jetsfan2008

I have an 06 Maxima SE, and Monday night my front passenger headlight went out. I drove it over to Pep boys first and they said I needed the 9012 bulb, which showed as a HID bulb at 119 a pop. I said Im pretty sure these arent HID bulbs, so passed on buying it right then.

I then called up Autozone, and the guy there said I could use a 9005 Sylvania bulb to fit the car, and that is only 10 bucks.

I know if I go to the dealer they will rip me off, so for those who have had to change out bulbs on this make/model, which 1 is right?

KCMAXX

iTrader: (22)

It depends on wether you have HID or not.

Are the lights a blueish-white light that charges up when you power them or are they the dirty yellow halogen?

djdownfawl

macakin

do they look any different if they were side(non-hid) by side(HID) ?

jetsfan2008

looks like they are non HID

jowo9

iTrader: (1)

Well we can't help you until you KNOW whether or not they're HID. If yes, ddmtuning.com sells HID replacement bulbs for ~$15/pair in the Kelvin "color" of your choice. If they're standard halogen, you can get them for cheap at almost any place that sells car stuff.

Redstone

Once you figure out what kind you have let us know. If you happen to have the halogen the replacement bulb you will need is a 9012. They are very expensive at the dealership anywhere from $60 and up per bulb. I bought mine from Store Candle Power and paid about $34 per bulb for the newer Phillips. The Toshiba was cheaper at about $22, but that is being phased out for the Phillips. Anyone else found them cheaper than that then please chime in.

hmr1979

Replacing it yourself will be a joy

chitowner

Just replaced my passenger side headlight last week. My was a non HID, it is a 9012. I paid $32 at car quest.
The Pep Boys by me was pulling up a HID code on his computer too. If you dont have HID it is 9012 bulb.

Flash20

i posted this in another thread, but it cost me about $120 to replace the bulb. thoght about doing it myself but it got too complicated...no doubt i got ripped off

hmr1979

im surprised there is not an actually write up with vids on this one


But they definitely stuck it to you, 120 ouch
Is that with bulb?

acercomp71

If you need a write-up, click on my username, I posted bulb replacement procedure on this forum somewhere. I am not surprised they charged him 120 bucks (even if it s labor only)- job is not that simple as it might seem. Involves wheel removal and partial pulling of plastic cover inside wheel well. Some claim they prefer pulling the bumper, and taking entire headlight out though, as per FSM. I personally did it thru wheel well and recommend you doing it same way.

Rods03Max619

iTrader: (5)

Damn that sucks alot of work for a bulb

po8pimp

takes me about 10 minutes each side. through the wheel well. I don't even have to raise the car to do it. make sure you have extra clips on hand. After you do it a few times, becomes a piece of cake.

hmr1979

Agreed, but dang, you did it without raising the car no takin the wheels off? wow
Only reason why it took me about 30 minutes is because i used 9006 and had to shave the plastic lip to fit into the housing.

With a proper jack the project should be 30 minutes for both sides if you use the 9012 without any modifications.

po8pimp

you have to turn the wheel outward so you can pull the plastic liner back and it's pretty much a breeze after that. Right now it takes a couple seconds because my wheel well is not in. If you plan on using 9006 bulbs, I recommend you change out the connector and shave the bulb holder vice the bulbs each time. The connector for the 9012's are not waterproof nor are they an exact fit. They are as close as you can get to exact, but still not waterproof. that is how I burnt out the passenger side bulb connector. Could have caught fire had I not looked closely at it. Plastic melted allowing both sides to touch freely causing sparks and melting plastic which would eventually catch fire. Not good. Check out what I did on my pictures in my profile. I am getting ready to install an HID kit as well so if you are looking to do that just follow my thread. Waiting on shipping of kit right now.

kenttz

Also in case you are not sure if you have factory HID. On the bottom the the headlamp housing it would say D2R and if it does it has HID. Non HID it would say H something cant remember exactly.

jetsfan2008

if only I knew this before I struggled to find out the hard way.

Suskind

Another tip on changing out the headlight - if doing it at winter time make sure the car is in a heated garage, as the cap tabs on the rear of the headlight assembly become rigid and are quite easy to snap off at lower temps. May be common sense to some, but I had to find out the hard way.

MAXUSED04

I went to hell and back trying to get someone to give me the right part#.
AutoZone looked at my headlights and claims it is hid so I bought it for $139.99
Next day my lights came back on and returned it, but it went out again...
long story short I had a friend take out my bulb and its a halogen. Went to napa they said get the 9006, so I did, well it doesnt quite fit and i know trimming it down after the fact. Finally just purchase the above part at nissanpartszone.com
I entered my vin# and up came to orig bulb, they even provide drawings/diagram on the entire light assemblies. I paid 48.67 plus S&h plus Calif taxes...I only saved $26, dealer want $81.000 non including tax...

macakin

+1 ( nissanpartszone.com)

Calitmax

Does anybody have halo lights? Hows the visibility when driving??

NIKV69

Still a ripoff. Amazon has the Phillips HIR2 9012 for 27 bucks. Exact OEM replacement and just as bright. Bought two and just did my passenger side this morning.

Putting In Work

Hey you guys can use this link to see step by step instructions on getting to your light bulbs.

http://www.dmitriylerman.net/Maxima/MaximaMain.html

My driver's side headlights went out the other day, and I have to replace them but I don't know what bulb number it is.

I have a 2004 Manual Transmission Maxima 3.5SE but my bulbs aren't the white looking ones... it's the yellowish looking one's.

I don't know if it uses 9012 or 9006 from what other's have said in this thread.

Also, I am planning on putting HID's on my 04... can anyone give me some advice on doing so or show me a thread where it's being discussed or point me in the right direction or recommend me some HID's to buy.

I will have to research more about this or go get raped by some mechanic.

NIKV69

If you are going to the coversion just do that. If you are sticking to stock halogen do not use the 9006. Get the 9012. Search the site there is a ton of HID conversion threads

MAXUSED04

Are u kidding me, is the 9012 the same part as 26296-9B913 that I bought?
If so, lesson learned!
thx

NIKV69

Yep I made the mistake of going to the dealer to get that bulb for 50 bucks for my driver side. Bought the 9012 for my pax side. Same bulb. Half the price.

luis narvaez

The 9005 wont fit into the plug...i replaced my 9012 for 9006 sylvania silverstars they are a lot brighter than the 9012,and all you have to do is cut a bit on one of the tabs with a nail clipper.

NIKV69

I almost did the same until I found out they last only 25% of the time as the HIR2s. Almost everyone who bought them on Amazon said they burnt out after 6-8 months.

ifti_sit

iTrader: (3)

I saw the instruction. He mentioned he is changing his Xenon bulbs but in the last pic - was that a xenon bulb ? I mean I am little confused.

mizjai40

Since you went through the wheel well, did you have to remove the wheels as well? My passenger bulb went out 2 weeks ago, driver side today!!

NIKV69

Passenger side - take off wheel, mud flap and undo the clips and phillips and remove the inner liner.

Driver side. Take out intake and battery.

Not too hard at all.

popcorn

I think if you're just changing one side, doing it through the wheel well is easier. If you're going to replace both sides (changing brand of bulbs, changing color of bulbs, etc) then removing the bumper is easier. I just changed out my HID bulbs because my drivers side went out. I changed it to Philips Ultinon 6000k so I decided to change out both.
I removed my bumper and removed the headlights...much easier access to the bulbs and probably saved time rather than remove both front wheels and the wheel liners.

6.5affiliate

It's easy.........less than 40 minutes to do EVERYTHING.

6.5affiliate

9005's are PERFECT. I even did the full HID conversion but your right on one thing......with the 9006 bulbs. Your gonna have to modify them to fit.

vk818

The HID conversion will be well worth it than the regular halogens. I had to change my left HID bulb and the dealer wanted to charge me $326 bucks, JUST FOR ONE BULB! Freakin rip off,man! Thank god I found a place that could do both the bulbs for only $120 bucks. :-D

chris350

I just changed mine headlights.. again. I had a 9006 HID (10,000K) install about 2 years ago. Then a few days ago one of them went out. Bought a new 9006 (6,000K) kit.. No shaving down was needed to make it fit, it just snaps right in. I also did the fogs with a 4300K kit. taking the bumper out is not that hard... although I do have to aim the regular beam... which seems a bit high...

sirphilo

You were very lucky...

FYI, The dealership quoted me $140 over the phone, then I got there and the technician said he had to remove the bumper and it would be over $400.00 to replace 1 headlight... (Swap and bait technique).

I went to my trusted mechanic, and he charged me $119.00 for parts and labor, he said he got the bulb at cost.

Now my other side bulb went out...

dee.signs

When i had my 05 max, i had a headlight go out. I did NOT have the HID headlight, but the replacment headlight where around a bill each. So i looked at my options, and i decided to buy an aftermarket HID kit. The kit i purchased was only $89. This included the bulbs and the power supply. Install took a bit of time, but it was well worth it.... Also, if you do decide to change up to the HID kit, you will still keep your "high-beam" option, becaused in 6th gens. they have a shutter instead of two filaments, so this works in favor of upgrading to an HID setup. Any questions just ask......

NIKV69

For a dealership to say that it should be against the law. That is totally a ripoff. The bumper does not have to come off. I changed both my headlights the other day and the driver side took `5 mins by taking out the air cleaner box and the pax side took an hour by taking the wheel, mudflap and inner liner out. I would call the service manager and give him an *** reaming. That is just robbery.