Jump to content
The mkiv Supra Owners Club

How To: Refurbish coil pack connectors


Ian C
 Share

Recommended Posts

The coil pack connectors are becoming a weak point as the Supra gets older. Now, one of two things could be happening. Either the plastic case is brittle and self destructs, in which case it's "new connector and pass me the soldering iron" time (see pic 1), OR, you've got a bit of a misfire that can't be explained with new coil packs or plugs, and it only seems to have happened after swapping these aforementioned items about...

 

As the Refurbing your ECU connectors article describes, a lot of plugging and unplugging can result in a marginal connection, and this describes how to tighten up the coil pack connectors so that hopefully your mysterious misfire will go away. All you need is a sturdy flat bladed precision screwdriver and some patience...

 

Carefully unplug the coil pack connector. Pop the two tabs shown in pic 2 and pull out the first part of the housing. Now pop out the white plastic centre by applying outward pressure with the screwdriver as shown in pic 3. At the halfway out point this part will need a bit of a tug to remove it, make sure you pull straight.

 

To get the pin out, there is a tab that you have to push the screwdriver blade into and upwards to detach it from locking the metal pin in place. This is an acquired skill :) Hold the connector by the wire that is attached to the pin you wish to remove. Pinch the thumbtip and fingertip right up against the housing so that as you grip the wire your fingers are forcing it back and away from the connector housing. This way, as soon as you prise the locking tab out, the pin will pop backwards and can then be removed quite easily (!). See pics 4 and 5 for the tab that you have to poke at. Some will come out easily, some can be a 'mare.

 

Once the pin is out, you'll see how much of a gap there is for the coil pack pin to sit in (pic 6). The coil pack pin is usually rather thinner than this gap which is what can cause your misfire problems. We need to tighten this gap up, so, looking at the pin from the other direction (pic 7) you can see the metal tab that we are going to push down and away a bit, thus bending the internal metal of the pin closer together than it currently is. Inset is an idea of the bit you are aiming at (in blue) and a blue line across it showing the angle of the screwdriver blade to achieve a result. Don't go mad, you can't press too hard anyway it's such a fiddly job, but you should be able to get it like in pic 8. You can see the difference in pic 9 between the original big gap and the nice new narrow gap.

 

Putting it all back together is easy, I promise - everything clicks into place. I recommend doing one wire at a time though so you don't inadvertantly wire your coil packs up the wrong way around!

 

-Ian

Coil Connector Housings.jpg

cp_dissemble1.jpg

cp_dissemble2.jpg

cp_pinout.jpg

cp_pinout2.jpg

cp_gap.jpg

cp_refurb.jpg

cp_tightenedup.jpg

cp_comparison.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 51
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

Bob - yes you get the white inserts.

 

Note: on Toyota's parts system this part number also refers to "condenser". This is an error on their system - the picking slip says "housing" which they are!

 

I recommend doing one wire at a time though so you don't inadvertantly wire your coil packs up the wrong way around!

The wires are coloured with blue or white seals - the white one goes next to the connector locking tab.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I have no data on that. The only thing I can say is that putting a big single on will show up weak coils that were perfectly OK running a less powerful turbo setup, and once they start to misfire they degrade very quickly.

 

-Ian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

Great write-up Ian, gonna give this a go on mine first chance i get. One question though, looking at your pics, the connectors themselves look like they are "held" in place by plastic so that they cannot move around in the Housing. Is this right, because my first 2 (unsure of the rest as was only having probs with the first 2) there is no such plastic, the connectors are just free to move where they want. I will try to take a pic tonight and post it up but may not get back till late, Bloody Ikea shopping.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 10 months later...

Just done this to a Supra, it made a huge improvement in the car's spark and general running note at idle - much much smoother, and for a total spend of less than £35 for 6 new coilpack connectors it is must do job if your connectors are past their best!!

 

If you follow Ian's instructions you'll be surprised how easy it is to do... I found that upon removal that in most of the connectors the white plastic centres were breaking up and that also the rear of the grey plastic casing was very brittle... I replaced all the plastic casings and white centres as per Ian's instructions. However I found the easiest way to remove the metal pins was simply to "pinch" the wire(s) at the rear of the connector and they would simply pull out as the plastic was brittle enough for them to come out quite easily. If the pins don't come out after a gentle pull do not force them and revert to Ian's method, as some casings will be in better condition than others.

 

If after you have removed the first part of the housing and the white plastic centres you get really stuck in removing the pins another method that worked for me was to use a pair of pliars to gently "crack" open the remainder of the casing/housing, (as it is to be replaced with a new one anyway), this way ensures that you do not pull the actual wiring away from the two metal pins... the pins then simply "click" back into the new casing very easily...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 3 months later...

Would just like to say I've done this today and it was really easy to do - especially if you are replacing the connectors and use the "nut cracker" method of removing the originals!

 

My connecters were so brittle just light pressure with pliers to the whole body caused them to disintegrate around the wires. Easy peasy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Thanks Swampy442. That has confirmed what I did not want to hear. I have plugged the cables in the wrong holes on one of the connectors. Now I cannot get them back out to swap them round. Looks like I need to take a trip to Toyota in the van and get 1 more connector because I can guarantee I will break it trying to get the cables out. Lol

 

Thanks

Tony

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The coil pack connectors are becoming a weak point as the Supra gets older. Now, one of two things could be happening. Either the plastic case is brittle and self destructs, in which case it's "new connector and pass me the soldering iron" time (see pic 1), OR, you've got a bit of a misfire that can't be explained with new coil packs or plugs, and it only seems to have happened after swapping these aforementioned items about...

 

As the Refurbing your ECU connectors article describes, a lot of plugging and unplugging can result in a marginal connection, and this describes how to tighten up the coil pack connectors so that hopefully your mysterious misfire will go away. All you need is a sturdy flat bladed precision screwdriver and some patience...

 

Carefully unplug the coil pack connector. Pop the two tabs shown in pic 2 and pull out the first part of the housing. Now pop out the white plastic centre by applying outward pressure with the screwdriver as shown in pic 3. At the halfway out point this part will need a bit of a tug to remove it, make sure you pull straight.

 

To get the pin out, there is a tab that you have to push the screwdriver blade into and upwards to detach it from locking the metal pin in place. This is an acquired skill :) Hold the connector by the wire that is attached to the pin you wish to remove. Pinch the thumbtip and fingertip right up against the housing so that as you grip the wire your fingers are forcing it back and away from the connector housing. This way, as soon as you prise the locking tab out, the pin will pop backwards and can then be removed quite easily (!). See pics 4 and 5 for the tab that you have to poke at. Some will come out easily, some can be a 'mare.

 

Once the pin is out, you'll see how much of a gap there is for the coil pack pin to sit in (pic 6). The coil pack pin is usually rather thinner than this gap which is what can cause your misfire problems. We need to tighten this gap up, so, looking at the pin from the other direction (pic 7) you can see the metal tab that we are going to push down and away a bit, thus bending the internal metal of the pin closer together than it currently is. Inset is an idea of the bit you are aiming at (in blue) and a blue line across it showing the angle of the screwdriver blade to achieve a result. Don't go mad, you can't press too hard anyway it's such a fiddly job, but you should be able to get it like in pic 8. You can see the difference in pic 9 between the original big gap and the nice new narrow gap.

 

Putting it all back together is easy, I promise - everything clicks into place. I recommend doing one wire at a time though so you don't inadvertantly wire your coil packs up the wrong way around!

 

-Ian

 

Hi! what other parts can go brittle with age??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. You might also be interested in our Guidelines, Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.