Andrew Shamoon

Hey everyone I’ve been having problems with my low beams( some days one side will only turn on and some days only the other side) and I can’t figure out what it is. I was thinking of swapping the factory Xenons out and put led bulbs. Has anyone done this on a 7th gen and how did they do it. Thanks in advance!

Nopike

iTrader: (2)

A headlight relay or wiring may be causing your problems. If you changed out the bulbs/housing to LED you may end up having the same issue. Probably easier/cheaper to fix your current lights.

Andrew Shamoon

Thanks for the reply, honestly I never checked the relays, I’ve checked the ballasts and grounds and all that good stuff.

Nopike

iTrader: (2)

You are welcome. I'm starting to think it may not be the relay but worth a try. Here is a link to the FSM. Headlights are in section EXL. The headlight circuit (page EXL 93) looks fairly simple.

https://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Maxima/2014%20Maxima/

Andrew Shamoon

I clicked on the link for 2011 and they didn’t have anything like that except for EX but that was for the exhaust system

Nopike

iTrader: (2)

That is why I provided 2014 that should be the same.

https://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Maxima/2014%20Maxima/

dpullie

I have a 2009 Maxima and I changed my HID and all lights in front with LED bulbs from LASFIT.com. They actually make a change over kit for the 7th Gen.

ayee55

does anybody know if the 2011 sport trim hid headlights will be a direct fir for my 2012 platinum with the clear housing? would really like to swap to the smoked style. will it fir ? or is the mounting Brackets different for 2011 to 2012??

dpullie

all 7th gen exterior parts are interchangeable. I have an 09 with 14 grill and rear smoked taillights.

ayee55

Ahhhhh perfect , thank u I figured but wanted to make sure I could take the smoke hid assembly from the 2011 to the 2012 wit platinum trim. Will def look into more interchangeable combos..

Andrew Shamoon

ok so I found it in the manual and then I called Nissan to see if they sell the relay and they told me that my car doesn’t have one for the lights, so I checked my fuse box and it looked totally different from what I saw in the 2014 manual

Nopike

iTrader: (2)

I doubt it is a relay problem but if there are two similar relays they are easy to swap. I provided the page (EXL 93) to show the power and ground going to the low beam head lights. I would check that I have 12VDC on pin one of each low beam and ground to pin 2. If that is OK than there is a problem with my headlight bulbs. That page also shows low beam and high beam relays. The vehicles definitely have these relays. At this point I am not sure where those relays are located. But it probably does not matter.

The wiring for 7th gen Maximas 2009-2015 is all pretty much all the same. Especially for basic functions such as headlights. My 2014 fuse box looks the same as your picture.

Maybe your headlights are bad and need to be replaced. But it seems strange that they would alternate between working and not working as you describe. It does sound like more of a problem with power or ground. Unless this type of issue peculiar to Xenon headlights and their ballasts.
You could try new LED or Xenon headlights but they may not fix your problem so I would proceed with caution.

Andrew Shamoon

when you say the pin I’m assuming you’re talking about the wire harness before it reaches the ballast right?

Nopike

iTrader: (2)

Yes. Page EXL40 and 41 describe it best. It just seems unusual that the headlights are coming on randomly as you describe. Did the problem just occur on it's own? Did you or someone else work on the wiring or front end of the vehicle?

dpullie

Do you have HID or Halogen headlights?

Nopike

iTrader: (2)

I have HID Xenon headlights. I think the pin out and wiring are the same for halogen. Of course halogen does not include a ballast.

Andrew Shamoon

mine is with the factory xenon kit, and it’s not that they come on randomly but that one or both of them will randomly turn off. Also by pin I thought I meant the igniter on the ballast for a second that’s why I had asked, and it’s never been worked on by anybody

Nopike

iTrader: (2)

It sounds like a problem with the wiring. The headlights are either losing 12VDC or ground. If you are not able to find a cause with the wiring you may want to consider at least changing one of the headlights/ballasts to see if that cures the problem at least on one side. That is if you do not want to commit to buying a pair.

Andrew Shamoon

i thinks it’s a problem with the wiring too because sometimes the left one will stay on and sometimes only the right one. I’ve changed the bulbs to 5000k from the retrofit source and apparently that’s thenibly company that makes bulbs that work well with nissan and Infiniti ballasts

Nopike

iTrader: (2)

When they go out I would try running 12VDC directly to pin 1 or ground to pin 2 to see if that causes the light to go on.

Andrew Shamoon

when you say pin you mean the input side of the ballast right?

Nopike

iTrader: (2)

Yes 12 vdc and ground are common to both the ballast and the bulb. Either location should be fine. I'm not responsible if you end up blowing a fuse or something else.
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Andrew Shamoon

before I did any of that I took off the morimoto bulbs and put the original Phillips bulbs just out of curiousity, and now it works fine-_- I’m glad they’re not turning off but looking at that yellow light after having 5000k bulbs is a little depressing lol

Nopike

iTrader: (2)

So the problem started occurring after you changed the bulbs?

Andrew Shamoon

apparently but it hadn’t started until like a year after I put them in, and supposedly these were the best aftermarket bulbs to pair with the matsu****a ballsts from the factory