Looking for the starter relay in a 1998 tracer

look under the hood in fuse box.
and check fuses first not relays. and here is no relay. btw
so the starter motor is dead
no GRRRREGRRRRR sounds/?
jumper cable starts dead too? or not.
no there is no relay
does it crank in Neutral?

WHAT ????? want to try again .

2010 Patriot won't start ,key work's , light's ,horn ,new starter and battery ! checked 30 amp fuse's starter ?????? Maybe you should take it to a qualified repair shop .Sounds like you have no clue.

under intake on bottom of engine.

If I understand your question correctly, the car won't turn over (engine won't crank). While it's possible that the starter relay may be bad, the first place I'd look is the starter solenoid. If you follow the positive battery cable away from the battery, it should lead you to the starter solenoid, which is mounted on the starter itself (you may have to crawl under the passenger side of the car to locate it). The cable from the battery attaches to one large terminal on the solenoid, while a very short cable leading into the starter attaches to the other large terminal. Using a screwdriver with an insulate handle, momentarily bridge or jumper between the two large terminals being careful to not touch the screwdriver to starter or solenoid casings. If the starter momentarily engages when you do this, look at the starter relay as the culprit. If nothing happens when you jumper the two large terminals, the starter solenoid is faulty. This is a picture of the starter with solenoid so you know what you're looking for.

Good luck.

I had this exact same issue w/ my 08 Patriot. Had it towed the first time and mechanic changed the starter. Worked for about a week, then same issue. Found that moving the vehicle, even just a couple of inches, or putting in neutral helped start it. Issue stopped once weather warmed up. This all occurred last March (2014).

Until two weeks ago that is. Horn stopped working so I started looking for any corroded connections. I came across some relays under the left headlight. When I pulled them out, I found two had corroded pins. One was so bad that there was no pin left. It had barely been making a connection before I pulled it and now it wasn't going to at all. The wires to that pin were completely shot too. And guess what, car wouldn't start! Same symptoms as in March.

I ended up going to my parts recycling place and piucked up the whole relay enclosure w/ 4 relays and about a foot of the wiring. I used my smallest watch screw driver to carefully remove the spade connector from the recycled relay enclosure. The corroded connector in my Jeep completely destroyed its slot. I ended up having to gently remove the other spade connectors for the relay and relocated the surviving spade connectors to an open/unused location (luckily there were 2 open spots) and splicing in the salvaged connector. I used some dielectric grease on all of the relay slots, before putting everything back together, and was able to relocate the entire enclosure up next to the fuse enclosure (as recommended by by someone in anothe post. I apologize for not being able to find the link to it at the moment).

It's been working well for just over two weeks now. I hope this helps someone else.

BTW - horn turned out to be dead and I just ended up replacing it. Not related to the relays at all.

Under your hood you will be looking for a main fuse block. It is a small, fairly accesible block that is about 8" x 4". The box will have tabs on it that have pull or push printed into the plastic. Do as read, and pop cover off. Only problem with the wonderful world of Ford (Mercury is made by Ford) is they never index the location of the fuses and relays. Either way...the relay is under that panel. Without a diagragm you can check by having someone turn the car over to the "start" position and put your hand over the relays until you feel the one that clicks at the time of cranking. Don't let the clicking of the fuel pump relay fool you....that will click when the key is in the "on" position

It might be a bad relay or a bad engine coolant temp sensor. Fan is likely good. Might have 2 relays. See owner manual.

its under your hood engine bay area usually on the fender. ITLL BE A LITTLE BLACK BOX. with a cover on top.open cover and you will see relays and some big fuses.

when tracers stop out of the blue like this, it can be a number of things. #1 is fuel pump failure or pump relay, or fuse. check to see if there is perssure at fule rail. check fule pressure regulator. #2 is ignition coil failure, or no spark. check plug wire from coil for spark. that will get you going in right direction. good luck.

That wire probably goes to the transmission inter-lock. That prevents the car from starting if in any position other than Park.