Nissan Almera headlight replacement

ifconfig

A relative of mine purchased an Almera 2006 saloon about 18months ago.
It is plagued with an issue discussed on these boards before, i.e headlights very dim when not on full.

This makes night time driving in the countryside when there is oncoming traffic very dangerous.
In fact the car only just about met the requirements to pass the NCT with regards to lighting.

To cut to the chase, it seems that the Irish Nissan dealer won't fix this for free under warranty and although UK apparently did fix this as part of a low key recall.
However they will replace the headlamps for approx 300Eu.
Our local mechanic thinks that the brand that the dealer said they would use to replace the original headlights is inferior compared to the brands he would trust, eg. Bosch, Valeo, etc.

Has anyone succesfully replaced Almera headlights (2004-2006?) and had significant improvement.
At this stage he just needs to get it fixed regardless of the cost but he certainly would need to be sure that the headlamps he puts in are superior in terms of light output compared to what the car was originally sold with.

--ifc

ianobrien

ifconfig wrote: »

A relative of mine purchased an Almera 2006 saloon about 18months ago.
It is plagued with an issue discussed on these boards before, i.e headlights very dim when not on full.

This makes night time driving in the countryside when there is oncoming traffic very dangerous.
In fact the car only just about met the requirements to pass the NCT with regards to lighting.

To cut to the chase, it seems that the Irish Nissan dealer won't fix this for free under warranty and although UK apparently did fix this as part of a low key recall.
However they will replace the headlamps for approx 300Eu.
Our local mechanic thinks that the brand that the dealer said they would use to replace the original headlights is inferior compared to the brands he would trust, eg. Bosch, Valeo, etc.

Has anyone succesfully replaced Almera headlights (2004-2006?) and had significant improvement.
At this stage he just needs to get it fixed regardless of the cost but he certainly would need to be sure that the headlamps he puts in are superior in terms of light output compared to what the car was originally sold with.

--ifc

I changed mine in a '05 Almera last year. I bought both from the main dealer for 300euro. I changed them myself and a mechanic friend focused them for me.

The difference is amazing. Like you, the original lights were crap, really crap! It was really worth changing the lights, although I changed both at the same time.

As an aside, the headlight aiming motors had Renault badges on them, on both the originals and the replacements!

Edit - What brand did your mechanic say the OE lights were. I've the original lights in the garage and having just checked, they don't have any manufacturers logos (except for Nissan & Renault). Quite a few components in the car have Hella & Bosch logos, and IIRC the rear number plate lights are Hella......

jobless

i have a 04... i went to a dealer because i hadcracked the light after a tip.... the dealer told me about the recall and did it free...
not sure why a dealer would charge you now for it.... i went to main dealer in tallght by the way

ifconfig

ianobrien wrote: »

I changed mine in a '05 Almera last year. I bought both from the main dealer for 300euro. I changed them myself and a mechanic friend focused them for me.

The difference is amazing. Like you, the original lights were crap, really crap! It was really worth changing the lights, although I changed both at the same time.

As an aside, the headlight aiming motors had Renault badges on them, on both the originals and the replacements!

Edit - What brand did your mechanic say the OE lights were. I've the original lights in the garage and having just checked, they don't have any manufacturers logos (except for Nissan & Renault). Quite a few components in the car have Hella & Bosch logos, and IIRC the rear number plate lights are Hella......

Very useful info , Ian.
I need to check with the mechanic and my relation as to what manufacturer the original headlamps were and what brand the local Nissan dealer was going to replace with.
I will re-post to this thread once I have more info.
It is very encouraging that the replacement vastly improved the car.
However, it is also interesting (see jobless's post) that a main dealer in Ireland actually did the replacement for nothing.


--ifc

Cookie_Monster

I would check the recall issue with Nissan Ireland themselves rather than a dealer just to be sure.

i got both the headlights on my 03 Almera replaced under a recall issue. The difference was incredible.
The recall issue was due to bulbs melting the holders, dropping them down out of line of all the reflectors

Nissan doctor

Nissan have finished the recall on the almera headlights now...

Wheelnut

Nissan doctor wrote: »

Nissan have finished the recall on the almera headlights now...

Did they write to the effected customers?

Nissan doctor

Wheelnut wrote: »

Did they write to the effected customers?

I wouldn't have a clue. I just know the last time I mentioned it to a lad I know in Nissan he said it had finished as they reasoned that between the original recall letters and dealers sorting it on effected cars as they came in for service etc they should have got most them by now.

ifconfig

I just spoke to one of the main Nissan dealers in Dublin.
They confirmed that any campaigns on that date of car (Early 2006) were not ongoing so free replacement under recall is not an option.

However, they did say that they might be able to take in the car and inspect it and pass on a report to Nissan who then could make a call on whether they could carry out works on it, etc.

The other details I found out is that the replacement headlamps are priced at 185Eu before vat and fitting each.
I checked with the parts man about the brand of the replacements and he told me that he was 95% certain that the replacement headlamps are Valeo OEM.

The local dealer that my relative spoke to was going to put in some lesser known brand of headlamp and do the job for "half price" .. approx 295Eu , if I recall.
It was our local mechanic who spoke with the local Nissan dealer and he was not impressed with the brand being offered as a replacement by them.
I need to check what brand that is.

At the end of the day my relative just wants to get the optimal headlamps fitted so that he is done and dusted with this (expensive!) problem.

Does Valeo makes sense ?

--ifc

Captain Commie

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

I would check the recall issue with Nissan Ireland themselves rather than a dealer just to be sure.

i got both the headlights on my 03 Almera replaced under a recall issue. The difference was incredible.
The recall issue was due to bulbs melting the holders, dropping them down out of line of all the reflectors

i had the exact issue with mine last year, one one of the lamps, cost 160e to get it replaced, had i known thats what the cause was i would have gotten it done free.

Need to replace the other one now as cracked it in a tip a few months ago and never realised how bad it was till went down to mayo last weekend at night

ifconfig

Axis Cometo wrote: »

i had the exact issue with mine last year, one one of the lamps, cost 160e to get it replaced, had i known thats what the cause was i would have gotten it done free.

Need to replace the other one now as cracked it in a tip a few months ago and never realised how bad it was till went down to mayo last weekend at night

Axis.. what year was/is your Almera ?

Also ... out of interest did you buy the car in Mayo or Dublin or elsewhere ?

-ifc

Captain Commie

ifconfig wrote: »

Axis.. what year was/is your Almera ?

Also ... out of interest did you buy the car in Mayo or Dublin or elsewhere ?

-ifc

its an 04, bought it private in Dublin. Still have car, great wee runner and does well on trips, took it to england last year, did 1000 mile roundtrip in a week and averaged at 38mpg with my foot to floor most the time, tho only getting 35mpg now (possible cause still have the winter tyres on)

ifconfig

Axis Cometo wrote: »

its an 04, bought it private in Dublin. Still have car, great wee runner and does well on trips, took it to england last year, did 1000 mile roundtrip in a week and averaged at 38mpg with my foot to floor most the time, tho only getting 35mpg now (possible cause still have the winter tyres on)

Yes.. the folks in the Dublin Nissan dealership were surprised to hear of a problem with headlights on a 2006 model.
It would have been an early 2006 model, mind you.

Anyone else had this problem on an 06 or late 05 Almera ?

-ifc

Wheelnut

I have an '05 Almera and the headlamps appear to be made by Koito, who I presume are Japanese.The lights have been good but lately I thought the dims are not as good as they used to be. A friend has an '05 model and his dims are useless.

That friend is in a peculiar situation. He went to the dealer who assessed his lights and made a case to Nissan. Nissan agreed to replace the lights but the dealer changed over to Ford before the work was done!

gifted

Apologies for digging up an old thread. Brought our 2006 Nissan Almera for its NCT yesterday and it failed in its lights. Technician said the lights didn't even register on his testing yoke. Unofficially told us that this model of car has a history of problems with the lights ( which i now know is true thanks to boards ) and that Nissan might change the headlamps because there was a recall over this problem.

Herself bought the car in 2006 and has told me that she never received a letter from Nissan regarding a recall. Anybody know if Nissan are still standing over this problem or are we wasting our time even trying them?

Wheelnut

This is the model with projector lights for the dim beam. After I posted at post 14 above my dim beams faded until they were useless. I went to the dealer, with whom I have a good relationship, and he made a claim to Nissan for me. Nissan refused the claim and I finally bought new lights an E-Bay. Micks Garage are doing them now for between €50 and €70 each, which is a far better price than I paid at the time.
http://www.micksgarage.com/search.aspx?fffMake=Nissan&fffBasemodel=Nissan%20Almera&fffModelDescription=ALMERA%20Mk%20II%202000%20Onwards&ffftd_car=1.5&fffBHP=90&fffDepartment=Headlamps
The fault is that there is very little ventilation space around the bulbs in the projector lights so the heat of the bulb eventually blackens the surface of the reflectors. The recall was for a different problem in earlier (non-projector) headlights which involved electrical connecters over-heating and melting.

JohnBoy26

Wheelnut wrote: »

This is the model with projector lights for the dim beam. After I posted at post 14 above my dim beams faded until they were useless. I went to the dealer, with whom I have a good relationship, and he made a claim to Nissan for me. Nissan refused the claim and I finally bought new lights an E-Bay. Micks Garage are doing them now for between €50 and €70 each, which is a far better price than I paid at the time.
http://www.micksgarage.com/search.aspx?fffMake=Nissan&fffBasemodel=Nissan%20Almera&fffModelDescription=ALMERA%20Mk%20II%202000%20Onwards&ffftd_car=1.5&fffBHP=90&fffDepartment=Headlamps
The fault is that there is very little ventilation space around the bulbs in the projector lights so the heat of the bulb eventually blackens the surface of the reflectors. The recall was for a different problem in earlier (non-projector) headlights which involved electrical connecters over-heating and melting.

The melting issue was with the projector headlights fitted to facelift almeras from 2003 on. The heat would melt the housing/bulb holder around the bulb which would cause the bulb to fall out of place.

The older non projector headlight fitted to almeras from 2000-2002 didn't have these issues.

JohnBoy26

gifted wrote: »

Apologies for digging up an old thread. Brought our 2006 Nissan Almera for its NCT yesterday and it failed in its lights. Technician said the lights didn't even register on his testing yoke. Unofficially told us that this model of car has a history of problems with the lights ( which i now know is true thanks to boards ) and that Nissan might change the headlamps because there was a recall over this problem.

Herself bought the car in 2006 and has told me that she never received a letter from Nissan regarding a recall. Anybody know if Nissan are still standing over this problem or are we wasting our time even trying them?

The recall has long finished unfortunately. You could call them anyway and try them though.

Wheelnut

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

The melting issue was with the projector headlights fitted to facelift almeras from 2003 on.

Apologies if I'm wrong, my assertion was based on the fact that I have a 2005 model that never suffered from the issue, and I also have two close friends with 05 cars that never suffered from the issue, so I assumed the problem was earlier. (Two of us had an issue with the blackening of the reflectors.)

kala85

I had the same problem.They were really bad headlights and failed the NCT. I bit the bullet and got them replaced as I felt it wasn't really that safe to be driving with them the way they were. I got a pair replaced at a local dealer at a cost of 300e.
Prior to buying the car , I had checked with the dealer and he said that they were replaced, but I dont know for sure if they were.

If I was back there again, I would be making my case to Nissan Ireland regardless of how long it was since I had bought the car. Some fault in the headlights caused the reflective part to melt and then the reflection and beam was poor as a result.

You could also try a breakers yard.

gifted

kala85 wrote: »

I had the same problem.They were really bad headlights and failed the NCT. I bit the bullet and got them replaced as I felt it wasn't really that safe to be driving with them the way they were. I got a pair replaced at a local dealer at a cost of 300e.
Prior to buying the car , I had checked with the dealer and he said that they were replaced, but I dont know for sure if they were.

If I was back there again, I would be making my case to Nissan Ireland regardless of how long it was since I had bought the car. Some fault in the headlights caused the reflective part to melt and then the reflection and beam was poor as a result.

You could also try a breakers yard.

Thanks for that, herself is going to phone nissan ireland on monday to see if they will help so I'll keep ye updated

gifted

So herself rang nissan ireland and told them the story. They admitted there was a recall but she would have to bring the car into the nissan dealer where she bought it and they would look at it and contact nissan ireland and then a decision would be made.
Herself phoned the dealer in Galway and the man she was talking to said to bring the car in with all records of services done on the car. He repeated that part 4 times. herself gave him the car reg and he highlighted the fact that the last service done by them was 2009. So herself got the impression that because we didn't get the car serviced by them, that they won't stand over the fault.

kala85

Keep hassling nissan ireland. The lamps might have been replaced already. It could be into the second set of headlamps. If it's on the original set they should have been replaced by the dealer. The dealer needs to check if the lamps were replaced. If they were nissan ireland are off the hook unless the second set were faulty aswell.
If original lamps were not replaced they should replace them. All those cars were recalled to replace the headlights in 2006ish. The dealer would be able to check on their service records or via a code on the lights.
I'd get back onto nissan ireland. What difference does it make if you didn't get the car serviced in nissan dealers. The only reason you would keep it serviced in a nissan dealer is to keep the warranty validation for the three years after the car was bought.
After that it's irrelevant where it was serviced . How would a service have affected the lights. It was a known fault.

The problem is now Nissan ireland should have a record of what cars lights were replaced. They should have kept database of the registrations. If they didn't that's there fault.

Try Nissan ireland again. I wouldn't be surprised if the replacement set deteriorate over time as well.I paid 300e from my own pocket to replace mine with spurious / generic set but I regret not ringing Nissan ireland.

gifted

right, so I purchased those headlamps from micks garage and fitted them my self, changed 4 bulbs and passed the NCT, woo hoo. Thanks everyone for your help, especially wheelnut for suggesting them.

Wheelnut

Glad it worked out for you!

christy02

I used to have an 03 almera and got both headlight units changed under the recall. This was due to the heat from the bulbs melting plastic holders. Difference was huge.

However I didn't get notified of this. I just happened to go back to Nissan dealer I bought it off. Car was out of warranty but was looking to see if they would sort it. They changed both units.