While troubleshooting an acceleration problem on my '92 Park Avenue Ultra, I wanted to test the Throttle Position Sensor and as I was pulling the connector the locking tab broke off and fell down into the engine area. Doh!

So, now the connector is held in place with a couple of cable ties and I thought I'd see what the general conventional wisdom of the forum would be about repairing this type of problem. I'm going to swing by the local junk yard and see if the PA there has a similar connector.

Well, if I locate one, how easy is it to change the shell and get rid of those cable ties?

--Cheers!

It'll be a little struggle. But it'* not rocket science. Practice on the donor part first.

FWIW, one of my cars has had a broken TPS connector tab for 3 years, and has never fallen off or caused trouble. And I have no other form of retention on it.

Over the weekend I found a couple of junked Buicks with the same connector as my PA. And yes, it is a bit of a hassle to extract the pins without doing too much damage. I found by slightly bending the end of a dental pick that you can push the tangs of the pin inward to loosen it enough to extract.

But, the good news, for me at least is I found a tool that works pretty well at properly extracting the pin. It''* made by AMP and is very similar to the more common Molex extraction tool. But, the Molex tool for the .093 pins is just a little too big to work.They are really just stainless steel thin-wall tube with a push-rod in the center.

The AMP tool, #305183-R, is used on its line of "poke-home" nylon connectors and may be available from electronics suppliers for around $15 or so. It may be easier to source than the GM or Kent-Moore tool.

I tried it on the two connectors I scavenged with good results. I haven't put it to the real test on the PA yet. But, confidence is high!

BTW, the scavenged connectors cost $2 each at the, "bone yard."

The AMP tool worked OK and everything is back to normal. I did come across an ebay vendor selling Packard/Delphi terminals and housings. See:

http://stores.ebay.com/LGS-Wiring-MW...QQftidZ2QQtZkm