Changing headlight bulbs

[joel mochnaly]

How do I remove the bulbs?

[Scuba Steve]

Ahh Dude....open your glove box and read the owners manual.

[proxim2020]

Ahh Dude....open your glove box and read the owners manual.

Looks like Scuba Steve didn't bother opening the manual before posting.

"HEADLIGHTSReplacing the halogen headlight bulbThe headlight is a semi-sealed beam type whichuses a replaceable headlight (halogen) bulb.They can be replaced from inside the enginecompartment without removing the headlight assembly.See a NISSAN dealer for replacing the headlights."

Anyway, there should be rubber seals there. Pull those seals off. You'll see 2 clips holding to bulb. Unhook these and the bulb should come out.

[BBISHOPPCM]

He might be one of the guys who was screwed out of an owners manual when he bought his car! To replace the front headlights, look at the bulb and look in a straight line and down, directly behind it. You will see a large round plug with wires sticking out of it. Feel around, it's there. Unplug the electrical connection and pull the plug out. It'll be a bit tricky, but it's accessible, unlike many other cars.

[Scuba Steve]

My apology!! I have the service manual and got confused with the user manual that comes with the car, once again.....sorry!!

[dharford]

Has anyone tried upgrading their bulbs to Philips X-treme Power. Philips says that the bulb is a High performance headlamps that produce up to 80% more light than standard halogens.

http://www.xp-lamp.com/more-light.php?lc=en

[VersaMG08]

I upgraded to the Sylvania Silverstar Ultra bulbs. These ones are rated at 4100k compared to standard halogen at 3100k. Overall, it's more of a true white compared to the yellowish looking color on regular bulbs.

http://www.sylvania.com/conten...96562h ... um...s.htm

They make ones for turn signals too, take a look at them. Honestly, I would rather have an HID kit that outputs 6000k like the ones McCulloch sells, they're not street legal though.

[skiski329]

are there hid's for the versa?

[VersaMG08]

McCulloch has HID kits for vehicles that use a specific bulb size. The V uses a H4/9003 bulb, so it will work. This site has HID kits with different colors spectrum from 3000k to 12000k. Installation isn't very difficult, just remember they're NOT street legal.

A lot of the Honda Fit owners especially on fitfreak.net like to use 6000k HID kits because they're closer to being pure white and you can't notice the different from regular halogen bulbs.

http://www.xenonking.com/Mccul....html

[Red Devil]

McCulloch has HID kits for vehicles that use a specific bulb size. The V uses a H4/9003 bulb, so it will work. This site has HID kits with different colors spectrum from 3000k to 12000k. Installation isn't very difficult, just remember they're NOT street legal.

A lot of the Honda Fit owners especially on fitfreak.net like to use 6000k HID kits because they're closer to being pure white and you can't notice the different from regular halogen bulbs.

http://www.xenonking.com/Mccul....html

If you would upgrade to HID's on the Versa you'd have a big problem. The H4 bulbs on the Versa have high and low filaments. This is to allow for the High and Low beams to be contained into 1 bulb. Hence the 3 pins(1 high, 1 low and the ground). The problem with the HID kits is that, unless otherwise specified, they only have the low beam.

If they do have a hi/lo H4 HID kit you need to be aware of some differences in those as well. Some HID's have a small halogen bulb for the high beam. Those high beams are absolutely useless( I know, I bought a cheap kit for my 240). The other kind of hi/lo kit is a Bi-Xenon. Be prepared for a price increase though.

Personally? I upgraded to the Silverstar Ultras. There's a noticable difference from the stock halogens. Unless you want the "look" that HID's produce, I'd go with these. It's cheaper to replace a bulb or 2 of these than to replace the ballast or bulbs of HID's. And you won't get people flashing their high beams at you.

[Ginsu]

And you won't get people flashing their high beams at you.

Yeah. That sucks. I made a long trip in a friend's car one time. I'm not sure what he had installed up front, but I was soon wishing that I could drive with no lights on at all. It was so annoying--almost everyone I passed was flashing me and I was constantly flashing them back being like, "You think THAT's bright? check this out!" It was very frustrating.

[Shad0wXCalibur]

http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=1404

65/70 watt Osram hypers. If you want an upgrade bulb, there you go. They are brighter and last longer than Silverstars for the same price. They get good reviews all over other car forums. The slight wattage increase isn't enough to damage anything.

[my_new_v]

65/70 watt Osram hypers. If you want an upgrade bulb, there you go. They are brighter and last longer than Silverstars for the same price. They get good reviews all over other car forums. The slight wattage increase isn't enough to damage anything.

He just fails to mention that the Osram Hypers are made by the same company and no different from each other. They are the exact same bulb...just different names.

If you would upgrade to HID's on the Versa you'd have a big problem. The H4 bulbs on the Versa have high and low filaments. This is to allow for the High and Low beams to be contained into 1 bulb. Hence the 3 pins(1 high, 1 low and the ground). The problem with the HID kits is that, unless otherwise specified, they only have the low beam.

If they do have a hi/lo H4 HID kit you need to be aware of some differences in those as well. Some HID's have a small halogen bulb for the high beam. Those high beams are absolutely useless( I know, I bought a cheap kit for my 240). The other kind of hi/lo kit is a Bi-Xenon. Be prepared for a price increase though.

Couldnt have said it better myself

Lol but how did this go from replacing a bulb to which bulb is better?

[Shad0wXCalibur]

He just fails to mention that the Osram Hypers are made by the same company and no different from each other. They are the exact same bulb...just different names.

They are the same company but a hyper and silverstar are not the same. A hyper is a clear glass bulb that gets a significant increase in lumens from a slightly higher wattage filament. It's actually not street legal but the nature of a H4 bulb is a very controlled low beam. The silverstar is still legal. I've used them both. Silverstars are whiter but they don't have a big increase in light compared to an OEM bulb (the blue coating actually decreases lumens). They still have a stock wattage filament to be legal. They weren't bright enough and didn't last long enough for me to justify spending that much money on them again. The only downside to hypers is that they only come in h4 and h7. Silverstars are your only choice for other bulb types.

I know the original question wasn't about bulbs themselves but I just thought I'd clear that up since I've used both before...

[my_new_v]

They are the same company but a hyper and silverstar are not the same. A hyper is a clear glass bulb that gets a significant increase in lumens from a slightly higher wattage filament. It's actually not street legal but the nature of a H4 bulb is a very controlled low beam. The silverstar is still legal. I've used them both. Silverstars are whiter but they don't have a big increase in light compared to an OEM bulb (the blue coating actually decreases lumens). They still have a stock wattage filament to be legal. They weren't bright enough and didn't last long enough for me to justify spending that much money on them again. The only downside to hypers is that they only come in h4 and h7. Silverstars are your only choice for other bulb types.

Ok maybe when I researched it I look into the wrong bulb lol. As far as Silverstars go though, Ive heard but not researched that they are one of the longest lasting bulbs made. I can only speak for myself but I like my lights being white loll. I cant stand that orangeish/yellowish tint to them. As far as Silverstars not having a big increase over the OEM lights made me wanna check lol. So tonight Im gunna go see which one is brighter since I still have my factory bulbs.

[my_new_v]

Bah...cant do it tonight...too much rain

[Knightro2]

Bah...cant do it tonight...too much rain

Ha! I love it. You live in the desert area of the US and getting rain. I live in the subtropic area of the US and we haven't had rain in forever! Damn global warming!

[my_new_v]

Lol I know. I love the rain.

[Knightro2]

I miss it. I used to be able to set my watch by it until a few years ago. Right at 3:30 it would pour for about 30 minutes and then be sunny again.

[my_new_v]

Now that is cool! It actually hailed for a few seconds the other night too