# Changing HID Xenon headlight to halogen lamp



## alexandrios (Feb 21, 2010)

A kind lady told me one of my low beam headlights is out. The high beam still works. I checked the prices of HID bulbs for Nissan Altima 2.5S and they are really costly > $60 , while for halogen I can get for around $7. 

I was wondering if I could remove the HID bulb on the other side (that still works) and change both to halogen bulbs. Has anyone done this? If I do that I need to spend only $7 + $7 = $14 which is a lot cheaper than replacing the blown out HID bulb on one side with a new one. Please help with your suggestions.


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## Faja (Aug 31, 2009)

First off, take the bulb from the working side and put it in the one that is blown just to make sure that it is indeed the bulb!! If it is the bulb, bite the bullet and pay the extra money for it. If you car is equipped with stock HIDs then it would be advisable to keep it like that plus I personally don't know or have heard of anyone trying to do this!!!


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## alexandrios (Feb 21, 2010)

hey faja, thanks so much for the reply... i turned on the headlight today to make sure it is a xenon bulb... the low beam light has a silver bracket (a sort of cover) on it but the light is kind of yellowish when on. Is this really a xenon light? I have looked at the manual and did a lot of research on the internet. I really cannot get the information on what light a 2003 nissan altima 2.5S manual model has. any thoughts?


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## Faja (Aug 31, 2009)

Most likely it's a D2R type bulb - just call dealer and confirm. You can get these on Ebay for relatively cheap. See if you can swap the right and left bulbs with one another to confirm if it's either the bulb or the ballast that is bad. That yellow light you're seeing is probably what they call "city light" and is a different bulb than the Xenon or the bulb has indeed gone bad.


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## alexandrios (Feb 21, 2010)

Thank you!


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## jasonm (Nov 30, 2009)

Coupe or sedan? AFAIK only the coupe comes with stock HID.


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## alexandrios (Feb 21, 2010)

Thank you for replying.. 

I changed it. It was an ordinary H1 55W bulb! 
My car is a sedan.


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## wild willy (Oct 16, 2002)

jasonm said:


> Coupe or sedan? AFAIK only the coupe comes with stock HID.




Well, in 2003, the Altima coupe was very rare and pretty much impossible to get a hold of.........


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## [email protected] (Mar 4, 2010)

Think about it too, If you just bit the bullet and paid the $70 for the stock HID bulb it's going to last a lot longer than a standard halogen bulb because there is no filliment to break... It's like either buying a pair of Nike's for $100 and lasting a year, or buying a pair of crap shoes for $10 and them only lasting for a month...


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## Faja (Aug 31, 2009)

[email protected] said:


> Think about it too, If you just bit the bullet and paid the $70 for the stock HID bulb it's going to last a lot longer than a standard halogen bulb because there is no filliment to break... It's like either buying a pair of Nike's for $100 and lasting a year, or buying a pair of crap shoes for $10 and them only lasting for a month...


I think that might be a moot point now tho', from what I understand from his reply is that his headlight is for halogens. I think he initiallly thought it was HID.


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## [email protected] (Mar 4, 2010)

Faja said:


> I think that might be a moot point now tho', from what I understand from his reply is that his headlight is for halogens. I think he initiallly thought it was HID.


Copy, my bad...


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