Fog light intermittently comes on/off - harness clip source of issue

[Tom44]

My passenger fog light intermittently comes on/off.

Removing the light and playing around with the various wires and harness plug and bulb, I found the source to be the two prong white wire plug that plugs onto the black twist off bracket that secures the bulb in place into the lens.

It does clip in but if I wiggle it a bit while clipped in, it’ll intermittently turn off. Sometimes tapping the exterior of the fog lens will also cause fog light to turn off/on.

Is there a recommended cleaner I can use to freshen up the white two prong plug (female) to the two prong on black housing into which it clips (male)? If that doesn’t work I can replace the plug harness itself but hoping a good cleaning will do the trick.

Did a search and couldn’t find anything btw.

Here’s a pic of the harness clip that seems to be the root of the issue.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/164242384566

[jaysonx]

Any electrical contact cleaner will do.

CRC 05103 QD Electronic Cleaner -11 Wt Oz https://a.co/d/5Rk5xjU

That said you may need to get new connectors and / or fog lamps.

[RBNetEngr]

It could be caused by connectivity issues due to corrosion on the contacts, but it could also be caused by having loose contacts. The female metal sockets in those connectors may have gotten a little bent, or expanded, so they no longer fit snugly onto the pins in the mating connector. It only takes one loose contact to break the circuit and make the electrical path intermittent.

[Tom44]

It could be caused by connectivity issues due to corrosion on the contacts, but it could also be caused by having loose contacts. The female metal sockets in those connectors may have gotten a little bent, or expanded, so they no longer fit snugly onto the pins in the mating connector. It only takes one loose contact to break the circuit and make the electrical path intermittent.

I think you’re right, the connector mating does seem a bit loose. So the fix would be replace the female plastic bracket ? Assuming that’s more likely to expand and break the circuit.

I did remove the fog and reorient the bracket and so far it’s been fixed. But I can see it easily coming loose again.

[RBNetEngr]

When I have encountered issues with loose pins, the first (and cheapest) solution is to get a pick or other small tool and carefully bend the female contact to be tighter. Normally they are circular contacts with a split/gap in the circle, to allow for expansion when the pin is inserted. Just bending it to close the split/gap may allow it to securely hold the pin and no longer be intermittent.