shiners780

Does anyone know where I can find a terminal extraction tool to be used for pulling wires from the fuse box wiring blocks?

I've tried the paperclip method, with poor results. The only tools I've found are online and $40+

Is there anything less expensive out there? This will probably be a one-time-use type of thing, so I hate to spend too much if there's a less expensive option out there. Any ideas?

I seem to recall someone posting here a long time ago about a homemade tool, but a search came up empty.

shiners780

To remove a wire, is the objective to flatten the tiny "wings" inside the wiring block (that the blade on the bottom of the fuse box slides into)?

I have yet to get one wire out, so I'm not sure I am going about this correctly.

Should the wire come out easily? For my first attempt, I got the wing-things flattened down against eachother, but the wire refuses to come out and I'm pulling rather hard on it.

I carved up my wife's tweezers with a dremel tool, which seems to get in there rather nicely, but the wire's not budging...yet.

Any advice?

theedge

You have to go from the front of the connector (not the wire side). Its a royal bitch to get them out. Have you tried wiggling the wire around and pushing it towards the front of the block, towards the tool, while pusing the tool in?

shiners780

Well, that partly explains it. I was trying to pull the wire out the wire side while using the tool in the front side. So I need to grab onto those wing-like things in the front and PULL the wire through?

OK, I just tried that too, the wire/connector moves in and out about 1-1.5mm, but won't come out.

Are these really this difficult to remove, even with the right tool? Or will the tool make this easier? I will now gladly pay $40+ if it will make this easier. I am going to remove probably 100+ wires, and I haven't even got one out after one hour.

I certainly hope, like with most things on this car, that there is a substantial learning curve...

theedge

No the wire comes out from the wire side, its just the tool that has to go in the front. I dont know about the right too, I had to bend mine a bit and it was still a fiddle. If theres a more right tool for the job, its probably expensive

shiners780

Oh yeah, I've been using the tool in the front, I thought you meant the wire had to go out that way too. OK, I was approaching it correctly the first time, but still ... no luck.

Just to explore my options here...

Would there be any problem cutting the wires one or two inches from the wiring blocks, and shrink tubing them? This would be a hell of a lot easier and quicker than trying to pull all the wires out of the blocks. I need to start moving this project along...

I don't want this to be a hack job though, would this solution be considered "hack?"

theedge

Up to you, if theres zero chance of needing those wires again it shouldnt be a problem. Have you tried pushing the tool in hard?

shiners780

Yeah, I've jammed it in there as far as it would go, and the wire still won't budge. I tried a second wire just to see, with similar results.

This car will never see the street again, so wiring for the power seats/mirrors/windows/sunroof, etc. will never be needed again. In fact, since the associated fuses and relays have been pulled, I won't even need shrink tubing as long as I double-check the wire stubs with a meter to be sure they're dead.

I think it's time to move on to Plan B.

Thanks again for your help Brian.

skene

If your just removing them to pull the wires from the car completely, just cut them off. Even with the right tool those things are a pain to pull and if you're doing 100 of them, you'll go crazy.

shiners780

Yup, that's Plan B. If I leave a couple inches in tact, they can be completely removed later if I feel the need.

OutsideThe718

First off I want to thank everyone for explaining how to remove these PitA connectors. Took me about an hour to figure it out. Here's what I used:



These tweezers came with my soldering iron and I have another pair that came with a phone screen replacement kit. You basically ram the tweezers in all the way to the bend, and the connector just pushes out the back.

Good luck and hope this saves y'all some money!