Relay 12 v drops to 3 volts

Tiny
L TIATOM
  • MEMBER
  • 2011 HYUNDAI I20
  • 1.1L
  • 4 CYL
  • 4WD
  • 43,900 MILES
With key at "on" position, 86 of the C/Fan Relay has 12 volt, and 85 had 1 volt respectively. This relay sits on the engine compartment box.

Now, my issue is that as a test light bulb with its one end connected to 86 and other end to ground, the bulb did not glow. Same case for testing a relay. In both cases, the voltage across each loads is about 3 volt. Why is this happening?
Tuesday, April 7th, 2020 AT 8:11 PM

1 Reply

Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 12,993 POSTS
Loss of voltage when testing under a load is 99 percent of the time a bad connection, either corrosion or broken wires. It's also possible the relay is internally shorted, but that isn't really common, usually they fail open or the coil burns out. Your description sounds like corrosion, It's got enough connection to read on a voltmeter, but as soon as any load is placed on it, the voltage drops because of the poor connection.
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Tuesday, April 7th, 2020 AT 9:22 PM

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