Testing For Poor Connections

Most intermittents are caused by faulty electrical connections or wiring. Occasionally a sticking relay or solenoid can also cause an intermittent failure. Some items to check are:
^ Poor mating of connector halves or terminals not fully seated in the connector body (backed out).
^ Dirt or corrosion on the terminals.
^ The terminals must be clean and free of any foreign material which could impede proper terminal contact.
^ Damaged connector body causing improper terminal orientation with the component or mating connector.
^ Improperly formed or damaged terminals.
^ Check all connector terminals in problem circuits in order to ensure good contact tension. Use a corresponding mating terminal to check for proper tension. Refer to Connector Repairs for the specific procedure.
^ Poor terminal to wire connection. Some conditions which fall under this description are poor crimps, poor solder joints, crimping over wire insulation rather than the wire itself and corrosion in the wire to terminal contact area, etc.
^ Wire insulation which is rubbed through. This causes an intermittent short as the bare area touches other wiring or parts of the vehicle.
^ Wiring broken inside the insulation. This condition could cause a continuity check to show a good circuit but if only one or two strands of a multi-strand type wire are intact, resistance could be far too high.

In order to avoid any of the above problems when making wiring or terminal repairs always follow the instructions for wiring and terminal repair detailed in Wiring Repairs and Connector Repairs.