Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hi Guys,

A few questions here regarding the headlights on the M35.

1. For a while now I've had problems with the headlights cutting out (many times every time I drive it). It used to be only the passenger side lamp and figured I could swap the ballasts over to see if that's the problem however now it's both so I guess that isn't an option any more. I am assuming it's the ballast anyway but any thoughts as to how I would tell given that both cut out (at separate intervals - not at the same time).

2. Any one know what ballasts we can use? Preferably cheap ones? Or official model numbers?

3. I personal find the lamps pretty dull (doesn't help that you can't adjust them any higher than about 2ft in front of the car), any suggestions for a brighter bulb?

4. My passenger side parker lamp is also out, does anyone know the model number or aftermarket options?

Sorry about all the questions but any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks all,

haha yeh tried that just doesn't get quite high enough imo. Might just be a preference thing or the whole unit is badly aligned. Or I was just recently in a late model RX-8 and got jealous of the perfect line those things throw across the horizon. Amazing!

You can get cheaper ballasts of eBay and xenon burners aswell both for pritty cheap I got some bulds there before had a problem with them cutting out but it generally the bulbs going not the ballasts. I got 10000k bulbs super bright great light dispersion aswell but don't last asking as OEM ones but are 1/10 the price $8 for two so I just bought 6 pairs one pair lasts about a year.

You can get cheaper ballasts of eBay and xenon burners aswell both for pritty cheap I got some bulds there before had a problem with them cutting out but it generally the bulbs going not the ballasts. I got 10000k bulbs super bright great light dispersion aswell but don't last asking as OEM ones but are 1/10 the price $8 for two so I just bought 6 pairs one pair lasts about a year.

That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Thanks!

10000k are far too blue; even 6000k are getting too blue in my opinion.

You want 4200k for the best light dispersion. Coincidentally this is what they use from the factory.

if the switch inside is at the highest point they you will need to adjust them by screwing the plastic nut on the back of your lights( it is on the little motor attached to the rear of your headlights).

Do HID bulbs need replacing after a periosd of time? I saw on another unrelated forum a discussion about replacing HID bulbs after a few years as they begin to lose their brightness, does this sound right? Mine are fine (I think) but they are 10 years old and I will replace them if they are a consumable item. The discussion was around BMW HID bulbs in cars built around the same time as m35.

They will lose brightness over time, but seriously, how many hours a day do you use them on average? They might last years longer, and at the price of OEM burners I would keep the old ones a little longer.

Fair enough I think mine are ok but not as powerful as I'd hoped but as you say I don't use mine much. I'm in no hurry to replace them and thought I'd ask as I hadn't heard that the lose brightness over time previously. What are new bulbs worth anyway?

  • 3 weeks later...

New bulbs surely produce more light!

always running with lights on (law tells so even in shiny days)

3 month ago i replaced oem bulbs (i believe factory ones, never changed before) with Osram 66050 (d2r for OEM installation), 50USD/pair - difference is visible

6000k bulbs put out an icy white light with a hint of blue. Sunlight is typically around the 4500k (white spectra), hence why manufacturers use that figure. The higher you go in k number, light quality reduces. 8-10,000k is useless as its in the violet spectra.

Not sure why Nissan, in their wisdom went with a spread reflector instead of a projector type lense.

In saying that, I converted my R32 to HID with the projector type lense & the the light dispersion was crap, nowhere near as sharp as it was in my E30 BMW (I ran 6500k & halogen high beam on the highway was not needed!). So in saying that, the reflector setup inside the projector has alot to do with how well the transfer of light occurs.

From memory, in my C34 S2 they are D1R or D2R 6500k, bought off ebay (china) around 2yrs ago, & still going strong.

  • 2 years later...
On 23/01/2014 at 0:56 PM, scotty nm35 said:

They will lose brightness over time, but seriously, how many hours a day do you use them on average? They might last years longer, and at the price of OEM burners I would keep the old ones a little longer.

Should have told richzx to replace them lol. Now i'm in charge of replacement so they lasted a further 2 years and 9 months.

Edited by stripey
update names

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • As discussed in the previous post, the bushes in the 110 needed replacing. I took this opportunity to replace the castor bushes, the front lower control arm, lower the car and get the alignment dialled in with new tyres. I took it down to Alignment Motorsports on the GC to get this work done and also get more out of the Shockworks as I felt like I wasn't getting the full use out of them.  To cut a very long story short, it ended up being the case the passenger side castor arm wouldn't accept the brand new bush as the sleeve had worn badly enough to the point you could push the new bush in by hand and completely through. Trying a pair of TRD bushes didn't fix the issue either (I had originally gone with Hardrace bushes). We needed to urgently source another castor arm, and thankfully this was sourced and the guys at the shop worked on my car until 7pm on a Saturday to get everything done. The car rides a lot nicer now with the suspension dialled in properly. Lowered the car a little as well to suit the lower profile front tyres, and just bring the car down generally. Eternally thankful for the guys down at the shop to get the car sorted, we both pulled big favours from our contacts to get it done on the Saturday.  Also plugged in the new Stedi foglights into the S15, and even from a quick test in the garage I'm keen to see how they look out on the road. I had some concerns about the length of the LED body and whether it'd fit in the foglight housing but it's fine.  I've got a small window coming up next month where I'll likely get a little paint work done on the 110 to remove the rear wing, add a boot wing and roof wing, get the side skirt fixed up and colour match the little panel on the tail lights so that I can install some badges that I've kept in storage. I'm also tempted to put in a new pair of headlights on the 110.  Until then, here's some more pictures from Easter this year. 
    • I would put a fuel pressure gauge between the filter and the fuel rail, see if it's maintaining good fuel pressure at idle going up to the point when it stalls. Do you see any strange behavior in commanded fuel leading up to the point when it stalls? You might have to start going through the service manual and doing a long list of sensor tests if it's not the fuel system for whatever reason.
    • Hi,  Just joined the forum so I could share my "fix" of this problem. Might be of use to someone. Had the same hunting at idle issue on my V36 with VQ35HR engine after swapping the engine because the original one got overheated.  While changing the engine I made the mistake of cleaning the throttle bodies and tried all the tricks i could find to do a throttle relearn with no luck. Gave in and took it to a shop and they couldn't sort it. Then took it to my local Nissan dealership and they couldn't get it to idle properly. They said I'd need to replace the throttle bodies and the ecu probably costing more than the car is worth. So I had the idea of replacing the carbon I cleaned out with a thin layer of super glue and it's back to normal idle now. Bit rough but saved the car from the wreckers 🤣
    • After my last update, I went ahead with cleaning and restoring the entire fuel system. This included removing the tank and cleaning it with the Beyond Balistics solution, power washing it multiple times, drying it thoroughly, rinsing with IPA, drying again with heat gun and compressed air. Also, cleaning out the lines, fuel rail, and replacing the fuel pump with an OEM-style one. During the cleaning process, I replaced several hoses - including the breather hose on the fuel tank, which turned out to be the cause of the earlier fuel leak. This is what the old fuel filter looked like: Fuel tank before cleaning: Dirty Fuel Tank.mp4   Fuel tank after cleaning (some staining remains): Clean Fuel Tank.mp4 Both the OEM 270cc and new DeatschWerks 550cc injectors were cleaned professionally by a shop. Before reassembling everything, I tested the fuel flow by running the pump output into a container at the fuel filter location - flow looked good. I then fitted the new fuel filter and reassembled the rest of the system. Fuel Flow Test.mp4 Test 1 - 550cc injectors Ran the new fuel pump with its supplied diagonal strainer (different from OEM’s flat strainer) and my 550cc injectors using the same resized-injector map I had successfully used before. At first, it idled roughly and stalled when I applied throttle. Checked the spark plugs and found that they were fouled with carbon (likely from the earlier overly rich running when the injectors were clogged). After cleaning the plugs, the car started fine. However, it would only idle for 30–60 seconds before stalling, and while driving it would feel like a “fuel cut” after a few seconds - though it wouldn’t fully stall. Test 2 – Strainer swap Suspecting the diagonal strainer might not be reaching the tank bottom, I swapped it for the original flat strainer and filled the tank with ~45L of fuel. The issue persisted exactly the same. Test 3 – OEM injectors To eliminate tuning variables, I reinstalled the OEM 270cc injectors and reverted to the original map. Cleaned the spark plugs again just in-case. The stalling and “fuel cut” still remained.   At this stage, I suspect an intermittent power or connection fault at the fuel pump hanger, caused during the cleaning process. This has led me to look into getting Frenchy’s fuel hanger and replacing the unit entirely. TL;DR: Cleaned and restored the fuel system (tank, lines, rail, pump). Tested 550cc injectors with the same resized-injector map as before, but the car stalls at idle and experiences what feels like “fuel cut” after a few seconds of driving. Swapped back to OEM injectors with original map to rule out tuning, but the issue persists. Now suspecting an intermittent power or connection fault at the fuel pump hanger, possibly cause by the cleaning process.  
×
×
  • Create New...