How do you remove the exhaust valve connectors? Thx.

[Elp_jc]

Hey gang, posted this on the Bullitt forum, but no takers. Forgot there must be WAY more 2019 non-Bullitt Mustangs with active exhaust than Bullitts, so wanted to repost it here; hope you don' t mind . Anyway, like the title says, I want to remove the valve connectors to insulate the exposed wiring all the way to the connector. I have some asbestos-looking insulation just like the one on the harness, so will cut it open, wrap the wires and connector, and use aluminum tape to secure the material. It should work fine, but comments welcome.

I don't think my car (build date of August 2019) is not affected by the TSB, but I still don't like the left harness so close to both the sheetmetal and valve metal housing. Also want to protect the exposed wiring from a premature death due to excessive heat, and now is the time to do that, since car only has 300+ miles. Thank you.
JC

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[Elp_jc]

While somebody can answer how to remove those damn things, I was questioning my motive for wanting to do that: To insulate the inch or so of exposed wires. Is it necessary to do that, or should I just leave it alone? My left valve has the wires much closer to both the car's rear sheetmetal, AND the valve bracket. There's probably 1/4" of clearance from the valve bracket. The harness is almost touching the sheetmetal, but as long as it doesn't touch, it shouldn't be a problem IMO. And I don't think it'd ever do. My main concern is being so close to the valve, and being nowhere to secure it better. Plus maybe the zipties wouldn't hold for too long with the intense heat around there. All comments welcome .

 

[Elp_jc]

Below are 2 pictures of the issue at hand, so experts can comment if it's worth covering the wires, or just leave them alone. The harness seems like it's making contact with the valve body on the 1st picture, but it's not. As the 2nd picture shows, it clears it by about 1/4". It barely clears the sheet metal at the rear, but that's enough, since it'd never touch... and it's not nearly as hot as the valve. Comments welcome. If I can't remove the connectors to do a good job covering the wires, I'd leave them alone. Don't want to break anything. Connector doesn't budge with the white clip pulled out; not sure what the hell is keeping it locked.

 

[Elp_jc]

Nobody knows this so far? I'll have to remove them for sure, to remove the exhaust, and install the Curt hitch. Also want to paint the ugly mufflers flat black when they're out of the car too. Thx.

 

[sabtaj1]

They are a little tricky, once the locking pin is pulled back you really have to squeeze to get em to release. But you should be totally fine not recovering them. But for comfort of mind you could just put a piece of fuel line heat wrap on em. Only time anyone has had issues was when installing an x or h pipe and not pushing the muffler portion of the exhaust back inward far enough. It was only an issue on the passenger side cause the wires to rub on the pinch welds. You wont have any issue with the wires getting hot or burned.

 

[Onlyone]

Most times with those kinds of connectors you need to push them in slightly while pushing on the tab, then pull out.

 

[Elp_jc]

once the locking pin is pulled back you really have to squeeze to get em to release.

What did you mean by that? The white locking pin is very easy to pull back, and it stops just short of the end of the connector (maybe 2mm). Is that as far back as it should go? And after that, where exactly you 'squeeze'? You can only push or pull on the connector, so want clarification what you meant by squeezing. Thank you.

Most times with those kinds of connectors you need to push them in slightly while pushing on the tab, then pull out.

You probably haven't seen that connector. There's no tab to push down or pull up,like most connectors. Just a white one to pull backwards, that seems to me is to remove the wires from the connectors, and not the connector itself, but there's no other tab, but want to make sure I'm not missing something, so I don't break or damage anything trying to remove them.

 

[sabtaj1]

The white pull tab locks the push down part from releasing. Once you slide the white part back you have to push down the area that it slid back from. do a lil pushing forward and back then the piece should push down to release the plug.

 

[Elp_jc]

Thanks brother. Just tried, and couldn't do it. Pushed as hard as I could, and nothing. But at least now I understand how it's locked. Doesn't help that I have tennis elbow, and can't grip that hard, but any harder and my fingers would bleed, so need to figure out what the f*ck I'm doing wrong. Ha ha. Take care.

 

[sabtaj1]

found an old pic of top of the clip. Try pressing the edge of the white clip that you slid out. LOL. oops. This was when mine rubbed through before I fixed it

 

[Elp_jc]

Try pressing the edge of the white clip that you slid out. LOL. oops.

I figured it on my own, after getting my elbow tendon re-injured (tennis and golfer's elbow) following your initial advice. Geez. Ha ha. Wish I had come back, but after wrestling the right connector, finally came out. And immediately saw the tab on top of the valve, which necessitated the rear part of the white tab (where you pull it back from) to be pushed down, not at the front of it. Took me a second to remove the other one. Hope nobody else has to go thru this . Thanks anyway for your help, brother.

 

[Rapid Red]

found an old pic of top of the clip. Try pressing the edge of the white clip that you slid out. LOL. oops. This was when mine rubbed through before I fixed it

Very helpful, seeing how the plug looks.

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