How do you open electrical connectors?

[CooperFZ6]

Hello,

I've been doing some work on my bike (new fairing, headlight mod, etc.) and, I've been having a real hard time splitting some of the electrical connectors on the bike. For the fairing, there are at least 6 (2 at the headlights, 2 from the controls and 2 for the turn indicators.

I twisted, squeezed, pulled, pushed, turned, wiggled and yanked and SWORE!

I got them all appart, using a thin screwdriver to displace the hook, or, an awl, but, it was a real PITA! At least with child resistant medicine bottles, I can get my kids to help, but, with the bike, it was brutal. And there are more than 1 type of connector, so, once you've figured one out, it ain't necessarily so on the next.

What's the trick to getting these things apart without damaging them? Is there a special tool?

Thanks

Cooperfz6

 

[dako81]

Patience. Sorry I'm not of much help otherwise. Seems like they design these things to be as difficult as possible. After a couple of times they loosen up a bit.

Good luck!

 

[madmanmaigret]

I think you have it now. One suggestion I will make is if you have some mechanic's gloves the little screwdriver/awl is less likely to impale you in the process! They are a PITA but if they just fell apart......well that would be bad.

 

[reiobard]

I have a handy dandy little set of 4 different pick tools from Snap on and at least one of them always does the trick to get the thing released, but they do click together quite tightly. just take a good luck and find out what you need to release before tugging and you can usually figure it out...