Hi Bogart,

In my experience it’s not possible to narrow the gap with a small screwdriver as the female pins are tightly buried in plastic shroud that is the plug. You’d basically need to break the plug to do it. I’ve tried to narrow the gap as I was looking for an easy way out - you're not alone (smile).

That’s why I came up with those extension cables – so that I could return everything to factory condition if my diagnosis was wrong. The cost of the exercise is about 10 pounds (pins, shrink wrap and 3 short cables preferably different colours) and max 2 hours of your time. It sounds like you can wield a soldering iron just fine so you're half way there.

Pulling on individual cables will not yield results as each cable is well supported by the plug. If you turn the plug upside down so that you can see the part where cables enter the plug you will notice green sealing material that I believe is there to make the plug water tight from above. That material supports the cables so that any movement of the cables is not transferred to the connector. If you want proof that the plug is faulty, remove the silicone seal and follow the method I described earlier.

My car has not missed a single beat since I've made those connections nice and tight, as previously mentioned. Happy to clarify the process further if a particular step isn't clear. MY10 TD4 SE Auto

Had another go in a moment of inspiration, or was it madness. I used an internal circlip plier with very narrow ends. Pushed down over plug connectors and forced together a bit. Think must have done something as plug harder to push in. So who knows time will tell. If I was keeping her would probably do something along your lines of new connection on sensor pins and use a waterproof 3 pin plug after cutting the old plug off.

I'm having crank sensor issues myself, occasionally dropping one cylinder, and one sensor failed completely yesterday.
I'm thinking that a replacement plug might well be the best solution to the issue. 2009 Rimini Red SE, it's getting there.