rush2redline

Hello,

After harsh bumpy roads, the spade connector to my starter comes undone and I have to reach underneath all the hoses and wires to re-plug it in about every 2 weeks. The visibility is poor in this area and I have to search around for the starter and the rubber cap which covers the wires to orient my fingers to the connectors. I was wondering if anyone else has this problem and what I can do to perhaps clamp the spade down tighter. or alternative solutions.
I'm trying to avoid removing the intake manifold and outright replacing the starter if I can avoid it.

Thanks

Billman250

Just close the connector a tiny bit with pliers, forever fix.

Car Analogy

I've done this many times to make spade connectors fit securely. The one piece of advice I can give, don't get too aggressive with the pliers. If you pinch the connector too much, it'll be very difficult if not impossible to get it to slide onto the mating connector. This would probably be especially problematic given how tucked away starter is.

If you dogo too far, you can pry it open again with a flat blade screwdriver. But this tends to open it unevenly. Too wide at the tip.

Best to just go little at a time. Pliers, test fit, pliers a little harder, test fit again. Repeat until tension is good.

rush2redline

Thanks guys, as a bonus, I now know how to replace my alternator now too.

cosmomiller

If you feel a bit wobbly on compressing things like this, you can use vise grips to get just the amount of deflection you want without having to worry about going too far.

windhund116

I find heightening spade connector by squeezing side-to-side works better than squeezing them top-to-bottom. I use small pliers to get an even compression.