I have a 1993 nissan 300zx (non-turbo) and one of the fog light bulbs went out. How do you change the bulb without going to a dealership or a mechanic?
Take out the small screws that hold your turn signal/marker lights on. This will allow you to reach in and undo the three (if I remember right) 10mm nuts on the back of the fog housings that hold them in the bumper. Once they're removed, press on the back of the fog housing and the foglight assembly will pop out of the bumper. Then you can replace the bulbs.
What I did on my Z is something you might consider - while I had them out, I took them apart (just a couple screws and bolts, very easy). Open it up so that you have access to the glare guard - the cup that sits in front of the bulb. This blocks forward projection of the light, and instead bounces it onto the reflector to be spread very wide (but not far forward) in a fog beam pattern. I used pliers to physically break the guard off the housing, so that instead of a wide, shallow fog pattern, I had a forward-projecting driving beam. I also swapped the 35w OEM bulbs for 55w higher-output superwhite bulbs (this increase in power consumption is not enough to cause any risk to the wiring or fusing, by the way - it worked for years for me). Then put them back together and reinstall them - you'll find a drastically improved light pattern for night driving, and they're still low enough to the road to cut under most fog. Especially since I always felt that the Z headlights were pretty pathetic for output (at least until I installed HID lighting), this was a great mod to make to the car.
Glad to help you out, and thank you for the endorsement:) Did you upgrade to the higher-wattage bulbs and remove the glare guards? If not, try it out when you have 30 minutes or so to spare. It'll make a great difference.
As for HID retrofitting, it's a basic plug-and-play application. Any of a million vendors on eBay sell the kits, and you can buy from almost any of them with no worries. Try to find a kit that comes with auxiliary relay harnesses though - the Philips kit that I put in the car didn't need them, but I've seen other kits that required them in order for the ballasts to fire up and ignite the bulbs.
Typical pricing for them now is well under $100 including shipping (a friend just bought a set for $64 shipped). For the Z, the specs that matter are:
9006 bulb bases (same as OEM low beam halogens)
D2S style (for projector lamps, which I believe all HID bulbs are now D2S style)
color temperature between 4300k and 6000k - any lower than 4300k and the light is very yellow, and higher than 6000k it looks really brilliantly blue (or purple, if you get above 12,000k) but the actual light output is very weak, worse than halogen. I use 6000k in my Audi and love them - they have a definite blue tinge to them but the light on the road is pure rich white. 4300k is the color of natural sunlight and will be a crystal white color. Either is great - you won't believe the difference in visibility.
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I just want to say thank you VERY MUCH to j_del for his EXPERT advise on how to change my fog light bulb on my 1993 300ZX. It was PERFECT! He was right on EXACTLY on the steps on how to do it. And just like as he stated it was very easy to it. I HIGHLY recommend j_del for his expert advice. Hats off to you j_del...And he is absolutely right on how pathetic the stock headlights for these Z model years from'90-'96 are...especially I depend on wearing my eye glasses at nigh for driving.
Hey j_del how much did it cost you to upgrade your Z HID headlights? And what did you do accomplish the job?
Hello Again j_del!
As usual I want to thank you for you advise. I will do the things that you have mentioned and will keep you posted once I have installed the HID lights on my car. And as you have suggestged I also removed the "glare guards" on the fog lights and you are absolutely right! What a BIG difference it made to my fog lights...I can definitley see MORE now @ night...Thanks again my friend!
easiest way to change the bulbs on the front fog lights.?
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