Ok, I got mine all done. I haven't drove it yet, but I just wanted to post before I go out and waste a half tank of gas
Well, the "cut the wheel to the left" trick worked wonders for me, saving me a trip to my parent's house. But the "It's only 15 minutes of work" thing didn't quite cut it....
I went outside, got everything ready and started pulling and twisting on that sucker. It finally started moving, so I twisted it back and forth some more. I spent a good 15 minutes and probably a layer of skin on my fingers/palms from grabbing the pliers, and it still didn't come out one bit. Then I heard the sound that we all dread...
SNAP
The plastic part where the wire clip connector goes on snapped right off. After I got over the "Oh S**T!" reaction, I realized I had a little nub to work with. And then I thought about that can of WD40 I had laying in my storage closet...which, unfortunately, was no where to be found.
I thought I was defeated, but then after looking in the trunk I had a bright idea. So what did yours truly use instead?
ARMOR ALL!
That stuff worked wonders! I figured if it's good enough to make me slip when I walk over a little bit of it, it's good enough to get this damn sensor out. Try as I might though, I only got it out half way, and then pretty much gave up. I went inside, cooked some dinner, and then went back out, my girlfriend just shaking her head (Women don't understand the battle between man and stubborn mechanical part). I sprayed the redneck version of WD40 on that sucker and in 5-10 minutes, it was free! The other one went on real quick too with no problem.
This is what I had left:
This is the part that snapped off; the white part is the harder plastic in the middle near the "elbow"
The only thing that concerned me was that I saw some gunky/dirty brownish stuff on the end of the old sensor when I took it out. Is that normal? Is there some kind of grease in there or something?
Ah well...time to put some more miles on the 'Tour!
