r/mildlyinfuriating • u/McGannahanSkjellyfet • Sep 05 '26
Free Klingon massage These stupid plastic tabs break off every single time
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u/WhiteKnight2045oGB Sep 05 '26
I don't know what you do, but mine never broke in the 28 years that my car is existing ...
Okay, to be fair, the plastic clips can break quite easy, and the plastic isn't the best that they could have used for them ... but still ... I never managed to break them. Not a single one!
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u/Type-RD Sep 05 '26
Same. I know they’re a pain, but you only have to lift them like 1 mm to make them release.🤷♂️
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u/pottsygotlost Sep 05 '26
Undo a few sets a week and you’ll find they’re less reliable than you think haha
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u/WhiteKnight2045oGB Sep 05 '26 edited Sep 05 '26
Trust me, i undid quite a few in my life on all sorts of vehicles ... but still, they never broke!
But I know that they are usually aren't as reliable as most people want them to be ... because it is shitty plastic.
Maybe I am just lucky ... who knows
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u/McGannahanSkjellyfet Sep 05 '26
Someone told me that if the engine is warm the plastic is less brittle, so that may be it. Every time I've needed to swap an ignition coil though, the engine was cold because I don't like running it with a dead cylinder.
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u/SpawnShootDie 29d ago
There are other ways of making the plastic warm - you could try a hairdryer.
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u/YetiSquish Sep 05 '26
What do you mean running it with a dead cylinder? You’re running the engine while swapping the coil? I’m confused
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u/McGannahanSkjellyfet Sep 05 '26
No, I mean I didn't start the car and run it until the engine was warm because it was misfiring.
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u/Confident_Cheetah_30 Sep 05 '26
Its well worth it to buy a set of the connector housings and replace them. Its pretty cheap and the crimped pins are almost always still good so you just need to remove them and insert them into the new ones.
My 07 camry ones were so bad earlier this year that a couple effectively crumbled during removal, but it was only 10 minutes of work once I had the new housings to replace them all since the pins were still good.
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u/McGannahanSkjellyfet Sep 05 '26
Honestly, the zip-tie trick in photo #2 has held up permanently on multiple cars I've owned. I personally think it's better than the original tab lock.
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u/Confident_Cheetah_30 Sep 05 '26
I was actually quite impressed when I scrolled to that btw, not knocking that genius at all.
Full disclosure I also was able to source my connectors for free from a friend who works in harnesses so I may be biased as it was free for me.
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u/Soler25 Sep 05 '26
Push the connector in, push tab down then remove is the best I can do. But yea, it seems like any plastic around the heat of an engine gets brittle quick
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u/Saute_and_Pray 29d ago
Professional mechanic here. The hardest part of the job is disconnecting electrical connectors. My fingers hurt.
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u/pottsygotlost Sep 05 '26
Yeh if you use a pick to lift the end of the tab instead of squeezing the part you’re supposed too, you’ll have a 100% chance of successfully releasing them at least 25% of the time, hope this helps.
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u/Impossibleshitwomper Sep 05 '26
I just thread a zip tie through the connector and use that to lock it to the little triangle tab thing
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u/McGannahanSkjellyfet Sep 05 '26
Check photo #2. I've done this on 3 cars so far, and the zip-tie trick has never failed. It's more reliable than the actual plastic tab.
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u/sandosbud 28d ago
We keep the connector housings in stock. After 120k miles (when the plugs are recommended to be changed) the plastic is super brittle and break just by looking at them.
Pry the white lock out of the connector housing, break the secondary lock with a small flat screwdriver or pick, pull out all four wires out at the same time, align the new connector, make sure they click in place and push the white lock down into place. 1-2 minutes per coil connector and like 10 bucks per connector.
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u/Cute-Region-3449 Sep 05 '26
Unless I am missing something specific with this particular part, I usually would use a small flathead screwdriver if it was giving me problems (based on what I see without actually seeing the unbroken part 😂)
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u/Slapshot300 29d ago
Newer GM cars have red clips that go into those harnesses and i broke 3 out of the 4 of them on my equinox when changing the plugs. They are the tiniest most frail things ever
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u/McGannahanSkjellyfet 29d ago
Oh god, those look terrible. Does the zip-tie trick even work with those?
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u/Slapshot300 29d ago
Nope, just gotta send it and hope your engine doesn’t suddenly lose a cylinder while driving :’)
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u/flungcow 29d ago
Has anyone come up with a better fix than the zip tie?
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u/McGannahanSkjellyfet 29d ago
Yeah, I could just buy new connectors and a pack of soldering seal butt slices and replace the entire thing. But then in another 100,000 miles when I need to swap the coils again I'll just end up breaking the tabs again.
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u/Take-Me-Home-Tonight 29d ago
I’ve never broken one, but I typically only work on my own cars and a few close friends so I’ve only maybe done it on 10 cars or so.
But I did have an old cop car crown Vic that came with them already broken and zip-tied into place (they actually clamped the zip tie together)
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u/Caboobaroo Sep 05 '26
I've found that using a 90 degree pick to lift the tab can prevent them from breaking every time.
But it's still annoying when they break.