Long story short (long story was posted...)

In changing the spark plugs on Awesome ('06 Mustang GT), two things were severely evident:

1) The wire looms are simply disentegrating in the engine bay. Which... really... I don't care so much, I can get more, I guess, and apply them...

2) The spark plug and fuel injector connector clips were pretty stiff, and a couple of them broke off. I think two coils and one injector? I don't remember exactly right now.

The question is... is it likely they'll come off? Or is there a way to ensure they dont?

The other question is... why can't Ford (or is it an industry thing?) make plastic that doesn't die in the heat? I mean, really, they know what the temps are gonna be like... the wiring harness is really looking bad now that I've moved it about for this job... Sigh.

I can't remember my '97 HoopTBird, '95 Mark VIII, '87 Lincoln Mark VII, or the '86 SVO having as much problems with these clips... but then, most of those used the ones you pried open with a small flat head screwdriver, not squeezed with your fingers, so maybe that's it. They also seemed to fit tighter too, so it was less worrisome than these particular connectors are... they seemed really loosey-goosey for what they do...

Anyway. Any suggestions, comments, methods or ideas on this teensy worrisome-to-me thing are welcome, and I appreciate y'all much. Thanks in advance!

/And yes, I did a search. Found all kinds of other things, but not this.

 

In my opinion I believe all these pieces fail due to Ford, as well as other manufacturers, putting pressure on their suppliers to keep cost down, hence cheap material lasting just long enough to pass the warranty life.

I've found one of my best tools for working with the plastic parts and connectors on these newer vehicles is a heat gun or hair dryer. If you heat the connectors before trying to release them the plastic is more pliable and less prone to breaking. I've also noticed on vehicles that get heavy road splash on the engine, the connectors' release tabs may be restricted by sand and dirt and may require an air gun or clean water wash to flush the dirt first before they'll release.

 

Roger that. Thanks much!

Although, now... they're broke. I found somewhere else that using zipties is a good thing to do. I'm gonna do that. Need to get those covers painted so them ugly things aren't seen..

 

be careful cleaning underhood too...at work they keep buying 'natural blue' and 'simple green', and certain plastics deteriorate almost immediately...our cnc controls have 'membrane' style keypads, and these cleaners will turn a soft piece of vinyl from supple to eggshells in a couple hours... fantastik/409 i have NEVER seen cause any ill effects except it will remove some inks from labels.
I used 'tri-flow' oil on my r/c helicopters, made the mistake of putting some on the wifes squeaky hoover vacuum cleaner- fixed the squeek, but a week later the whole bottom end disintegrated- she actually called hoover to order repair parts(wheels and lower housing) and told the lady what her idiot husband did- they actually sent the parts free/under warranty, even though it was me that broke them... gotta say Hoover was very nice about warranty stuff- anyways, watch what you use.

between the machine coolants and cleaning chemicals we destroy a lot of crap at work...fantastik/409 for cleaning, and petroleum jelly for plastic lubes, never had any issues- other stuff can destroy plastics all too easily.