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Hi all,

After going down the very long and expensive road of troubleshooting of why my EJ22 would idle on 3 cylinders I found the issue to be the (infamous) Jideco ignition relay. Many hours of searching showed this as a common issue but the only resolution I've seen so far was to replace it with another used item of questionable condition or try and find a brand new one.

I have a solution for this which replaces the old Jideco relay with a pair of readily available aftermarket relays. Digging through some cars at a wrecking yard I found a common trend among ones with faulty ignition relays. Generally all pre 1992 models with AT seem to have this issue, in fact every one I have ever come across has shown signs of this problem. I own a manual pre 1992 model which does not have the idle issue. Among the few cars I saw in the wrecking yard, all series 2 AT models still had the original relay. If anyone can offer any more information on this please let me know.

Anyway, one can simply replace the Jideco relay with a pair of suitable aftermarket relays. I have used two Bosch 0 332 019 150 relays, these are 12V 30A relays and can be had for around $8 each. Just neatly make yourself a set of blade terminals and you can plug them straight into the caramel coloured factory relay plug.

I have been using this setup for almost two weeks and have had the benefit of testing it in various weather conditions and it's worked perfectly.

Wiring Diagram


Bosch Relay


Relay Internal Diagram


Terminals, I just taped the relays together


Ignition Relay Plug Side

You might find that taping the two relays together will lock one on. I remember this happening with my driving lights but with that said I'm pretty sure that I was using cheap relays.

Personally I would have something in between the two relays if you're going to tape them together.

Great write up and I totally dig the wiring diagram - very neat! And good to see some pics of how you've done it on your subi, always makes the next one to head down this road comfortable in the knowledge that someone has actually done it!

Keep us posted if you have any issues with this setup - with the two weeks of testing going well before this thread I reckon you're on to a winning setup

Keep up the good work!

Cheers

Bennie

No, don't think so.

Seen many relays function normally, hard up against each other.

The magnetic flux from one coil is unlikely to hold the other's armature in.

littlewhiteute wrote:No, don't think so.

Seen many relays function normally, hard up against each other.

The magnetic flux from one coil is unlikely to hold the other's armature in.

Maybe for a brand name unit - I think these were two cheap ones from Jaycar to run my three driving lights. 2 lights would turn off with the dropping to low beam, one would stay on until you cut the power to the relays by pulling the fuse.

Like I said - its probably due to the cheapest relays I could find...

Cheers

Bennie

awesome write up. I will print this one off to keep in the car with me!

This should be made a sticky if possible please mods.

Cheers

Bennie

Just thought I would follow up on this, I have now sold the car but this problem never came back again for me so it seems it solved the poor idle problem I had.

Can anyone post a photo of which is the ignition relay? I'm guessing its in the panel above the interior fuse box but i'd be buggered if I know which relay it is. Also, is there two relays, side by side?

A photo would be super!

Thanks in advance,
Owen.

ignition relay is the light brown/tan one. Should be located towards the back right corner of the footwell behind the fuses etc. Bit of a pain to get to

alex

Hi Owen,

I did this last night!
The relay was above and behind the panel above the fuse panel. Took a while to find.

Was a pain to do, as I couldn't get it down very far.

I cut all wires 15cm long, used the same colour scheme as the diagram (put white marker on 5 & 6) , terminated them all, and taped everything up before going back to the car to install.

Good luck.
Brad

Yeah I found mine the other day too, replaced with a spare (unknown condition) but didnt fix my issues Yet to try the suggested twin relays.

Series 2 Liberty (MY96), was located right up under the dash where everyone else has mentioned but almost at the top, PITA to get to. I'm not small so here I am upside down arm about 1 foot up under the dash.

So far they all seem the same colour, see last pic in Talasas's original post. Tan colour. Both relay and connector are the same colour. Mine had a good 6 inches of cable, so once unplugged I was able to pull the connector end (relay stayed attached up there) down enough so I could access to insert piggyback wires when/if I get to it.

Very good thread, very valuable info to keep. very well done Talasas

I bought a couple of relays to do this, they are the same part number, the 30A relay. Do I use 30A auto cable? The local store didn't have any, then I got confused - I don't get this electrical stuff so much. I tried looking in the Haynes manual, but had trouble finding info in there.

Use the closest thickness auto cable you can buy to the existing thickness auto cable, so if the cable is 2.5 mm in diameter use 2.5mm cable.

If you "don't get this electrical stuff much" find a friend that does, to help guide you through the process don't let them do the job but ask them as many questions about the job as you need too.

TOONGA

Thanks Toonga, I ended up matching the cable thickness and it went all OK and has stayed that way since Monday
Cheers.