seems to me the 1157 bulbs in the stop lights will have disfigurement of the 2 connecting lead points on the bottom this also makes corrosion on the bulb socket points ,i also notice the screw in the plastic bulb socket plate will be loose or broken or stripped these screws seem to join 2 black wires with metal rings,maybe ground? and i wonder why there is an electrical taped section where they soldered on extra 1157 sockets at the factory?
whenever i see a third gen only like 3 out of 6(2 out of 4 if its gxe) brake lights lit up

my few fixes were
1. to pop the trunk and wiggle the bulbs( to break the corrosion i guess )i did this alot if i saw in a store window some werent lit up
whichs i think looks like a bucket or hoopty
2.get all 4 stop bulbs new and clean the socket contact points,this would work for a while but id be back to wigglin bulbs
3.tightening the screw holding the 2 black wires on each bulb plate (or ziptie them if the plastic holes stripped out)
4.i never got around to it but i wanted to splice on all 4 new 1157 bulb sockets

 

I just got done fixing my turn signal socket. What I did was scrape off as much corrosion as I could then took a pair of channel locks and squeezed the socket to a slightly smaller diameter such that the bulb was a good fit and getting a good ground between the socket and the lamp.

I agree though exterior lighting problems and nissan maxima go together like water and wet.

On mine I have had to debug headlights, turn signals, reverse lights, and my '3rd' brake light never ceases to fail a week or so before inspection time.

 

I didnt find my brake lights or turn signals were all that bad but the worst one im experiencing is replacing the lisence plate bulbs. The screws are seized and ofcoarse when trying to turn them it starts to twist the bracket that holds them and im sure it would cause the rusty bracket to snap so im thinking of wiring in some LED's anyone else experience that issue aswell?