Confused about 246 M series relays | FerrariChat

Confused about 246 M series relays

Discussion in '206/246' started by Trailor, Jan 31, 2025.

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  1. Trailor

    Trailor Rookie
    Silver Subscribed

    Mar 3, 2023
    6
    Full Name:
    Henry Guttormson
    Hi Guys:
    I am confused about what the original part numbers should be for the Lucas 6RA relays on the "M" series Dino should be. What follows is the sources I have and their part numbers for the relays:
    1) Official Ferrari maintenance and repair instructions, English translation by Angelo Wallace:
    -charging circuit relay: Lucas 33231
    -headlights relay: Lucas 33213
    -radiator cooling fans relay: Lucas 33213

    2) Dino Compendium by Matthias Bartz
    -charging circuit relay: Lucas 33213
    -headlights relay: Lucas 33231
    -radiator cooling fans relay: Lucas 33213

    3) Official Operating, Maintenance, and Service Handbook for car #01118 and on (the glovebox book)
    -charging circuit relay: Lucas 33252
    -headlights relay: Lucas 33231
    -radiator cooling fans relay: no part number listed

    You see there are discrepancies between these three sources and I am not sure why. It could be typographical mistakes by authors or part number supersession mistakes or something else. Has anyone noticed and researched this? I am trying to get my "M" car put back together and want to get it correct. The relays I have on my terminal board from when I disassembled my car are as follows:
    -charging circuit relay: Lucas 33293
    -headlights relay: Lucas 33231
    -radiator cooling fans relay: Lucas 33293

    Does anyone have the definitive part numbers and supersessions of part numbers for these 3 relays?
     
  2. HMB-Dino

    HMB-Dino Formula 3
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    Jun 28, 2010
    2,231
    Pebble Beach, CA
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    RonG
    I have 33293, 33231, 33232 on my M (1712), but can't vouch for whether or not they're original to the car which I acquired in 2010.
     
  3. Nuvolari

    Nuvolari F1 Veteran
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    Sep 3, 2002
    6,566
    Toronto / SoCal
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    Rob C.
    I remember when researching this that just about every M Series I looked at had different LUCAS part numbers on the relays and that in the end I assumed that any 6RA Lucas relay that did the job was fine. Here are the relays I have on M series 01464

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  4. HMB-Dino

    HMB-Dino Formula 3
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    Jun 28, 2010
    2,231
    Pebble Beach, CA
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    RonG
    And mine...also all 6RA's
     

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  5. mar3kl

    mar3kl Formula Junior

    Nov 17, 2011
    464
    Silicon Valley
    Full Name:
    Mark
    @Nuvolari believe it or not, they are different. The different variants are single contact vs dual contact, normally open vs normally closed vs changeover, coil resistance, etc. unfortunately I can’t find my Lucas catalog or I’d be able to tell you which one to use. I recall there are various sites for British cars that have more detail on the different models. One thing - you can disassemble and clean these relays so no need to trash them if they aren’t working.
     
  6. TonyL

    TonyL F1 Rookie

    Sep 27, 2007
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    Norfolk - UK
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    Tony
  7. Nuvolari

    Nuvolari F1 Veteran
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    Sep 3, 2002
    6,566
    Toronto / SoCal
    Full Name:
    Rob C.
    I get that they are all different but my experience shows no one sub-number to be correct. What of course does matter is the number of wires and the job that the particular relay does. My experience is that there are various relays that will fit the bill not that 'any' 6AL relay will do.
     
  8. Trailor

    Trailor Rookie
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    Mar 3, 2023
    6
    Full Name:
    Henry Guttormson
    Hi Guys:
    Thanks for all your responses and comments. Jeez, I am doing yet another deep dive into a Dino mystery...I am looking for some old Lucas documentation that has the specs and schematics for all these old 6RA relays and have so far sent an e-mail to Lucas (in the UK) and e-mail to Rhode Island Wiring for a start. If you guys have any other ideas of where to look for this documentation let me know. I have also just bought the bodyparts book (big ouch) for the "M" car and when I get it hopefully this Scaglietti book will have some documentation on the relays. I have seen there is some discussion about these old 6RA relays on Jaguar and Rolls-Royce forums so I may see about posting if these guys are knowledgeable about the specs/schematics. Yes, it is entirely possible that more than one part number 6RA relay was/is acceptable for each of the 3 Dino circuits in question...but if this is the case, I still want to know exactly what the specs of the relay is that I am going to use (voltage, current capacity, continuous vs intermittent, normally open vs normally closed, single vs double contacts, etc) especially since I am probably going to have to use what I have or scrounge on the net since these relays are not readily available for sale. One other thing, from my notes before I disassembled my wiring is that the charging circuit relay is on the left, lights circuit relay in middle, and cooling fan relay is on the right...all as viewed facing terminal board...are your car's relays in the same order (I know it may not be important but I just want to get an idea if the factory had some consistency)?
     
  9. mar3kl

    mar3kl Formula Junior

    Nov 17, 2011
    464
    Silicon Valley
    Full Name:
    Mark
    For what it’s worth I have an E, not an M, but it’s a Euro with fan, horn, and light relays only. The relays are original to the car. The fan is a 6RA 33213 and the lights are 33231.
     

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