| gr8wall |
| Can anyone tell me how to remove the tail lights and 3rd brake lights. This is so I can have them tinted (painted). |
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| Dookie |
| Dont know about the tail lights but the third brake light is accessible through the top removeable panel on the hatch... |
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| jaak |
| Pull the black plastic strip off, next to the taillight and it becomes very obvious how it's removed. You'll need to know this, if a bulb burns out! |
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| bob1 |
If anyone has any pics of the tail lights coming off or the upper
brake light please post pics. Sooner or later we are all going to need the bulbs replaced. It is not very evident when looking at the lens as to how to get to the screws.
Thanks Bob1 |
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| jaak |
| Oh, OK, I'll go outside and take some pictures!:D |
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| jaak |
The black plastic cover is held on with two pins. You literally pull it off to expose the two bolts that hold the taillight in.
I've circled the bolts in this picture, but you can also see where the pins lock in for the cover. It can be pulled off by hand, but it's pretty secure. |
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| jaak |
| Here's the back of the black cover... |
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| jaak |
| Now look up... See that cover? |
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| jaak |
| Well, you could use something flat and smooth to open it with... But I had my key in hand and it works fine. |
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| jaak |
OK, may as well have a seat on the back of your Murano and look up. See those two nuts? (No, not jaak and his Murano, the two nuts in the picture!) Take them off and off comes the light. I didn't actually check to see if the light's removable from inside. I suspect it is.
If you think any of this is a nuisance when you need to change a light bulb, you don't want to know about the front!:crazyeye: |
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| Snow MO |
*Shudder* The front is a PITA. I don't ever (praying I never have to) want to change my front lights again. Being that I did it 2x in 2 weeks I am getting pretty good at it, but I'm getting tired of turning the wheels of the car, ripping off the wheel well liner and doing some sick contortionist act to even touch the driving lights...stick with the rear end of the car...much easier, but when you mod the front, it looks much cooler:
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| gr8wall |
Thanks Jaak!!!
Got the tails of this weekend. Pretty straight-forward, Just 2 locking pins on the back and a guide pin. Took a little effort, had too rock it out to avoid snapping anything. The 3rd brake light comes out after the 2 nuts are removed, then you need to remove windshield washing hose from the housing. I have sent these pieces out to have them painted/tinted to closer match the rear window tint. will have pics when done!
Anyone interested let me know and I will provide you a contact.
Observations:
To change any bulbs, the tails have to be removed.
Also the 3rd brake light is a enclosed unit containing 12 LEDs, so if something fails, a whole unit is required to replace it ($$$). |
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| pcs15394 |
| Thats Interesting that The third brake light is LED. I never noticed that. |
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| Snow MO |
quote:
Originally posted by pcs15394
Thats Interesting that The third brake light is LED. I never noticed that.
Yeah, I never noticed that either...now how do we mod the brake lights to be LED too? :confused: Is this a hard mod to complete? |
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| SugarRushMurano |
could you take pictures and post it?
I have the factory service manual and it does detail out the sketches on the process. Yet, seeing a real photos of how to do it is , i think, better.
Thank you. |
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| Snow MO |
SugarRush,
Dont you have HID? If so, I believe the process is probably different... |
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| midnitexpress |
| Try this... www.superlumination.com. They have direct replacements for the old fashion bulbs. Haven't tried them yet so don't know how bright they really are or how the LEDs will reflect inside the lens. |
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| esemes |
FYI:::
(((this post reminds me that///////////////////////)))
I have about 70% of the MO's digital service manual on CD ......
and.......
about the same 70% of the MO's service manual, in a 3-ring binder setup i had made (at kinkos)......
the major missing parts are the engine internals, and tranny.....
make me an offer |
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| bob1 |
Great job with photos Jaak. We should all bookmark this page. Sooner or later we are all going to need to pull these suckers off to get to the bulbs.
Thanks Bob1 |
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| jaak |
The front lights are much more work to get too... You have to get to them from inside the wheel wells.
I didn't realise the third brake light was LED's.. Hmmm Might be interesting to stick a Blue one in there, just for a different effect. Just one in the middle of all the reds...(Did I just say that? Smack me one, will ya?)
The problem with LED's in the taillights, is the reflectors are expecting a light source shining back at them. LED's aren't omnidirectional as incandescents, so to duplicate the look, would probably mean taking a set of taillights and either drilling a bunch of holes in the reflectors to mount the LED's or making some sort of assembly to fit inside. Either way, more work than it's worth....
Too bad really, because I find the MO's styling to be good for LED tails.. |
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| KSmurano |
I just saw a Q56 the Infiniti version of the Armada & all of its brake lights are led.
They were really cool & so bright during the day I wonder what it would be like at night, but for $56k I guess it should be different. |
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| SugarRushMurano |
quote:
By Snow MO:
SugarRush,
Dont you have HID? If so, I believe the process is probably different...
Yes, we have to take the entire headlight out if i am not mistaken.
I have not done it ( i am planning to)... |
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| Snow MO |
quote:
Originally posted by SugarRushMurano
Yes, we have to take the entire headlight out if i am not mistaken.
I have not done it ( i am planning to)...
Actually, I was able to replace all of my lights without having to remove anything. For the fogs you really have to manuever around the windshield washer water resevoir for the passenger fog, but the driver side foglight is much easier.
(Very non technical description below)
As for the HID Lights, if you remove the wheel well liner and look up on the inside, there is a white cap/lid that is covering the HID light assembly. Twist off the cap, and behind that there is the power supply for the HID bulb, twist this off and you will see the end of the bulb. The bulb is held in by clips on the right and left side. These come away from the bulb and then you should be able to pull the bulb out.
The clips were the hardest part for me, however after some playing around I found out how to get them off. Good luck and if you have any questions feel free to PM me. |
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| Snow MO |
quote:
Originally posted by jaak
The problem with LED's in the taillights, is the reflectors are expecting a light source shining back at them. LED's aren't omnidirectional as incandescents, so to duplicate the look, would probably mean taking a set of taillights and either drilling a bunch of holes in the reflectors to mount the LED's or making some sort of assembly to fit inside. Either way, more work than it's worth....
Too bad really, because I find the MO's styling to be good for LED tails..
Jaak,
Check out the link posted by midnitexpress (www.superlumination.com)
They have LED tail light bulbs that have bulbs shining back against the reflective part of the assembly.
Does anyone know what our tail light numbers are? Do any of the bulbs on this site work with ours? If so I will buy a set and be the test dummy. |
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| pcs15394 |
| The Bulbs are listed as T20 in the Owners manual. Don't know what that is - Normally bulbs are 1156 or 1157. |
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| pcs15394 |
| Tried to go to several websites that offer replacement bulbs for Nissan. None of them have anything for the rear lights on the Murano. Check this site to see what I mean :eAutoWorks Bulb replacement |
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| Gonzo |
Interesting... I like it. I'll see how long the MO bulbs last for me.
Funny because my '89 Nissan Pulsar that I had for almost 15 years and 225K on it still had its original tail light bulbs. Headlights were another story. |
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| Snow MO |
I found this list of bulbs on Sylvania's site.
Which means on the superluminations site it would be this:
http://superlumination.com/7443_7440.htm
Which stinks because they dont have the 24 leds with multi directions...I sent them an email and I think I will wait to hear what they have to say, plus they have LED lights for the parking lights...might make a cool mod, plus it gives me a reason to make a how to on the HID install/replacement. |
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| jaak |
quote:
Originally posted by Snow MO
Jaak,
Check out the link posted by midnitexpress (www.superlumination.com)
They have LED tail light bulbs that have bulbs shining back against the reflective part of the assembly.
Does anyone know what our tail light numbers are? Do any of the bulbs on this site work with ours? If so I will buy a set and be the test dummy.
Hmmm... Interesting. It still looks like most of the light is focused back, so it's a step in the right direction, but I'm not sure it's completely right.
Now it's got me thinking about how hard it would be to build one. And do I use White LED's or Red ones... I guess the reds would be more power efficient as their light will pass, unfiltered, through the lens. I replaced the light in my Hot Tub with Blue LED's and it worked out very well... |
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| Snow MO |
I emailed the company today and they responded saying that our taillights will be available in approximately 30 days. I also asked them to notify me...I'll get them and test them out...
White or red? I figured that since the lenses were red that I would get white, but red would be better? |
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| pcs15394 |
| I was thinking White. I want to do this as well. Please let us know when you hear back from the Manufacturer. |
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| jaak |
Well, remember the red plastic is a filter. So when you create white light (and I'm sure white LED's aren't continuous spectrum but a combination of colours... Anyone got a prism handy?) you basically filter it out.
I would expect red LED's to be more efficient for the purpose, as all of the spectrum created would pass through the tailight, while the energy put into the other colours on the white is trapped and removed. So why use power to generate light that's thrown away?
This is a simplistic view of things, you have look at other specifications on the LEDs as well.
I'm really looking forward to seeing how well it works out! |
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| Snow MO |
| Me too....I really think I might go all out with these little LEDs and put them a couple of other places too. I guess the current lack of aftermarket for these vehicles has me modding anyway I can! |
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| pcs15394 |
| Good points. Red it is! First they have to become available. |
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| Halo |
I'd like to see some pics of this too. I've thought about what it would take to achieve the up-to-date LED look (think 04 M3, G35, 04 S class MB). As was alluded to in a previous post, the LED tails on those cars don't use a single element reflecting off the housing but have dozens of LEDs spread out all over the housing in a pattern.
So, it might require removing the tails and re-manufacturing them for all the LEDs (drilling, ?gluing, load equalizers), rewiring them and the putting them back on the car.
There are pre-manufactured arrays of LEDs that truckers use (rectangles, ovals etc) that might be adapted too.
I've been snooping around on the Honda forums to see if anyone's made this move. I'm almost certain it will be done on a Civic before a MO. |
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| mattsmurano |
I have retrofitted LED's in my tails, I am working on a second set right now that will turn out better I am sure. I will take some pics and post them.
I tried the LED bulb replacements that have the light that shines to the side. They were horrible in the Murano. The reflectors were too far back to catch teh light from the LED's that shined to the side. I ended up with a little spot of light in the middle. They looked aftermarkert and were ver in-effective....
I have found many diffrent companies that make LED's and bulb replacements. Most are pretty expensive. I can't seem to find an easy way to do a good retrofit. I will post pictures of my results when I get to them. |
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| pcs15394 |
| Thanks for clueing me in before I spent the money on the LED's. If you've already been down that road, I expect I'll wait until a better solution comes up. I have seen them on the RX330 and really liked the look, I guess it will have to wait.:3: :3: |
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| Snow MO |
quote:
Originally posted by pcs15394
I guess it will have to wait.:3: :3:
Yep, I guess I will do the same thing. me = bummed. |
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| Halo |
| It's entirely possible that a future model will come with LED tails stock. LED tail lights are becoming more commonplace on mid-price range cars. Hopefully, it won't be after a complete restyle so that housings can be retrofitted. :fingerscrossed: |
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| FlyerNo9 |
I just replaced my passenger side rear tail light.
the hardest part was popping the housing unit out after I removed the screws.
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| Gonzo |
| Agreed.... I found it was hard too... I was trying to be so carefully but still ended up breaking a post. Well the light housing still fits and holds in place so I'll live with it. Geesh. :( |
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