Here is what I put on a post on changing the bulbs. Takes about 15 minutes Perhaps the moderator can put this in a "HOW TO" section since there are a lot of people who have wanted to change their lights and don't want to do the Nissan approach (which is there to increase you cost having the dealer doing it).
Low beam bulbs are standard H1 bulbs and you don't have to remove the light assembly to change them. I posted how to do it someplace but I will give you the
method again just in case you can't find it.
Passanger side: using a 10mm socket remove the two bolts on the radiator
overflow bottle. Move the bottle and place it in an uprite position between the
radiator and the dipstick location. You will notice that the overflow rubber tube will lift off the windshield washer bottle cap, replace the cap so nothing falls in.
The next step is optional but I did it because my hands had a hard time fitting
into the space. On the front right fender you will see a little bracked that one of
the bolts came from. That too is bolted to the fender with a 10mm head bolt. I
suggest that you use a 2" extension to remove this and a 10" extension for the first two bolts. When you see the light, you will see a large round cover. You
need to remove that counterclockwise. There is a rubber gasked inside, just pull
that cover back a few inches and you can change the bulb. I suggest that you
see how the bulb goes in so it aligns correctly. Also, there is a metal clip that
holds in all H1 bulbs. This one is a real pain to get off. On the bottom of the bulb
housing you will see a little ring, push down (towards the ground) to release it. I
found that using a 4" long piece of duct or electrical tape to hold the clip up out
of the way is very helpful. Put the bulb in, clip it in place and put everything back
together.
Driver Side. This is easier. remove the 10mm bold that holds the air box down
(this is the gold colored bracket on the left fender). I suggest releasing the two
clips that hold the air filter and remove the filter. An easy way to do this is once
the two clips are released, press on the top of the soft rubber hose (to the right
of the air box by the mass air sensor) and rotate the top of the air box so the
plastic index clips can rotate out of the attachment points (like the old power
supply wires on computer mother boards). You can then lift the top of the air box
out of the way. With that off, push the plastic tub from the underhood "ram air"
assembly towards the front of the car (it will move about `1/4 inch), grab the
front of the bottom of the air box and pull straight out. It takes a little force
because it is held in place by two rubber male shaped plugs that go into, you
guessed it, holes. Once you have this out, the bulbs are easy to access.
I found the most difficult part was aligning up those round dust covers behind the
lights. You have to figure which little square goes where on the lamp assembly.
When I finished, I put a marker line on the round part and after I rotated so it
could come off, put a mark on the lamp assembly so it will be easy to put back
on.
Putting back the air box, follow the following procedure (it works much easier).
Grab the airbox bottom and align the two pointed rubber connectors and push
down hard. Make sure the front air tube is out of the way. What I find easy is to
stick my fingers in the front opening that faces down. Using that as your guide,
put that part in first and everything else works. After you get the bottom of the
air box in, install the bolt on the fender, replace the air filter (my suggestion is
get a K&N drop in (same as the 2000 altima) and then finish putting everything
on. One note, there is a little tube from something below, I believe it is a vent.
That is going to fall out of the clip so youhave to make sure that it is clipped
back in place. Hard to explain but you will see it right away.
Total time to remove everything, change the bulbs and re-install----- 15
minutes. I do suggest that after you get the bulbs in and are sure that the round
covers are in place correctly (as I mentioned, that was the biggest problem I
had) turn the lights on and make sure they work. I say this because you will see,
putting those covers on sometimes causes the red wier from disengaging from the
bulb.