[Cheatachu72]

Greetings,

I am a relatively new member of this board, and relatively recently began undertaking car maintenance that I would have brought to the shop because I have found that I enjoy mechanical tinkering. I don't have a family history of people who work on cars, so I am somewhat learning on my own. I have a 2001 SEL.

This winter, I was getting a p0302 code (misfire cylinder #2). I bought the car at 123,000 miles and it currently has 140k miles on it. I decided to replace the plugs and wires on it. Let me tell you, getting those back three is a royal pain in the butt.

While I was replacing the wires, I examined the ignition coil and saw that there was a giant crack along the side of it. With what I know about cars, replacing things that cracked is usually a good idea.

When I replaced the ignition coil, when I removed the plug that is circled in the attached file I found when I was searching for the lever to release it, it pulled up extremely easily. It appears that the bar in the plug that latches on was missing.

Now, my sense tells me this isnt good, and I should probably try to replace this plug too. Vibrations and such could cause this to get loose, which isnt going to be good for me. My question is, how do I replace that? Can I order just the plug? Should I just pick one up from the junkyard, and if i do that, do the pins release?

Thanks in advance guys/gals.

 

[sheila]

If you mean the little plastic lock latch, i wouldnt worry about it.

 

[bull geek]

Unless you want to splice on a plug from a junkyard car, if you want to do something, I would just ziptie & loop the connectors together.

 

[Jeff K]

Most of my cars have had broken locking tabs on various connectors for years with no problems. As Nick noted, just wrap a zip tie around it and be done with it if you want to feel better about it.

 

[wjc]

Yes, those little nylon zipties are surprisinly strong & durable.

 

[Cheatachu72]

Ziptie it is, thanks!

 

[sheila]

With age, temp. fluctuation, etc., plastic just gets brittle. Half of mine on 5 cars are fubared with no issues. It makes disconnecting easier!!!

 

[360alaska]

Rockauto sells harness repair kits, before I had my Sable I had replace quite a few connectors on my old 96 taurus... Here you go... RockAuto Parts Catalog

 

[shoz123]

Ford makes the plugs in so many configurations and different unlocking mechanism that with age and ham fisted mechanics the locking tabs all break off, or get ripped off.

 

[901-Memphis]

You would run into more trouble splicing a junkyard harness. The ziptie is your best bet!