Dammit, I broke electrical retaining clip, what to do?

Which connector is that?

Doesn't look like one with many terminals.

Gold standard would be to look up that connector housing part number in the wiring diagram, go buy one at the dealer, pop the wire terminals out of the old one, pop them into the new one (in the right order ), and call it done,

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What you do is you use g o o p goop It is a release adhesive so you can put a little dab in the connector not on the pins on the plastic slide the other piece into the female part which is what you broke and then don't touch it that stuff will dry when you're ready to pull it apart again it will pull apart and the glue will roll up with your finger and you just throw it in the trash and then when you need to put it back together again a little dab of goop on the same spot slide it together let it sit 10 minutes and you will not easily pull it apart it will certainly not fall off let's say that those little clips I break them all the time most of them where they're located will not come undone just being plugged up unless it's vertical all that sort of stuff another way you can do it is just use a long baggy tie or a pan to it strap and you can pull the ends where the cord goes into that connector put a loop around and just make it so that they can't be stressed being pulled apart and it won't come apart I don't know what that is headlights or you know water temperature sensor doesn't look like something that'll stop the car from running might turn a gauge off or something.

 

You can usually order connectors from the dealership and replace them. The only thing you have to do is remove the plastic part on the original one and expose the pins. The new one comes together around the metal pins. Don't rig it up with glue or zip ties or something because you'll eventually have to take it off again and will regret that decision. Connectors are usually like 10 bucks and can be ordered from dealership parts departments if you call them.

 

Maybe a tiny zip tie?

 

That would be my go to.

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Life happens. When (not if, but when) that happens to me, I plug the connector in. Then I put a decent blob of RTV silicone where the lock tab goes then "embed" the broken tab in the RTV- being sure to hook the end back on the nub it locks onto.

Sometimes some creative zip tie use helps.

Or after the tab is set in RTV, maybe put a blob of hot glue around the outer part of the tab. You don't want too much hot glue- makes it difficult to remove the connector.

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Replacing the connector is the proper fix. However, if you need that car to run until you can obtain a replacement for the broken connector it is OK to zip tie the two pieces together. Glue would work too, but that would be a PITA to take apart, whereas you can always snip off zip ties. As a bonus, no gloppy residue on the undamaged part.

Also, don't feel too guilty about breaking the connector. As cars age plastic connectors become both stiffer and more fragile, until they reach the point where they may break if you even look at them sideways.

 

Electrical tape

 

Not a fan. It leaves sticky residue which can be hard to remove, and it has a tendency to slowly "unwind".

Self fusing silicone tape is better in that it leaves no residue. It can be much harder to cut off though.

 

Both my rear speed sensors are broken: one side after collision repair work, the other because “I wanted to see how they work”. So far they’ve held together with friction alone.

 

Tiewrap aka ziptie it together until you can get a replacement.