190D eating glow plug relays

[jaoneill]

I could really use some help on this one; electrical problems are really not my forte.

Pre-glow timer (glow plug relay) on my '84 190D daily driver crapped out back in early November. Replaced it with one of the new and improved "upgrade" relays. It lasted less than a month, died last Friday. Borrowed the relay from my '85 190D, installed it Friday afternoon, all worked as it should. Have started the car maybe 15-20 times since and it now appears that this relay is cooked. Came out of a 2 hr lunch meeting today and had no glow light (or glow plug action; almost didn't start).

Can't imagine what is causing these things to fail, but fail they have. On Friday when I installed the latest relay in the '84 I also tried the two previously inop relays in the '85, with no results, so I am relatively certain that they are dead.

I have another relay on the way from Phil, but at $164 apiece I almost hate to install another one in the '84 if there is something else that may be causing these premature failures. Prior to this I have had no glow problems at all.

Saw a post by rrgrassi indicating that QC may be an issue with these relays but the last one the '84 cooked was not new and had been working just fine in the '85.

Any advise sincerely appreciated,
Jim