how-to: change headlight/foglight/side bulb without removing headlight

A general discussion forum for G35 and G37 owners and a great place to introduce yourself to the NICOclub G-Series Forums!
User avatar
infinititech1
Posts: 833
Joined: Sun Jul 30, 2006 1:47 pm

Post

ok i get alot of emails on this and alot of people ask on here so i'm gonna do a quick write up on how to do it. sorry for no pics!

tools needed:flat head screw driverphillips head screw drivera floor jack makes things easier but is not neededflashlight helps too

ok we are gonna do the left headlight.

1. jack up the front of the car (skip this step if you don't have a jack)

2.turn the steering wheel all the way to the right

3. remove the couple of screws and clips on the front of the fender well that hold on the plastic fender well.

4. now pull back the plastic fender well and hold it with a bungee cord or push it behind the tire.

5. now you can see the back of the headlight...this is where a flashlight comes in handy so you can see what ur doing. the actual headlight bulb is the top circle, fog light is middle circle cover, and the little side bulb is on the left near the top.

6. replace whichever bulb you want and reinstall cover and reinstall fenderwell plastic and move to other side.

hope this helps...let me know if you have any questions


User avatar
infinititech1
Posts: 833
Joined: Sun Jul 30, 2006 1:47 pm

Post

now sticky

suby01
Posts: 1133
Joined: Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:53 am
Car: 2007 Infiniti G35x
Location: CT

Post

would you happen to have bulb numbers for the turn fog and side?? ? and where to get good hyper whites???

weightpushr7
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2007 5:59 am
Car: 03 G35 Sedan, 64 Chevy Truck, 07 ZO6

Post

Did my lights today again (didn't like my fogs/highs)...it absolutely sucked but it has saved me a lot doing it myself. Infiniti is completely awful for putting their lights there

weightpushr7
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2007 5:59 am
Car: 03 G35 Sedan, 64 Chevy Truck, 07 ZO6

Post

suby01 wrote:would you happen to have bulb numbers for the turn fog and side?? ? and where to get good hyper whites???
Go to sylvania.com and look it up

User avatar
thechronic
Posts: 294
Joined: Sat Feb 24, 2007 7:57 pm
Car: 2003 Infiniti G35 Coupe
Contact:

Post

what is a link to a site where i can buy the hyperwhites for the secondary/fog lights/whatever theyre called?

weightpushr7
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2007 5:59 am
Car: 03 G35 Sedan, 64 Chevy Truck, 07 ZO6

Post

thechronic wrote:what is a link to a site where i can buy the hyperwhites for the secondary/fog lights/whatever theyre called?
You can get decent hyperwhites if that is all you want at the auto parts store...I know the one in my town has good ones. I got mine offline from some foreign place but I only did that because my buddy already had them in a different car and they were very blue and I don't like looking at the g's with the blue lows (HIDs) and the yellow fogs/highs. Looks like crap and my lows are so blue even hyperwhites looked yellowish on mine so I changed them out again. It sucks royal *** to change lights in a G

User avatar
pae9132
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jan 26, 2007 5:49 pm
Car: Modified 03 V35
Location: Las Cruces, NM

Post

I'm doing mine later today which is the 4th of July!!!!!! happy 4th everyone!!!!! I'll try to remember to take pics of the install

Cali 2 Balti G
Posts: 866
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2007 6:36 am
Car: Desert Platinum G35 Coupe
Dodge Ram Quad Cab
Toyota Sequoia

Post

Good Luck from a Newbie G.

I took a shot at doing mine today and quit while I was ahead.

I removed 9 Screws and 5 Plugs to remove the fender liner. Got the rotating cap off, removed the harness, removed the screw on the bottom that holds the light clip? on. Then I couldn't remove the bulb. And I couldn't really get behind the light to see what needed to be done. At this point I began wondering if it was really worth it.

Would it be easier to remove the whole headlight assembly from the top instead. If you do it from the fender well then you may want to consider removing the wheels.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Remind me to tell yall about the time I bought a G35 from Cali and drove it to Baltimore, Md. with my easily distracted by everything else while driving wife as my co-pilot.

User avatar
pae9132
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jan 26, 2007 5:49 pm
Car: Modified 03 V35
Location: Las Cruces, NM

Post

TAKE OFF THE WHEEL!!!!! I started to the process of taking off the 3 plastic clips and the screw on the bottom of the bumber and two of the top screws in the wheel well. This wasn't enough. I was trying to get to the little light bulb. I honestly don't even know which bulb it is. I just know that it's the little one you can see by looking into the headlight. Well i found out that it is not inside the cap. It's on the other side of the middle cap. It's got a long plastic back kind of shaped like a knife blade. you just twist it and pull it out. So basically it is really easy to change this little bulb as long as you take off the wheel.

weightpushr7
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2007 5:59 am
Car: 03 G35 Sedan, 64 Chevy Truck, 07 ZO6

Post

Yeah taking off the wheel makes it much easier...also don't know why the one guy said he had to take off so much stuff. I took off one screw and four of those clip things and that was plenty to get to the lights. Taking the lights out was a breeze putting the low beam HIDs back in was the hard part. I for the life of me couldn't get that clip down.

Cali 2 Balti G
Posts: 866
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2007 6:36 am
Car: Desert Platinum G35 Coupe
Dodge Ram Quad Cab
Toyota Sequoia

Post

It takes a total of 9 screws and the clips to totally detach the wheel liner.. Again I left the wheel on so i figured i would detach the liner to gain as much access as possible. OK so we pretty much have to remove the front wheels.

This is why I wonder if it would be easier to just remove the whole headlight assembly - has anyone done this. This is what I had to do on my Dodge Ram - I thought THAT was a hassle - it has suddenly become easier.

This is definitley a time consuming project so be fore warned. Bright side is that if I decide it is not worth it - I can use the same 9003 bulbs for my wife's Honda Oddessy - the lights on this van seem pretty dim so should be a big improvement.

Weightpusher - why did you remove the HID light - did you replace it. Or did you need to do that to gain access to the Fog Light?

User avatar
wkim711
Posts: 90
Joined: Sat Jul 29, 2006 3:38 pm
Car: 06 G35 Sedan 6MT

Post

i did mine today and it was very easyafter i took out the two clips and one screw peeled back the fender well( takes some muscle but it wont break) i could see the back of the light and took off the cover and thats when i started with some problems the space was just to small so i decided to take off the wheel but as i started to jack up the car and unload the suspension there was enough room to complete everything took me a while on the first side but after i jacked up the car took me less than 5 minutes to do the other side

weightpushr7
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2007 5:59 am
Car: 03 G35 Sedan, 64 Chevy Truck, 07 ZO6

Post

Cali 2 Balti G wrote:It takes a total of 9 screws and the clips to totally detach the wheel liner.. Again I left the wheel on so i figured i would detach the liner to gain as much access as possible. OK so we pretty much have to remove the front wheels.

This is why I wonder if it would be easier to just remove the whole headlight assembly - has anyone done this. This is what I had to do on my Dodge Ram - I thought THAT was a hassle - it has suddenly become easier.

This is definitley a time consuming project so be fore warned. Bright side is that if I decide it is not worth it - I can use the same 9003 bulbs for my wife's Honda Oddessy - the lights on this van seem pretty dim so should be a big improvement.

Weightpusher - why did you remove the HID light - did you replace it. Or did you need to do that to gain access to the Fog Light?
I replaced the HID. Actually last night on the fourth I got pulled for my new HIDs and fogs but I had the box from them still in the car and right on the front it said "DOT Approved" so the guy let me go. They are really bright and a good color but they were expensive. IF you take the wheel off (I have a hydraulic jack and powered tools to take off the wheels so it took no time or hassle for me really then all you have to do is take off 1 screw (towards the top) and 4 of those little clip things and it is pretty easy. The fogs were below the HIDs but I changed my fogs as well and now I need that other little light that stays on changed as I just noticed it was out when I walked to the front of my car with the police officer last night. I think he let me go because I had my buddy and two girls with me and I was the DD. They are ridiculously strict about lights/tint (mine is as close to limo as it can get) around here.

Now I'm working on taking the "cloudy" look off the plastic on my headlights. My car has ALWAYS been garaged and taken good care of and it ticks me off my lights are like that.

joe603
Posts: 10166
Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 5:45 am
Car: 2014 Durango R/T
Location: Atlanta

Post

just use some plastic cleaner...the fog will go away

User avatar
infinititech1
Posts: 833
Joined: Sun Jul 30, 2006 1:47 pm

Post

i never took the wheel off

it does make it easier tho. and you don't need to remove the screw for the clip holding the bulb in. just undo the clip.

User avatar
Andy_V35Sky_350GT
Posts: 521
Joined: Sat Feb 03, 2007 5:23 pm
Car: 2003 Nissan Skyline 350GT

Post

Ugh, what a *****, my dad just mentioned (had to move my car to get is freaking Murano out) that one of my low beam bulbs is gone, so I gotta replace it.

Sounds like a real ***** to change. Does anyone have a link to 'stock' bulbs I can buy online? I'd prefer to only change one instead of both, so getting a bulb thats the same as the stock ones would be good.


User avatar
infinititech1
Posts: 833
Joined: Sun Jul 30, 2006 1:47 pm

Post

i'll sell you one real cheap.... email me at [email protected]

User avatar
Andy_V35Sky_350GT
Posts: 521
Joined: Sat Feb 03, 2007 5:23 pm
Car: 2003 Nissan Skyline 350GT

Post

Ugh, I know this is really petty, but I've spent the last 45 minutes trying to find bulbs online, but I'm pretty sure I'm getting confused with what you Americans refer to as 'fog lights', so I am unsure as to which bulbs to purchase. Are fog lights 'high beams, low beam, or something different all together?

The only ones I could find that were listed for a G35 were the PIAA Star Whites H4, but they were 'high beam' bulbs only, and I'm assuming you cant use them in all applications.

I just need 'low beams' (as in regular lights, the light at the top). I have HID foggies in the front lip.

USAF_G35_Guy
Posts: 386
Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:31 am
Car: 2003 G35 Coupe 6MT

Post

So is there a way to remove the whole light assembly like Cali 2 Balti G mentioned? Or is it one of those....gotta remove the front bumper cover to get to the lower assembly mounts. My car is lowered and has bigger rims so I have even less room unless I remove the whole wheel.....which I may do anyways and do a few other things while I have the car jacked up...

User avatar
infinititech1
Posts: 833
Joined: Sun Jul 30, 2006 1:47 pm

Post

best way to get the whole assembly out is to remove the bumper...which isn't very hard to do...i usually had one off in like 5 to 10 min

USAF_G35_Guy
Posts: 386
Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:31 am
Car: 2003 G35 Coupe 6MT

Post

Cool thx! I-tech1. I may need to remove the bumper anyways to change my aftermarket fog lights (Greddy front bumper) This is the first time they've burned out as well....so it looks like I may have a project on my hands this weeked!....grr, all this just for changing bulbs,

User avatar
infinititech1
Posts: 833
Joined: Sun Jul 30, 2006 1:47 pm

Post

the bumper is pretty easy to get off. take off all the screws on the top under the hood, there are 2 bolts on each side under the fender (10 mm) and just unbolt it from the under cover and it will slide right off. i used a long extension and swivel to get the 2 ones in the fender cause they are the most difficult to get to

Brabusx2
Posts: 43
Joined: Sun Jun 22, 2008 7:39 pm
Car: 2002 C230 coupe, 2005 G35

Post

just got mine done yesterday...

i screw up on the first time... i stupidly removed the 3 screw that is holding on the metal ring

and it was supereasy if you don't but just undo the "clip"

Guycomplex
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2009 10:33 am
Car: Infiniti G35 Sedan

Post

Andy,

Nice rims on that coupe. What are they and where can I get a look at buying some. Ive got a sedan and think they'd work.

Thanks,


Return to “G35 and G37 General Discussions”