Thanks harrisot. I've found the hidden screw head by feeling around with my rather large fingers, and the small threaded hole. Now I need to find a thin enough long bladed screwdriver. The ones I have are a touch too wide.

Question, did the little circuit board come out with the LED, the board that iitywybmad mentioned? I'm thinking about trying to replace the diode that he replaced rather than buying a new LED.

Pretty crappy design on Nissan's part, don't you think? Why would you make it so hard to replace a part that's essentially a tail light? Answer: because LEDs are supposed to last long enough that the car will be out of warranty and then owners have to foot the bill for replacement. I was quoted about $400 by my dealer. Ridiculous!

 

I could not have found this thread at a better time. I was upside down feeling the effects of vertigo and had to say the hell with that other screw. I am in the same boat with inspection. I guess i can man up and pull it out and go from there, pay the dealer for the part , go by the cheap brake lite , or just buy and install a spoiler with brake lite in it . Tough decision. Forums are a life saver man.

 

Yep, the little circuit board comes out with it, too. The diode is obvious if you are into re-sodering circuit boards - I'm not and it cost me $140 for the new part and overnighting. We only get 7 days to fix a noncompliance in PA. Very easy to install the new part and with the "easy" screw only it stays in place just fine.

 

Great, I'm going the same route as you did. I'm still looking at the hardware stores for the right screwdriver to fit through that small threaded hole. I'll have some time at the end of the month to work on this. Luckily, I haven't been cited for this yet.

 

I've got a 2003.5 sedan and my CHMSL went out as well. This was like 2yrs ago....and it was still under warranty and the stealership replaced it with a regular filament bulb setup. I didn't notice until several several several months after they had fixed it....i just never bothered to look back there and just thought they'd replace it with an original. I'm guesing that on some G's with some type of electrical problem, the dealership might replace the LED setup with a filament bulb setup for ease of cost or perhaps TSB (i haven't check if a TSB exists though).

I sucks to think that you've got these cool LED taillights but the CHMSL is regular filament. I guess I am not too bothered about it cuz the replaced CHMSL bulb and pattern are not wide and ugly however smaller and looks like a single bulb lit. IMO it's not as offensive. I gues I'll switch it out to LED someday.

 

Replaced the diode has worked so well. So much cheaper than replacing the entire lite.

 

I finally got around to removing my center stop lamp on my '03 sedan. I couldn't get to it through the trunk. The one hidden mounting screw was just not reachable through any of the existing holes in the sheet metal. So I bit the bullet and tore out the back seat and rear parcel shelf, using sliderg35's DIY pictures. Thanks again, slider.

When I got the LED circuit out (forgot to unplug it from the connector above the trunk and almost broke the wires by pulling hard to get the package shelf removed) I found out that my problem is not the cheap little diode that two of you guys were able to replace. I tested the diode with a meter and found that it seems to be working right, open circuit in one direction, closed circuit in the other direction.

I took the part to an electronics store and the guy said that the two middle LEDs are definintely burned out. They look a little different from the good ones, the center dot looks a little darker. I know that the other four LEDs are okay because they light up when I put an ohm meter across them. My electronics store doesn't carry the right LEDs to replace the burned ones, and it would take some destructive disassembly to get them off the circuit board, so I'm not going to try.

So I'm going to pony up the $100 plus change to order a new LED assembly from Everything Nissan/Infiniti Parts USA.com. At least I'll save almost $300 vs going through the stealer.

 

^^^^^^^^^Boomer, I sent you a PM. I have an extra light.

 

Well, I received my shipment from everythingnissan.com of the rear stop light strip, assy 26590-AL500.

Not a big deal to me, but the part has only 2 LEDs, replacing my original part that had 6 LEDs. It lights up just fine and the diffuser spreads the light of the 2 LEDs okay.

I'm just trying to make my car legal, and I'm gonna sell it, so it doesn't matter to me, but I have read on this forum or others that this 2 LED unit is being installed by dealers as a replacement, and some owners don't like the change.

Buyer beware, I guess, though I don't know if you can get the 6 LED unit from dealer parts at all now. A reason to buy from a fellow forum member like Allenzi35, who has removed the original 6 LED strip because he has a spoiler.

Thanks to everyone who helped with DIYs and ideas about getting to this hard-to-reach area.

 

mine has also gone out... i was wondering it is possible to hook up a 4inch CCFL where the lights are suppose to be b/c i did one for the trunk and it is soo much brighter than the stock one....

 

whats the name of your electronic store where you took the leds??

 

OK I started this thread a long time ago and finally revisited it. I solved the problem just recently and here's how, in case this is a help to other owners.

As iitywybmad so cleverly found out, my problem was also the little diode. For reference, the original one says "4007" but I could not find this anywhere. I got a 4005 from RadioShack and went to my local audio/electronics shop to get this installed. He had done some expensive work for me in the past so he did this one for free -- it took him about 5 minutes including testing it.

To get the light out, I employed my daughter who is an engineering student and very flexible. She spent maybe 30 minutes getting it out (yes that second screw is a bear). When we tried to reinstall the next week the screws were nowhere to be found (typical in our home) so she used duct tape and the reinstall took her 15 minutes.

Thanks to iitywybmad for his great discovery! Saved me considerable $$$.

 

Anyone know what the power (watts) of the 36-ohm resistors are? I think they look like about 1w or .5w but not sure.

 

Just my 2 cents, I just "fixed" my LED brake light by repositioning the supply wire whilst my bride stayed on the brake pedal. This of course was after checking the fuse and trying to remove the lamp assy (only got the driver side screw off). So then it was time to spray WD40 into the lamp connecter in the trunk. That seemed to work initially, but it quit working when I reattached lamp mounting screw. That's when I tried fiddleing with the wires for a reposition/connection angle and voila! On it came and I taped, yes taped it in place until such time as I get my new state inspection. Then I can address a more permanent solution. But at least it's not the lamp, and the associated replacement PIA.

 

It could be an issue with the connector but another possibility is the solder joint at the led board where the other end of the connector cables are attached-they can crack which can lead to a loose/intermittent power connection. If the brake light continues to work intermittently (and you haven't blown a fuse), you may have to actually remove the assembly for inspection starting there. One tool I would recommend is a 1/4" driver with a flexible shaft (craftsman makes them) for that second screw. You need to get the philips head positioned just right to actually hold in the screw and not slip out, or of course drill another hole in the interior of your trunk lid .