I'm looking for some best practices for disconnecting electrical connectors on our 15+ year old cars. I've had to disconnect the coolant level sensor and the camshaft sensor in my 06 Coupe and found both of those electrical connectors to be total bears to get apart. In both cases I had to remove the sensor and use both hands to slowly wiggle the device loose from the connecting harness. The wiggling required several minutes and a bunch of worry I'd damage brittle plastic.
I have to do the crankshaft sensor next and I'm baffled how I'm going to get that beast disconnected with one hand. Any tips or tricks to deal with connectors that haven't been apart since the factory? Would some sort of spray lube further damage the old plastic? Thanks in advance

 

Hi, I was able to come up with a good technique for taking apart older electrical connectors, some probably untouched since the car was new.

After seeing articles about special tools to depress the holding latch or to pick apart stubborn connectors, I came across something that was free and worked for me ... and did NOT require any tools or lubricants.

The advice is this: when applying pressure on the latch release, push the connectors TOGETHER for a moment and then try pulling them slowly apart while still holding the latch down. It seems the pushing together action helps the latch clear the stay on the other connector and it also helps loosen the connector surfaces so they will slide apart easily. Try not to wiggle the connector side to side (as I was doing on other connectors and fighting for minutes) but try to make it one even pull so the connector's sides don't bind. This worked very well on my crankshaft sensor, which had to be a one-handed disassembly.
Hope this helps someone down the road! Thanks.