headlight mounting bracket appears to be broken...

Did a search but didn't really find a fix. I changed some bad bulbs a couple of weeks ago and now my drivers blinker isn't working in front(it blinks very fast at the rear), so I pulled the headlight and the bulb looks fine, the filament is not broken, and now the headlight only goes on when I push the headlight assembly with my hands to seat better with the male plug at the back of the headlight assembly. Now what do I do?

Only drive during daytime. Sorry, couldn't resist. I read somewhere (here?) that someone solved this by pushing back on the headlight assy and giving it a whack to seat the unit. e.g. while pushing back, give it Kung Fu heal of hand to set the contacts. Give me a while, and I'll see if I can find the link. Make sure all your contact pins are clean, and good luck.

OK, found it. Good luck. https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...-for-help.html

There should be a plastic, yellow, u-shaped clip that holds the "receiving" end of the electrical connection. Be sure that is present, and not compromised. Mine was, which allowed the pressure of installing the headlight to push the receiving end towards the back of the car. Man... is it me, or is this difficult to explain? Sorry, don't have pics.

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Thanks Divot. Didn't know if the broken plastic part that actually holds the male pin connection can be modified or reinforced. As I push the headlight in to seat the connection, it seems that it isn't connecting because the HL assembly is pushing back the male plug now that nothing is holding it in place.

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I'll check, but you explained exactly what is happening with mine.

+1 for the plug has a clip to hold it....

But the yellow clip fits in a black plastic opening...doesn't it? The plastic 'holder' for the male plug is broken, so the yellow clip alone doesn't hold stationary when the HL assembly is slid back in. Does that make any sense? Thanks for the suggestions and help...

Same problem on my 2003 Targa: I removed the headlight Saturday and inspected everything. The bulb socket looks to be in like new condition, the contacts are clean and I removed and reseated the bulb to be sure. Its a good fit and I don't see any issue there. I couldn't find anything wrong based on visually inspecting the rest of the assembly and the seating surfaces. The rectangular multi-pin plug that attaches to the assembly at the rear looks clean and the contacts inside the connector and on the light assembly look clean with no visible corrosion. I did notice that there is no metal connector on Pin 5. At first I thought this could be the problem, but there's no pin 5 on either the male or female connectors, so unless something funny happened, I suspect that pin is unused by design. I reinstalled the assembly and pushed firmly - its well seated and not moving. No joy. I removed it, checked everything again and reinstalled it - still nothing. This time not even the intermittent operation of the signal that I got last weekend. I pretty certain it isn't the bulb, but I can't find anything corroded or obviously missing. I didn't notice the clip holding the car-side connector in place, so I may have the same problem others have discussed here - I'll look again on Saturday. Would anyone have a picture of what its supposed to look like? I have the upgraded lights on my 2003. Thanks guys. Lawrence

Lawrence, just pulled the driver's side headlight again this am. My plastic piece holding the male pin plug is broken, so I unclipped the plug from the 'holder' and managed to plug it in before sliding the headlight assembly back in, and presto..turn signal works fine, as do headlight etc.Who needs that flimsy plastic bracket...Thanks all for the guidance on such a simple fix.