Help identify what these connectors go?

1996 BUICK REGAL
14,000 MILES • 3.8L • VR6 • 4WD
Avatar
REBIRTH98GH
  • MEMBER
  • 6 POSTS
Witch plug goes into? Color blind and I cannot tell the difference. Please help
Dec 6, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Advertisement
Avatar
CARADIODOC
  • CERTIFIED EXPERT
  • 34,308 POSTS
Looks like you're working with the throttle position sensor, mass air flow sensor, and idle speed motor. Those connectors are going to have different shapes, sizes, and notches to prevent them going into the wrong thing. The plug with four wires will be obvious, but the two that have three wires could be confusing. In the unlikely event you find those can fit into either item with three wires in their connectors, let me know and I'll find the diagram. Unfortunately, you still need to look at the wire colors to determine which plug is for which item. I can look for "connector views" too, but those only prove the plugs have different notches. If those differences don't prevent those two plugs from being plugged into the wrong thing, it means the matching tab(s) in the sensors are broken off. (That's a very hard thing to do and won't happen accidentally).

You can also look at the size of the terminals in the TPS and MAF. Sometimes those in the TPS will be very tiny, with similarly tiny holes on the connector.
Dec 6, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Avatar
STEVE W.
  • CERTIFIED EXPERT
  • 15,116 POSTS
Going by your pictures, the far left connector with the black body and blue seal is the Idle air control, Goes into the upper left socket in the second image. The middle connector with the tan wire retainer goes into the throttle position sensor, that is the bottom most plug. The last connector is for the Mass Airflow Sensor. that is the large box on top. The image attached may be faster.

Dec 6, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Advertisement