Update 6/18: New HIDS! SBK03SE Intro and Build Thread.

[SBK03SE]

Hi, I'm Dave, just got an r50 03 SE 4x2 Only 86k mi. I bought it from the original owner.
Fully loaded minus heated seats unless I just don't know where the buttons are
It's got some scratches on the front and rear bumper but I'm still a student so I have bigger priorities to worry about.

I have been browsing the forum for a while and I'm glad to join this family. I hope to learn a lot more and help others as I can.
I'm coming from a w163 ML320, and I must say the interior on the Pathy is quite impressive!
I regularly drive an 06 Murano SL and I have to say both of them drive similarly, despite the car-like design on the Murano.
I'm thoroughly satisfied with the power I'm getting as my old ML320 always left something to be desired.
I'm loving the reclining rear seats + DVD player = win!

The only mods on my list are:
FX-R HID Retrofits which are running me just under 800$. Already ordered Well worth it in my opinion (Youtube FX-R Retrofit).
Exhaust tips. The sound is sufficient for now.
Someday upgrade to 18" Murano wheels, I'm an OEM+ kinda guy.

As far as gas prices go, coming from the Premium Only ML, I'm going to enjoy being able to put Mid-grade regularly and when the wallet is fat enough Premium. I read a couple posts on here noting the negligible MPG gains. The only noted difference was in revving and acceleration which I can live with.

I have only one problem so far, it seems the interior lights in the front (Instrument, Radio etc) Go completely off when I turn the headlights on. What could be the issue? Clearly, I will need the Dash to be lit up else I can't drive at night. Maybe I hit a button or something? Help please.

Also, the plastic piece on the back right of my roof rack is broken, where can I find a replacement?

Here are some pics:

[Towncivilian]

Welcome to NICO!

Verify the dimmer switch to the left of the steering wheel is at maximum. The roof piece you may be able to find at a junkyard. I can't find anything about the roof rack on Courtesy Parts.

Immaculate interior! I noticed that the bracket for a front license plate is still on your vehicle, you can remove it with a 10mm socket if you wish.

Something you may want to consider is replacing most of the bulbs in the interior with LEDs. You can see some pictures of my setup here. And be sure to change your cabin air filter if it looks nasty; it's often overlooked.

[Innovazn]

What town said, Welcome to nico.

Be sure to post pictures of the retrofits once you get them. Off and on the vehicle

[SBK03SE]

@Innov, Definitely will post pictures. I'm expecting them Jun 6th. He had to order a second pair of headlights for me.
In New York I have to have the plates in front. I haven't registered it yet, I just got her today !
Thanks! I fiddled with that dimmer switch when I first put it in the driveway, had no idea what it was!


@town, yea the interior sold me! I got an amazing deal from the private seller. I was the first of like 15 appointments he had and I knew I could not pass it up. It just needs a vacuuming and some TLC but it's beautiful!
I LOVE your LEDs, I'm scared to mess with the instrument panel though. Some of those posts scared me. I'll definitely read that post and order the right lights though. These stock lights look VERY dim even at max.
I'll only do the dash and the dome lights.

Thanks already! I'm about 40 pages in the forum, only about 100 more to go. I'm a good noob Two more questions:
1) Is it normal when you open the driver door only the back seat lights come on? Is there a switch I may have inadvertently flipped?
2) I read somewhere on one of the threads about the horn beep when you lock the car. It's currently set to honk, I live in a quiet neighborhood, home for the summer, I come home at odd hours, don't wanna wake the neighbors. How do I turn it off so it's just the blinkers?

[Towncivilian]

To turn off the beeping of your remote, press and hold both lock and unlock buttons until the lights flash on the Pathfinder.

Only the two dome lights illuminate if set to "DOOR" and a door is ajar. The map lights are not wired to do that.

For the LEDs, you only need five 74-CWHP3 bulbs; one for each gauge, and one for the odometer. I have two of 3022-CWHP4 for use in the dome lights.

[SBK03SE]

Oh ok. I see the Dash isn't too hard, I'll order the stuff tonight.
I want to do the Map lights too, are they the same bulbs as the domes?

Thank you very much for the specific links and help so far!

[Towncivilian]

The map lights are BA9s. I have BA9s-CWHP6, but these are not ideal as when installed fully in the sockets only one LED is pointing downwards. To remedy this, my map lights are not fully twisted to lock in their socket, so more light is dispersed. I highly suggest that you get a bulb with a 360 degree angle such as BA9s-WHP9. While they're double the cost of my bulbs, they should provide much more even light output.

For the gauge and odometer lights, I didn't even need to disconnect and remove my instrument cluster. My hands are small enough that I am easily able to replace all bulbs in the cluster by tilting the cluster to one side or the other. I replaced the illumination and all warning lamps, but I believe your 2003 already uses LEDs for every warning lamp, and the only incandescent with accessible twist bases (without further disassembly) are the illumination spots. I will look in the FSM to verify this.

EDIT: Per page EL-125, everything is LED except for illumination, turn signals, and brights indicator. If you'd like, you can get a couple 74-GHP and a 74-BHP (same page) to replace those with high-power LEDs too. LEDs should last for the rest of the vehicle's life unless they are defective.

[SBK03SE]

So my order looks like this
3022-xHP4: 4 High Power LED Festoon Bulb (Quantity: 2) DOME LIGHTS
74-xHP3: Wedge Base LED bulb (Quantity: 5) DASH LIGHTS

My dash is an 03.
Is my order correct?
I only wanna change these 4 gauges like this guy:

[Towncivilian]

I saw your other post about the potential differing bulb size. As I am unsure, you should hold off your order for now until someone can clear it up. Your dome lights are certainly correct, though. If you'd like a cooler white color output (as seen in my pictures), you'd pick the cool white emitting color when ordering, whereas the warm light option would probably look more similar to the incandescent bulbs.

[SBK03SE]

UPDATE, retrofit is coming along great. Need your opinions.... Pic 1 or Pic 2?
Pic 1


Pic 2

[Chris.m]

Pic 2, It looks more stock

[patqx4]

pic 2...

[SBK03SE]

Pic 2 it is, Chris.m, do you have the regular eBay clear corners? In your avatar, they look better than the normal ones. Or is it that you are using a stealth bulb? I'm going for a euro look sort of like yours.

[VQPathy01]

@ SBK03SE

Did you by chance happen to get those retrofits done through LightWerkz? I've been talking to them for the past couple of weeks in regards to having my headlights done as well. Just need to save up a bit more $$$$

[SBK03SE]

Naw, mine was with BlackFlameCustoms. It's totally worth it, once I'm installed I'll post pics. I'm trying to find silverlight bulbs for the corners (ambers) so it'll look all clear.

[Chris.m]

Pic 2 it is, Chris.m, do you have the regular eBay clear corners? In your avatar, they look better than the normal ones. Or is it that you are using a stealth bulb? I'm going for a euro look sort of like yours.

I just have the Ebay corners. In this thread I talk about them; led-on-pathfinder-t528342.html

I also don't have the stealth bulbs, just the orange ones.

My PF just looks better than most because its green-the best color

On a side note I have yet to see another green one on NICO. hmm I'm special.

[GRNMACHINE]

Nice Path-I agree Pic 2.

Chris-mine's Green (although flares and bumpers are grey...)

[SBK03SE]

Some more pics before baking and mounting!
HID p0rn!







I'm excited!


Ignore>>>
for Google search:
R50 Pathfinder FX-R Retrofit by BlackFlameCustoms
Bi-xenon projector

[Chris.m]

Chris-mine's Green (although flares and bumpers are grey...)

GRNMACHINE... yup probably should have figured that one out myself


And Nice lights SBK03SE, I think they even look better than the OEM Terrano ones --> my-new-headlights-t532883.html?hilit=terrano

[sicwitit]

I'm impressed! If I hadn't of gone the route I did with the Terrano lights, I would of done something similar! keep up the good work, and post up some pics of them illuminated at night, maybe against a wall or something.

Cheers

[rydebynite]

Pic 2 it is, Chris.m, do you have the regular eBay clear corners? In your avatar, they look better than the normal ones. Or is it that you are using a stealth bulb? I'm going for a euro look sort of like yours.

I just have the Ebay corners. In this thread I talk about them; led-on-pathfinder-t528342.html

I also don't have the stealth bulbs, just the orange ones.

My PF just looks better than most because its green-the best color

On a side note I have yet to see another green one on NICO. hmm I'm special.

hmmm you know im actually do for a paint job and i was thinking about going green

[ganesh21]

Head light look great.

SBK03SE - i pickup by headlight from blackcustom today. I when with all black. I saw you headlight today when i went to pick up mys. They look great.

[SBK03SE]

DUDE! I knew the other person had to be on here! I saw yours too, I like them! You should post up some pics too! How was the install? Was it hard?

[ganesh21]

This installation was straight forward. Only problem i had was unbolting one of the bolt under the headlight. It took me about 10 minutes to remove the bolt on the bottom on each side.

Remove the grill - 5 clips. 2 on each end and one in the middle.

Remove the corner light - 1 bolt - size ten socket

Remove the headlight - 2 nut on the side - outer. One bolt on the end side.

Remove the piece under the headlight - one size 10 bolt.

I unbolt the washer and over flow bottle to have more room.

I will post more picture of the installation.

Enjoy the picture.

[ganesh21]

Picture of Before and After.

Before:









After

[SBK03SE]

Amazing! Your left cutoff is low though, the cutoffs have to overlap.

You know, I always meant to comment, we have pretty sharp cutoffs for reflectors stock.

[01silvapathy]

Sure the light output is great but it just does not look right on the front of the truck.

[ganesh21]

Amazing! Your left cutoff is low though, the cutoffs have to overlap.

You know, I always meant to comment, we have pretty sharp cutoffs for reflectors stock.

I have to adjust the left light only tonight.

The cutoffs for the reflectors are really good on the stock headlight. I never notice it until i was doing a comparison.

[ganesh21]

Amazing! Your left cutoff is low though, the cutoffs have to overlap.

You know, I always meant to comment, we have pretty sharp cutoffs for reflectors stock.

It might look a dark in the picture but in person it looks great.

[SBK03SE]

I meant alignment wise. I got mine installed today, pics in a few! Crappy cell phone pics and then I'll get some output shots later tonight.