Miata CAS: Broken Electrical Connector..What to do?

I was working in a cold garage and in the process of removing the valve cover on my 1995 Miata for a timing belt job. In the course of removing the electrical connector for the Cam Angle Sensor, the little plastic lock that holds the plug in place snapped off. It still fits pretty tightly, but I'm worried about it coming off. There's not a lot of space to work back there and I can't think of any good way of fastening it in place. I could splice in a new plug, but it seems like the kind of part that would be impossible to find, as it is part of a much larger harness.

What are my options here?

I found new plugs for my 20 year old Subaru for a motorcycle guy in New York, so I would think the Miata plugs would be available somewhere. Do you have the manufacturer? Google should have it.

What does the other side look like? Sometimes you can get a ziptie around the whole shebang when plugged together and that will form a physical resistance to removal.

Or ziptie "longitudinally" and go in between the wires on both ends.

What's the end look like?

There are a few likely candidates here

Eastern Beaver

This place also has a bunch

Ballenger Motorsports

And here's the thread where I found these links

MTurbo

This one looks like it might be it

Connector?

A zip tie was my first thought, but I think it might melt, and I'm worried that safety wire might cut through the insulation and cause a bigger problem.

Here's a stolen photo of the neighborhood where this thing hangs out:

cmcgregor wrote: This one looks like it might be it Connector?

Wow, that may be it. I'm working all night, but I'll have to take a closer look at the car in the morning.

Here's another hotlinked photo, but this might be an earlier 1.6 car:

That's the same picture I found. That site has lots of options if the specific one I linked isn't it.

Let us all know how it works out.

In reply to Woody:

The CAS is interchangeable between the 1.6 and 1.8 so I'd assume the connector is the same.

I have successfully used a dab of silicon glue several times in just such a situation. Clean everything up when you have to pull it apart, and you can keep doing so indefinitely.

wheelsmithy wrote: I have successfully used a dab of silicon glue several times in just such a situation. Clean everything up when you have to pull it apart, and you can keep doing so indefinitely.

Came here to suggest the same. A little RTV around the edges should hold it in place without making it a permanent fixture.

In reply to wheelsmithy:

In reply to NEALSMO:

That's probably the solution that I'll go with, at least for the short term.

In reply to cmcgregor:

Thank you for this link. I never knew that such a resource existed. If I don't end up replacing this particular plug, I will certainly go there to help with some other project.

I broke a similar plug on my last Porsche, so I'm starting to see a troubling pattern here...

One more good resource for vehicle specific connectors:

Corsa-technic

Miata CAS connector

A zip tie will work fine as a temporary fix. The connector is probably made of ABS which has a lower melting point than the nylon that zip ties are made of.

I have some zip ties holding heat shielding on my oil cooler lines right next to the exhaust, no problems.

In reply to GameboyRMH:

Good to know. Thanks!

The 1.6 and 1.8 plugs have 3 or 4 pins. I cant remember which is which though. I know many other Mazdas of the same era use the same connectors for other things underhood. I replaced mine with a wrecking yard one because of a broken wire past the connection.

In reply to Woody:

I second the zip tie route if you can't match the connector. I had your exact same issue on my '95. Used two small (~1/8" x 4") black ones linked together. Ran 2-3 seasons of track days/TT's after with no problems on a turbo car. Never got around to researching the connector.

Here it is. Four pins.