Everything was going so good

Mattax said

Also you mentioned pressing onthe ballast resistor connection produced a change.
I'd pop the connector covers off on both to look at the wire terminals.

Click to expand...

To remove the covers, depress the terminal's retaining barb. There's a little cutout in the plastic to slip a tool in.




Then the terminal can be slid out the back.

The conductors should be firmly held in the 1st crimp and the insulation held by the second crimp.
Other things that go wrong include the locking tab not locking to the connector and female terminal not gripping the male mating tab.