I got the same 'national back-order' message from Partznet this morning after wondering why I hadn't received my parts yet. I just took a look at the wiring manual and believe it points to the cause of the premature relay failure. This relay is switching an inductive load but doesn't have a mechanism to absorb the "kick back" EMF produced when the load is de-energized. The energy very likely escapes the system by arc'ing across the open relay switch contacts.

Over time, this design is likely to cause the relay contacts to fail to properly conduct current. Possible failure modes are stuck open or intermittent stuck open, or even stuck closed. Any of these faults will result in a failure of the compressor lock sensor circuit. The A/C control module will respond by blinking the light and shutting down the compressor. If your failure was the stuck closed type, banging the relay on the counter could bring it back to life (temporarily).

I'm going to try swapping the relay with my fog lights (until my new relay comes) AND adding a reverse polarity diode across the switch contacts to dump the inductive load back to the supply. My guess is the new relay has the diode built in or it uses a more durable switch contact material/size so it can withstand this kind of punishment longer.

UPDATE: See later posts -- you need to install the diode between pin #3 and GND, not as pictured in the next post.