Hey guys, first time posting here. After I turned off my car, I noticed one of my headlights was turning pink instead of blue on the xenon package. The next day I notice it flickered on but then did not come on at all. Now the headlight is completely out. I thought That the xenon bulbs are supposed to last for a very long time. Nissan wants $500 to replace this. I’m pretty handy and can do it on my own, I just need assistance with what type of bulb to purchase without going through Nissan. Can someone recommend a bulb that isn’t $250 and is as close to stock or 0EM? Also, do you think it could be an electrical issue or just a new bulb? Thanks.

 

Year and trim level of your car please. What type headlights do you have and is everything still stock or OEM?
With this information someone could possible advise you on what to do.

 

2014 platinum edition I believe. Has the glass roof with stock xenon projector

 

I have a complete RH headlamp assembly, that I have no use for. It's a P/N 26010-9N01A, for a Premium or tech pkg (not sport) car with HID. I'll let it go cheap. If you DM me with your phone number, I'll send you some pics.

 

Xenon do dim and fail...depending on who you talk to , they should be replace every years or so. So $20 for a pair is cheap.

These are whiter than stock but I also put in the same color for my fogs and it works very well. I took my wheels off to give me more room, but you can probably reach in just by turning the wheels.

is what I put in for fogs (another $20 )

Don't just replace 1 bulb. Replace them in pairs because if one is gone, the other is sure to go sooner rather than later.

 

Hows the quality on these? I guess it’s better to try these than to fork over $250 for a bulb from Nissan. I was worried about them matching up with the stock OEM so I guess I’ll have to change out both.

 

I put tbem on in 2019 and will go at least 1 more year. I went more white or "hotter" to see a bit better before I realized i had cataracts!! Note to everyone, do the surgery!!

 

May be a dumb question but do these aftermarket bulbs matchup with the stock ballasts? Does it matter or am I overthinking it? I just dont want to have issues later on. Ive swapped out standard halogen bulb for HID kits back in the day but I’ve never had a car with stock HID lights before.

 

I understand your reticence. It is your car and your responsibility. So a brief and high level Theory of Operation is required. Note that I use a lot of laymen's terms here to help with the discussion. I am sure many would be more than happy to go into minute detail The purpose of the Ballast is to give the "bulb" a kick to start it "arcing" in the 20KVrange (which produces light) and then maintain a steady voltage to keep it arcing around 70v. If the bulb fails, it won't arc. That is what you were seeing with the light bulb not maintaining the ARC with the voltage provided by the ballast when it started failing and then failing completely. While there are many different types of HID Bulbs out there (you will see designations of D1, D2, D3, etc. with suffixes of S for standard projector or R for reflector. Some have the ballast as part of the bulb and others are external to the bulb (for example we use D2S which means the ballast is separate and made for a projector housing)

If a bulb were to SHORT (not burn out but to have a connection to ground from VCC) then you could damage a ballast. But recall these bulbs don't have direct connections but rather is separated by gas. It is the "burning" or excitation of this gas that produces the light.

Note that most ballasts can actually work with a variety of bulbs It is the wiring/sizing and connectors that change.

I applaud your desire to learn more. The aforementioned tutorial is by intent, oversimplified but accurate enough for this discussion. My advice...go with what makes your comfortable. Wither that is the $250/per bulb or the $3.99 per dozen.

 

Thanks. At the end of the day, I just want my headlight to work for the cheapest, simplest fix. Don’t want Nissan to charge me $250 for the bulb and $250 to install. At this point, I almost want a standard plug in halogen bulb. 😩😩

 

Thanks for the explanation. At the end of the day, I just want my HID light to work for the cheapest amount of money.

 

Then i highly recommed the ones i got. These are 5000k color. If you want stock get the warmer 3400lk bulbs

 

I just put new bulbs in my father's 07. I put in PHILIPS D2S which are $34 each at Rockauto.com (check in the group deals section for a discount code). I would recommend replacing them in pairs.

 

Thanks for the help guys. Didn’t take e wheel off amd it literally took me 5 minutes on each side. Was shocked at how easy it was. Although the Amazon HIDs were only $20, they look white and aren’t as bright as the stock HIDs. Oh well, beats spending $250 for stock.

 

Yea it beats $250 until you hit something at night because of the shorter down road visibility. Why take shortcuts with something so important? My car came with HIDS and I upgraded to Phillips Xtreme vision gen 2 and it kills the stock Xenon. The extra distance has saved me several times from running over objects or hitting deep potholes