spikes in the rest of the system. The diode symbol appears in the schematic on the side of the relay. Pretty sure the oem Hellas do not indicate they are such and I have had almost zero issues, but that doesn't mean it is baseless. Just be sure they are functionally the same as what you have. I have found relays that look like the common five terminal pattern that function differently, like for lighting systems, so just examine closely. Judging by what you have found so far, I believe you have run the problem down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts