livewell pump driving me crazy

[smooth move]

livewell pump quit a couple trips ago. couldn't figger it out. cut lines to the switch and put alligator clips on it straight to battery(with fuse), worked great. middle of trip and i noticed it not working again, so i jiggled all the connections, tapped on motor and cussed. no bueno. let it sit for a couple days and decided to tear it outa there and replace the motor. hooked it up with clips, just to see------works great. WTH? it's and 1100 gph, not cheap and not very old.