Have any newer Alty owners tried replacing a headlight bulb? May God have mercy on your soul if you burn out a headlight in a late-model Altima.
After only 16,000kms one of my headlights burned out a few days ago. I found out halfway through trying to replace it myself, after googling a few things, that the manual actually recommends that he headlight bulb be changed by the dealership. And once the car’s out of warranty, that $8 bulb becomes a $120 service call.
Altimas with the standard halogen bulbs can potentially be replaced without taking the front bumper off, by someone with small hands, but I read that the HID lights on the SE-R cannot. Essentially, the entire front end of the car needs to be taken apart to replace a goddamn bulb. Not easy when your semi-heated garage is still hovering around -15.
If anyone’s got some tips/tricks, I’m all ears. The dealership replaced mine this time, but there’s no way I want to rely on them every time a headlight goes.
The thing is, you have to pull the radiator fluid reservoir out on the passenger side, or the air filter apparatus on the driver side, just to get behind the headlight assembly. Quite possibly the fender wells too, to give you some working room. Then there’s a little clip that holds the bulb in place that’s the real kicker. The turn signal and DRLs are a little more accessible, so it’s probably just the headlights that will be the problem.
In the summer, I’m probably going to spend an afternoon taking it apart and see if I can figure out some tricks, because even though the service manager told me that it takes the techs about half an hour to change the bulb (and I’ve seen them change radiators in that same amount of time), I can’t imagine the Nissan techs are taking the whole front bumper off just to change these things…
You guys are going to hate the DTRLs on those… Nissan game them too much juice, so they like to burn out, fast and lots. Remeber doing a good dozen or so on various altimas and maximas… :rolleyes: