Is it okay to use a different starter relay instead of the specified one for your car?
I made a post here last week about my car not starting, turns out it was the starter relay. Got that fixed, and then yesterday same problem, no start, relay went bad again. I called my friend to pick me up a new one, and he said he had an old one from a Toyota carolla that I could use instead. He put it in and the car started working again just fine. I asked him to go to Auto Zone to grab me another spare just in case, and he said “there was a $12 one next to the $22 one that you wanted, so I just got you the $12 instead. It’s the same thing and they’re both 12 volt so it doesn’t matter.” I just want to make sure this can’t cause any other massive issues down the road. Google says it could cause issues like short circuiting the cars electrical system, or welded contacts. I guess they might be the same type of relay but have different pin configurations, which I have no idea what that means.
TLDR; Is an old Toyota corolla starter relay safe to use in my 2018 Hyundai sonata, and is there any difference between the $12 starter relay and the $22 starter relay?