I'm not sure I understand your first paragraph. I swapped the assembly to the right side & plugged it in & the tail light bulb lit up perfectly. I swapped the right assembly to the left & the tail light bulb didn't lite up. Do you mean that in the connector itself the pin bends out of shape? How do you fix that? I think I already measured voltage in the subject pin & got none, but I'll check again tmrw nite. Thanks.

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87 300e (white/black; amg body kit)
88 300ce (red/cream; amg body kit)
93 300ce cabrio (white/blue/blue top)
93 300ce cabrio (black/grey/black top)
98 ml 320 (totaled @ 137,000 miles)
99 clk320 (black/grey/black top)