OK, I just installed yellow 1157 bulbs in my clearance lights (the housings of which were a HUGE b!tch to pop out on my '99, as broaner22 can attest). I'd noticed earlier that the old white bulbs in there did not blink with the turn signals as they're supposed to, but I assumed that it was because the previous owner put in a single-filament 1156 bulb instead of the twin-filament 1157. (I didn't know at the time that the 1156 and 1157 have different ***** on their bases and so aren't interchangeable.)

Anyway, I've got the lights installed, the yellow looks great, and they are twin-filament bulbs. But they still don't flash brighter with the turn signals when the lights are on. Just constant one-filament brightness. So this means that there must be a problem with a fuse or a relay somewhere, I'm thinking.

Can anyone give me info on what fuse or relay I need to check/change?

 

Ummm the clearance lights dont blink on 95-99. on 95-96 models they are wired so that they act as turning light but does not blink, but us 97-99 don't get that feature. The only lights that blink are the bumper lights.

 

If that's true, why do the clearance lights take twin-filament bulbs? My owner's manual lists the bulb type as 1157 and the wattage as 27/8, meaning two different brightness levels.

 

95-96 Use the dual filament 1157 bulb. 97-up don't have the clearance light feature.

 

Yea the clearance lights aren't wired to blink on your model. However, there is a mod that you can do to brighten the clearance lamps using the other side of the filament bulb.

 

Yes you can cut one of the nubs off the bulb to make it shine at a constant 27watts.

 

its because during normal driving it just acts as a dim parking light (8 watt), and when you put on your signal it switches to the 27 watt so that it illuminates the road that you are turning onto. as for the mod to cut one of the nubs and always have it brighter, lately there have been a number of people that say that the increased head produced melts/cracks the light housing.

 

I've had no problems at all from the extra heat. No cracks or melts and I did the mod over two years ago. I have polarg hyper white bulbs in mine to somewhat match the headlights and besides replacing the bulb maybe once a year I've had no other problems. I actually cut and resoldered the wire from the harness to the other side of the filament instead of shaving it down and I believe though I'm not exactly sure that I changed the fuse to a 10 amp fuse.

 

Okay guys listen closely. The clearance lights on his car NEVER become bright so, SkinnyMax your wrong concerning 4.5 gens but for us lucky originals you're right. Silly Nissan people, add bad features and remove the good ones. Ravq and 1FSTMAX, why would this be? It is such a great feature especially on a dark road w/ tint. Also, if the feature is none existent in 4.5 gens why did Nissan keep the more expensive harness and more expensive bulb? If the harness is there then it seems feasible to simply add that relay to the relay box in the position in the of "CORN LAMP". You guys must realize that I'm not implying your wrong but simply asking why they did away with a very good feature. As for the removal, I can definitely confirm that it was a b!tch. I had to use my biggest demo bar and at least 1/2 my body weight to get it out as compared to mine on which it requires so little force it nearly comes out with the wind. I thought I was gonna rip his fender off for a second. This is yet another reason adding to the list of reasons that I wouldn't replace my 95 with a 4.5 gen if I was in an accident. The list is growing daily. Tom, looks like problem is solved but more info is always good.

 

my bad, didn't look to see what year he was, it's stupid that nissan removed that feature in '97.

 

I can help you guys if you want, Mine are wired so that they both are bright, all the time, they are pretty bright. You can see them project to the sides of my car. A must do mod, I re-soldered my bulb housings, thats the "right" way to do it.

 

This is REALLY weird, both because of the pointless waste of a twin-filament bulb and because of the COMPLETE LACK of a turn signal on the side of the car! So on the front end of the car, ONLy the bumper light blinks with the signal...isn't it illegal not to have a blinker visible from the side, at both ends of the car? This is really stupid....

I'd rather have mine function like a 95/96 because I don't need 54 watts of clearance lights on at all times, but if there's no way to change the wiring to make it blink, (there's gotta be a way...) I guess I'd take the route Tyrexx did. But constant bright-@$$ yellow lights would be more of a cop-magnet.

 

not illegal. plus there is a write up in www.vqpower.com that shows you how to rewire the sidemarker next to the front bumper light so that it will blink alternatively with the front bumper.

 

Tyrex, you like that? Do you do much driving in the country at night? I think that it greatly reduces forward nightvision with them bright all the time. If your trying to match the headlight to the clearance light a hyperwhite in the clearance will match perfectly on the 8w setting. I spend a lot of my Friday and Saturday nights driving through the country and I need as good of night vision as I can get out there with these d@mn deer. Thats also why I changed my speedo and soon other interior lights to red. Red is much easier on nightvision whereas blue or white kills it instantly. Green is the second best after red. Who gives a **** what is right next to you if your doing 120.

 

I can't realy see them unless I lean forward and look through the front windshield. I have 5% tint, so it does help me see during a turn. I also did the rewire for the bumper lights, the both blink instead of just the front bumper light.

running lights off = both the front bumper and side bumper bulbs blink at the same time.

running light on = the front bumper and side bumper bulbs blink alternating.

It looks cool, I have a vid of it. back when I had hyperwhite lights all around, now im yellow.


1.56 MB VIDEO HERE Right click, Save As

it will be up for awhile but , its a free site so not much bandwith

 

think you would like this?

 

Hmm, yeah I might just do that. Looks good. Can you also rewire it so they both blink at the same time, all the time?

First, though, I'm determined to look into making mine function like a 95-96. The bulb harness takes the twin-filament bulb so I assume it's physically possible to make it do both bright and dim. Time to break out the FSM and learn some wiring techniques....

 

You can rewire the side bumper light to be exactly like the front light, but then it wont be on with the other running lights.

I'm sure somehow you could have then clearance lights stay bright only when the blinker is on, I thnik you would need alot of difficult wiring from under the dash to the actual lights, that one thing im not sure how to do.

I know you can have the clearance lights blink with the blinker but since it will draw much more current you are going to need to get some leds somewhere to keep the car from blinking very slowly

 

Good points. Although I wonder if the actual wiring is already in place as a leftover from the 95/96s. That would mean only minor changes. I'll look into it and report back later. Thanks all.

 

Yeah, we can check this out tomorrow. Everyone meet at my house at 2PM.

 

lol i just saw this, sorry I think im a bit late, check your pm broaner.

 

2PM, OK. I'll try to get away from the girl and make it over there around then. Cool!

 

*** now that i think about it, you ment today at 2pm... i saw it after midnight and assumed you ment to meet on sunday (because it said that your post was yesterday)


oh well some other time