The old 2005 Highlander needed new plugs, and while I was in there I decided to replace the coil connector plugs at the same time. These connectors are notorious for breaking the hold down tabs. After many heat cycles these connectors get brittle and there no way to take them off the coil without damage. It's one of the few Toyota repair issues that crop up very frequently. The tabs on this car broke months ago, and even the old zip tie trick wouldn't work because the connector had crumbled in too many places.
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Long story short, you have to remove the intake plenum in order to get to the rear cylinder bank plugs. There are many youTube vids out there that do a great job at explaining this procedure. I've posted several times on the GG on how I removed this plenum and the pitfalls that occur along the way.
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To install a new plug. remove the white inner alignment clip. A small screwdriver inserted in the bottom slot and prying up will release the clip.
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Then take a small screwdriver and insert underneath the lip of the individual push pin plugs and pry up; that releases the plug from the clip. In my case as soon as I pried up, the entire plug crumbled into pieces. Pretty much all of the plugs broke into pieces as soon as the little push pin plugs were pried on.
IMPORTANT!! Don't forget to take note of the wire color code to make sure you insert each pin plug back into the proper position on the new connector.
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Take the new plug and insert each push pin plug back into its original position and listen for the "click" as each push pin plug is pushed home.
Insert the white alignment lock into the front of the new connector and it's a done deal.
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The entire job -- spark plugs, new connectors, and reinstalling the plenum took about three hours. I took my time -- I'm an old guy.
This is the broken pile of connectors I had left -- the would literally break into dust if you touched them. Amazing that they held up this long -- 20 years.
The plugs looked very good, but there was some wear and the gap had increased. After 80K miles on these plugs, it was time.
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Tomorrow I have to do the CAT on this car. Got the dreaded P0430 Bank 2 Efficiency code (it's a 3.3L V6), and no amount of CAT/Sensor cleaner will help this situation. Glad it's Bank 2 since it's right in the front of the car.
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