Replacing fog light bulbs on a 98 QX4

[roman8389]

New here, and wondering how in the world to replace a fog light bulb on my 1998 QX4.

I took out the plastic grille and popped out the housing assembly, but I can't figure out how to get to the bulb. I read the thread here, but those instructions don't match up with what I see; I assume they are for a Pathfinder and not a QX4. There's a sort of wheel on the back that can be turned to the locked or unlocked position, but after turning it to "unlock," nothing happens. It doesn't pull out (I pulled pretty hard), and there doesn't seem to be any other indication on the housing for how to get to the bulb. I've scoured through the service manual and on dozens of pages on the forums here and have found myself stuck.

Help please?

[909QX4OWNER]

Pretty funny, I was dealing with the same problem yesterday. I was about ready to start prying that cap off the back. For it to twist, it must come off. I'll be keeping my eyes in this thread. Good luck bro !

[roman8389]

I asked the maintenance guy at college here for help, and he did get the cap off the back, but he did it while I wasn't around so I didn't see exactly how it works. He said that he twisted the cap and moved it around a little bit, and it popped off. I don't imagine, then, that it has to be pulled or pried off. When I put it back on after replacing the bulb (which is pretty simple once the cap is off), I had to twist the cap about a centimeter farther than how far it originally wanted to go when I was trying to get it off. It sounds confusing without seeing it in person, but I know that you don't pull/pry it out to remove the cap, it has to be twisted. Maybe yours was like mine and just needed a little more elbow grease when twisting -- I didn't want to break it, so I didn't twist it that hard, but it seems like that's what was necessary.

[909QX4OWNER]

Yeah I figured it out today, just have to twist and pull. There are three little tabs that lock it in. I think the bulb I got was the wrong one. It was an H1

I'm going to pep boys later, will double check bulb. Drama I tell you. Think I need that lens cleaner stuff while I'm at it. The lenses are pretty "foggy"

[roman8389]

Glad you got it figured out. Yeah, it's an H3 bulb in there. Just pull out the "tail" of the current bulb from the rubber sleeve, stick the tail of the new bulb in the sleeve (you'll see copper down in there), then secure the bulb and you're done. The bulb cost me about $8 from Advance Auto Parts. The dealership wanted $82 to put it in!