by converting the 1156 turn signal bulb to an 1157 for $10 or less!



whats needed: 2(x) 1157A amber bulbs, 2(x) double contact pigtails, brush-on electrical tape (what i used), solder and soldering iron (if you want to be professional) 4ft of 18gauge electrical wire (you can probably go smaller; 20, 22gauge) and a phillips screwdriver, possibly scissors/snip

First remove the two screws on the face of the signal, wiggle it out, unplug it from the stock harness. Snip the 2 wires going to the bulb on the outside about an inch from the plug (see picture). Now remove the plastic lens by freeing it from the tabs on the top and bottom. Unscrew the 1156 socket and pull it and the wires you freed out of the signal assembly.



Take the green wire and the contact its connected to and push it out of the socket (theres also a spring). Replace that with the double pigtail you purchased; the round plastic piece that separates the 2 contacts on mine had a notch in it that i had to cut off with a pair of scissors. Line it up so that the 2 contacts on your 1157 bulb will match up correctly and put in the bulb. The **** that hold the bulb in are different between 1156 and 1157 bulbs; one side will work fine but the other *** is higher up and you'll find it wont just spin in. Just force it a little and the socket will expand and the bulb will fit nice and secure.

Run the two wires from the double pigtail along with the ground (connected to the stock metal socket) back thru the plastic grommet. 0dds are when you do this the rubber will pop out and it will make it easier to get everything to fit. Now screw the socket back into the assembly and put the lens cover back on.

Connect the ground to the inch or so left at the plug where you snipped it earlier and solder/tape it back up. Take it back to the bumper and plug it into the stock harness. Turn the turn signal on and touch either of the 2 wires you have coming out of the signal to the inch or so of turn signal wire coming from the stock plug. This is to determine which is the 8w parking light wire and which is the 27w turn signal wire. Remember whichever one makes the bulb brightest and connect that back to the turn signal wire thats next to the ground you spliced earlier.

Take 2ft of electrical wire and connect it to the remaining wire; run this through the bumper to your turn signal harness and splice it into the green wire that goes to your corner bulb (1157 as well). Solder/tape/secure this connection and test it out. The 8w filament should come on with the parking lights and the 27w will function just like stock.

Originally I planned on hooking this up to a relay but found this from a thread I started 6 years ago pertaining to the subject:

"If you're just hooking up another set of park lights (8w) to the bumper indicator, you won't need a relay or upgrade the sidelight fuse as another 8w is a minimal current draw (0.6 amps). I added 5w clearance lights front & rear to my max (not fitted to max's outside US), changed the standard 5w park lights to 18w bulbs & didn't need to change fuse or add relay."
-nismobaron

note: I did this to a maxima with stock corner and turn signal harnesses, nothing had been rewired prior to this. I also plan on doing the turn signal rewire ala craig brace where the 194 bulb in the corner light blinks, this shouldnt affect anything related to that at all either so if youve already rewired your corner lights this should work either way.

with parking lights on:


with parking lights and left turn signal on:


both functions work the same way with the headlights on as well.
edit: also i have clear bumper lenses with amber 1157s, not painted lenses so make sure you get amber 1157s if you have clear lens bumper signals.

 

Sounds like you did a neat and clean job... I think it would look Dope if you tinted them lightly.

 

Hmm, cool! I'll have to do this. Where does one get this double pigtail?

 

yeah sounds like a great idea, although I dont think that I could pull it off.

 

i got the double pigtail from advance auto parts, its the same thing thats in the stock socket just has 2 wires instead of 1. I was originally looking for a socket similar to the one thats in there but nobody sold em. However, if you have an extra tail light assembly using one of the tail/stop light sockets out of that should work as they're the same style of socket..

 

Pretty cool. Looks a little bright with the flashers on, but i'd say the parking light illumination makes it worthwhile.

 

more or less like a z31 or S10 my only thing is that, it reduces the contrast of the turnsignal action (dim-bright-dim-bright vs off-bright-off-bright). i am going to be wiring mine on relays (on the z) to shut the dim filament off while that-side turnsignal is engaged. which you could do using a SPDT relay triggered off the bright-corner wire on each side, to switch off the low-wattage wire.

 

I like. Ill be doing the same as well. Good job.

 

the parking light filament is only 8watts

the difference between stock and this is
lights off: turn signal 27w parking light 0w
lights on: turn signal 35w parking light 8w
still a 27w difference

 

i realize that, but when it's dark outside it doesn't stand out quite as well. on an early 3rd gen it's an easy fix (the turnsignal control box uses always-hot trigger wires that you can tap) vs the later style that uses a blinking trigger wire. a transfer relay to break the 8W wire while that side's signal is on, and you're good to go. Audi actually does that on their cars with LED running lights.. the LED bar shuts off when the turnsignal is engaged, comes back on when it cancels.

 

bonus pic ftw?

 

hey guys on the subject of lighting....anyone know where to get clear corners i found euro headlights just no corners........also i like the light upgrade ill probably do this as well since its cheap and im on tight budget lol

ok i have seen several pics of 3rd gens with what appear to be clear corners, but i can not find any info on the web about them, can they be heated and separated and take the orange reflector out, j/w before i go to the jy and wast money on something that someone already knows doesnt work

 

also has anyone added lights to the center piece on the trunk. im thinking of putting some leds in there and wiring them to my tail lights.....or maybe ill just toss the center piece and fill it......not sure yet

 

ebay

if you cant find clear corners putting lights in the trunk lid finisher is a lot more work

 

ebay for the clear corners. And for gods sake dont add lights to the center plate and rice your maxima out. No aluminum deck wings, no altezza lights, no washer led lights, no tire flies. Keep it clean and not trying to look like the thousands of honda ricers.

 

If it is rice, then I'm declaring rice.
My plan for the center tail piece will be interesting as ColombianMax's (or was it Cape?)
But tasteful and useful.

 

tire flies, people still use those things, the only thing I ever see them on is bicycles lol. anyway it was just a thought thanks for the input guys

 

ebay is where you can find the corner lamps. no point of heating your originals since the amber piece is part of the lens unless you take the route that Hadley and I have taken with our corners so that it'll match the Euro black housing headlights.

 

thanks I found the clear corners and had planed on getting the black headlights, did you spray the lens on your corners or did you separate them and spray the interior,...... the reason I ask is that I would like to separate them and spray the interior but not sure how it would look with the "prism" glass on the corners

 

just be careful with clearcorners, some have sh1tty seals and fit bad. mine stuck out a bit, and one collected a gallon of water so i just took them out and went back to OEM's

Euro headlights are sexy as hell though

 

the regular clear corners i just opened them up and sanded down most of the chrome and then spray painted the inside matte black and then heated the glue up and reinstalled the lens. i did not spray paint the lens at all. or you can go to laminx.com and buy a roll of tint, charcoal, gunsmoke or smoked and go from there. will not get dull and will last longer.

 

k thanks