(This is the 5W light bulb that glows dimly when you have your parking lights on)....never knew it was a "clearance bulb", until I opened my manual to see what the part # was. The manual doesn't even tell you how to replace it...it says to bring it to an authorizied Infiniti dealer ! WTF?! It's a $2.00 light bulb and we need to bring it to the dealer to replace it?

Anyways, just how easy is it to replace it? Has anyone done it? Mine burnt out a few weeks ago, I've already bought the replacement bulbs and I THOUGHT the research I did was going to get me thru it......I was wrong. Mind you, I was only able to find a thread that was for the coupe (yeah, I know the coupe has a clearance light strip/bar vs. the interior bulb that we have on the sedans, but I thought it would be similar).

So I attempted to replace the bulb first by going thru the engine bay. I really couldn't find a way to access it whatsoever . I was able to wiggle the part that the bulb is mounted to (by seeing light move within headlight lense)...but that's about it. Then I attempted the same way the Coupe owners get to theirs (by removing the wheel well cover and turning the wheels for easy access), but the Coupe's light bar is on the outer part of the headlight, whereas ours is on the inner part (towards center of car). After doing so, there was still no way to get in there to actually SEE how it is connected to the headlight housing. I too was able to reach my hand in there and feel kind of where the light was mounted to, but still couldn't figure it out. Lastly, I unbolted one of the bolts that holds the headlight in place (from the engine bay), but it turns out that there are more bolts holding that in (as I suspected). I then......GAVE UP, and put everything back together again. I really don't want to have to bring my car into the dealer just to replace this $2.00 part.....that would be OBSURD!!!

I'm hoping I'm just an idiot and that it's a very simple process!

HELP!

 

Wait till tomorrow evening and I'll email you pictures of how to take it out. Thats assuming I can get the camera to fit into the thing Its actually a pain in the butt to find and remove if you don't know what your looking for. I had to change out the bulb when I put in White LEDs.

 

Thanks RXM....I'll P.M. you my email address!

 

Can you just post here? i am switching out my interior lights too and am intrested to see what u guys are talking about... im more of a pic person.. thx

 

Sure, I can post it here but the thread will probably get moved to the D.I.Y. forum. Tomorrow will be tricky because of scheduling issues but I will do my best to get the pictures taken tomorrow.

 

Can we change any of the bulbs ourselves? The Service manual has this list of things that need to be removed, bumper cover being one of them, is this true? Give me my '68 Mustang back, LOL!

 

If we were to just take it to the dealership and have them change it, how much are they trying to charge by the way? I'm too lazy to go under the wheel well to just change a light bulb.

 

Hmmm...good question. I could always give a ring just to find out. My guess though would be they wouldn't let me use the bulbs I already bought, they'd mark the part to say $10-$15, and probably charge the hourly rate for service, as I doubt a bulb is covered under warranty? (wear & tear)?

Wanalaugh74 - it's not an interior bulb....read my post...it's the small glowing bulb that is illuminated when you're running/parking lights are on.....it's located within the headlight or foglight housing, and I think it also stays on dimly lit when your headlights are on too.

 

That's fine...no big deal. Pls. tell me thought that I won't have to go thru the hassle of removing the wheel well again & I can just access it thru the engine bay?

 

I was unable to access it through the engine bay. Trust me, I tried to find the easiest way to do it and its through the fender well. I got called into work today and I won't be able to get off until 9pm. I'll try and take the pictures with the camera still when I get home. I put white leds into the clearance light and it came out sharp.

Again, its easy if you know what your looking for and takes less than 5 minutes a side to locate, remove, and reinstall the thing.

 

Sounds good man....no worries....as long as you post it before next year! Now you have me curious as to what your white LED's look like. Wanna snap some shots @ night w/ those too? ( w/ just the parking lights on ) Sounds like it'll look good.

 

I'm looking to replace my bulbs too. Both of them were off but when I replaced on of the side marker lenses, one of the clearance lights came back on. It would have been better if they both stayed off.

 

Sorry bout not gettin back to you sooner, but my sister's car got hit in a parking lot by someone who backed out of their spot while she was at work. Unfortunately, the person who hit my sister's car drove off even though there was a cop in the parking lot! We just got the car back, I'll snap those photos as soon as possible.

 

RXM was able to provide me w/ the DIY instructions, as he emailed them to me with the photos. I haven't yet done it myself, as I am awaiting some white LED's to replace my stock bulbs, but here are his instructions:

1. Turn the wheel facing towards the engine compartment
2. Remove the three screws from the fender wall lining, thats all that you need to remove
3. Peel back the fender wall lining, its actually pretty tough to peel back but don't worry about using a heavy hand that thing is built well
4. Holding your hand horizontally, cup the fog/high beam light in the back of the headlight and wrap your fingers to the inside of the headlight toward the engine. You should feel a little tab that lies right next to the fog/highbeam. To know if your holding the right tab, eyeball the outside of the headlight looking in at the bulb from the front of the car and wiggle around the tab and see if the lightbulb is moving around too, it should be able to move.
5. Grab the tab and turn it counter clockwise and yank it out.
6. Replace bulb and stick the thing back in.
7. Sticking it back in is actually pretty tricky, your going to have a hard time finding the hole again so what I recommend u doing is feeling for the whole with your finger and trying to guide the light back in.

Good luck!

 

my sedan with Hyper white leds for running/parking lights. they didnt come out as good on camera.