My under the hood light install with pictures!

I havent seen any one really do a write up for this mod, but i figured i would share how i did mine. I couldnt believe ford didnt put a light under the hood on some of these 2nd gen trucks. So i decided to add my own.

Parts List
- GM under the hood retractable light $18.00 (found on ebay brand new) It has a simple on off switch on it.
- 14awg Black and Red wiring $2.75 each for 20 feet.
- Heavy Duty Sealed Fuse Holder (Up to 30 amps) $1.95
- 3/8" Flex Tubing $2.75 ( I used 1/4" for most of it and got it for free since i found it just zip tied in my truck. Must be from an old alarm or something.)
- A 15 amp fuse
- 2 screws to hold the light to the hood
- A few zip ties to keep the harness in place.
- Electrical tape and shrink tubing as well

This is what my light looks like.

As you can see it has three tabs on it for screws and then raised black columns extending off the screw tabs. I broke the dremel out and chopped off the tab on the side since it is of no use to be and shaved off the columns on the plastic tabs now making my light unit sit flat.

First you will want to pull back the black mat that is held to the bottom of your hood. Its only held on by those plastic fasteners. I just pulled them straight out. I only took out the ones on the driver side since thats where i wanted to mount my light. Once you have the mat pulled back you can see there are some hood support looking beams. I picked a spot that i wanted to mount my light and drilled two small holes (circled in red).

I then took my screws and threaded them into the holes first to get the two acquainted. Then take the scews out and push the mat back in place. Dont put the plastic fasteners back in till your finished with the whole project. I then made to small holes in the mat that lined up with my screw holes. Screw your light in and and start the wiring harness.

My light had about 6 inches of wire coming out of it that appeared to be 16awg. I extened these wires using 14awg black and red wiring. Once extend i my wires i add the fuse holder to the end of red wire that will connect to my fuse box in the engine bay. I added those round metal connectors to the ends of my wires. I then took my 1/4" flex tubing and covered my wires. I was a little short so i added some 3/8" tubing towards the end. The black wire i grounded up right behind my battery to the engine bay side wall. The red one was connect to the red power input on the fuse box using the nut that holds it in place. I soldered all of my connections and wires to insure dependability.
My wiring harness

I cut a hole in the hood mat and slipped my wiring harness through that. I then guided my wiring harness along the hood support beam that my lights sits on and down into the engine bay near the hood hinge. Make sure you leave you self enough slack in the harness for opening and shutting the hood so as to not rip your wiring apart. I snaked the harness along the back wall and then followed the drivers side quarter panel wall till i past the fuse box and then hooked everything up. I have added pictures to make this easier since i probably didnt explain it well. My finished wiring harness measured 5 feet at the end of the negative wire and about 4 1/2 feet at then of the positive wire. Here are some pictures of how i routed it





It would be wise to test you harness before fully installing it all. To finish up i added some silcone to my screws to help keep them tight. I then put the plastic fasteners back in place and zip tied my harness to help keep it in place.

And finally the finished result. I am very happy with the results and the fact that i can finally see in the dark for any emergency or just late night tinkering. The pictures dont to it justice for how bright it is. I would fully recommend this mod. It was very easy to complete and took me about and hour and a half when all said and done.


The cool part about this light is that it is attached to about 20 feet of wire which allows you to take the light with you any where on the vehicle. It can be stuck to anything metal thanks to a magnet on the underside.

Nice, strangely my all manual stripped down 96 xl has an underhood light, but my loaded 99 5.0 mounty does not.

Thanks. Yeah i heard it was so ford could save a little money. Even my 93 xlt had an underhood light. Hmm if your loaded mounty didnt have one i wonder what other years didnt come with one as well.

Hey I started tinkering with it yesterday afternoon, my plan is to add it to the fender wall, next to the battery, but now that I see yours I think I do need to put it there as well as I won´t be able to stick the light on the underside of the hood (magnet won´t stick to the black mat heheh)

Haha. Yeah the magnet is no where strong enough to stick through the black mat. It is just strong enough to support the housing when stuck directly to metal. Huh thats not a bad idea though sticking it to the fender wall. Never crossed my mind. But wouldnt be a little hard to reel the wire back up with limited room there? Mine winds up a little bit hard. Not sure if its the angle or what but it is still do able.

I have no wire, and no screws yet, so I was just looking for a spot, reeling it back in wasn´t so difficult while holding it with the other hand, but maybe once in place it will be too hidden to work ok, so I still have some planning to do, might just do it like yours ÑpÑ

Nice!

I love having a working underhood light- no idea why they didn't just include that one like GM did. Well, except that GM's are made to work on...

bronco's from the 80's had an underhood light almost exactly the same as that one. i put one in my 94 FS bronco and loved it

one thing i would suggest is replacing the bulb with a LED bulb

gezz, i realy need to get my butt in gear and put mine in.

looks good keep up good work

in 98ish the stopped putting the underhood lights in. And really why bother when most of the people buying explorers at that point were soccer moms who were doing good if they could open the hood.

wrigley_1285 said:

bronco's from the 80's had an underhood light almost exactly the same as that one. i put one in my 94 FS bronco and loved it

one thing i would suggest is replacing the bulb with a LED bulb

Click to expand...

Yeah i was thinking about doing that. I havent had a chance yet to look into leds for it yet.

Thanks Sam

techieman33 said:

in 98ish the stopped putting the underhood lights in. And really why bother when most of the people buying explorers at that point were soccer moms who were doing good if they could open the hood.

Click to expand...

You're more right than you know! The 98's were made more "Mom-friendly" by removing the sometims hard to use rear twist handle with the minivan-like new rear hatch/handle specifcally aimed at ladies and moms that were needing to gain access the cargo area more often.

I'm so doing this, but I'm considering adding two lights under the hood becase, well, why not? =D

From my research:

The light was found on a lot of GMC trucks from 88-99, and it is still available from GM, part number 15990293 and lists for $78.98.
Although it can be found cheaper: http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/results.cfm?singlepart=1&partnumber=15990293

Also, Stewart-Warner makes a similar light with an 18 foot cord, part number 79950:


"Magnetic; smooth running reel-retracts cord; on-off switch; wires to 12VDC power source; designed to withstand shock, vibration, dust, corrosion and extreme temperatures, includes mounting hardware"

Retails for $33.44 new. http://www.gochargeit.com/etools/xksunlimited/cart.htm?add+SW79550

I think I'm gonan go with the stewart warner one, it looks identical. Now to find a compatible LED bulb

Here's a nicer pic:

I like the idea of two under the hood. Never can have enough light. I am tempted to do a led conversion with the bulb but am a bit worried with getting enough light output.

If you can find an LED bulb for it I can almost garauntee you will have as much or more light output than you have with a bulb.