Whilst having my clutch changed recently, the garage that carried out the work managed to break the little tab that you press to unclip the MAF plug from the sensor. Now, to most people this wouldn't be a big issue but my OCD kicked in and I wanted to replace it (I had doubts that the plug would fall out at some point from not being secured in place).
Speaking to TPS, they informed me that the replacement plug costs less than £2 so I ordered one. Here's what you need to do to replace the connector:
1 x new connector (1J0 973 999 A), 2 small flat screwdrivers and a little patience.
The new connector is slightly different to the original one in that the 4 cables that push in to the connector are held in by a horse-show shaped clip instead of barbs used in the original unit. This horseshoe clip slides from side to side and is better than the original design that normally requires the correct pin extractor to remove the barbed connector / cable.
To expose the original cabling, unclip the two tabs on the 90deg rigid trunking and this will expose the 4 cables with round dust seals. Make a note of which wires go in which position (there are 5 slots on mine yet only 4 are used, the 5th one is left empty).
At the end of the plug where you can see the female cable connections, you will see a piece of red plastic surrounding the 4 female connectors - you may find like me that this has become brittle over time and bits have broken off - break it off completely - you won't be needing it in the new plug.
Once this red piece of brittle plastic is removed, you will then notice that the individual connectors are surrounded by some black plastic strips on the top and bottom, use two small flat screwdrivers to prise them apart and gently pull the individual cables from the rear of the connector - they will slide out fairly easily.
Refit the cables in the right position on the new plug and slide the horseshoe shaped clip to lock the cables in position - job done!
I wish I had taken some photo's whilst doing this little job but in all fairness it is pretty straight forward to do with a little patience. Hope it helps anyone who like, me hates broken bits that you notice every time you lift the bonnet up.
Speaking to TPS, they informed me that the replacement plug costs less than £2 so I ordered one. Here's what you need to do to replace the connector:
1 x new connector (1J0 973 999 A), 2 small flat screwdrivers and a little patience.
The new connector is slightly different to the original one in that the 4 cables that push in to the connector are held in by a horse-show shaped clip instead of barbs used in the original unit. This horseshoe clip slides from side to side and is better than the original design that normally requires the correct pin extractor to remove the barbed connector / cable.
To expose the original cabling, unclip the two tabs on the 90deg rigid trunking and this will expose the 4 cables with round dust seals. Make a note of which wires go in which position (there are 5 slots on mine yet only 4 are used, the 5th one is left empty).
At the end of the plug where you can see the female cable connections, you will see a piece of red plastic surrounding the 4 female connectors - you may find like me that this has become brittle over time and bits have broken off - break it off completely - you won't be needing it in the new plug.
Once this red piece of brittle plastic is removed, you will then notice that the individual connectors are surrounded by some black plastic strips on the top and bottom, use two small flat screwdrivers to prise them apart and gently pull the individual cables from the rear of the connector - they will slide out fairly easily.
Refit the cables in the right position on the new plug and slide the horseshoe shaped clip to lock the cables in position - job done!
I wish I had taken some photo's whilst doing this little job but in all fairness it is pretty straight forward to do with a little patience. Hope it helps anyone who like, me hates broken bits that you notice every time you lift the bonnet up.
