In doing the head gasket replacement, a couple of the fuel injector connectors broke(the clip that holds them tight). I can buy the connectors bare or with pigtail attached. I would prefer to just get the bare connectors and remove the spades from the old connectors, curious if anyone has removed the spades and how they come out. Thanks

 

Sacrificed one of the bad connectors to figure it out. Basically there is a plastic slid lock inside the connector that you dislodge and pull out (paperclip works great for this). The slid lock keeps pressure on the the 2 internal spade clip releases. Once the slid lock is out there are 2 locking tabs down inside the connector, they push away from the spade and will more than likely break if the connector was as brittle as mine, then the spades slide out.

I will order the connectors only and see how it goes as 6 connectors are approx 24 dollars total vs with pigtails they are about double the cost. When I get the connectors I will try and do a picture how to/write up, to show how it is done, for anyone else wanting to go that route instead of splicing in pigtails.

 

Jeweler's screwdrivers work great for de-pinning these types of connectors. Pretty much every Toyota connector can be de-pinned that I've come across. Makes replacement of the connector housing much cleaner with no splicing.