Upgrading the underhood light

[Brian Reynolds]

Thanks for the great idea. Now just find a shorter led bulb than I have so it clears the lens.

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[wraith1516]

would NEVER jinx my jeep by putting a piece of shit gm part anywhere on it but that said a good led lite and a mercury switch from a thermostat might be finding its way under the hood gota love TOXIC metals

 

[CaliSteve]

My 95' chevy pickup had one of those, great idea, the standard light is kinda useless.

 

[04slvrcmbia]

I had one of those mounted in the trunk area on my old Rubicon. I tapped into the hardtop harness for power. The cord was long enough to reach to the right front wheel, and it doubled as a cargo area light.

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[Kenneth G Zinis]

Thanks-Great write-up ScottB

 

[Kenneth G Zinis]

I bought a couple of 1156 replacement LED's from Amazon and neither one worked???? I flipped them both ways and nothing. I could not figure it out, so I got to thinking. The 12volt OEM bulb worked fine but not the LEDs. I discovered that the 12volt bulb would work regardless of of how the wires from the GM light were connected to the Jeeps OEM wiring harness. Positive to positive OR positive to negative. So I simply switched the wires.....................then the LED worked.

Here are some pictures of the output of the LED light. My garage was completely dark.

This mod was well worth the time and the few dollars spent. This should be an put in every vehicle or at least every Jeep or truck.

View attachment 28983 View attachment 28984 View attachment 28985 View attachment 28986 View attachment 28987

ScottB, after seeing your post, I picked up same light. Could you tell exactly where you mounted yours on the hood support bracket, I don't want it to hit anything when hood closes. Thanks!

 

[Kenneth G Zinis]

Thanks for the idea! I found one on eBay with the wiring harness, magnetic base, and an LED bulb. I mounted mine just above the battery to make it easy to reach
View attachment 60478 View attachment 60479

Did you notice what model/number your LED replacement bulb is?

 

[XISophos]

Did you notice what model/number your LED replacement bulb is?

I'd like to know that too. I just ordered that underhood light for myself.

***Edit***
I noticed that the first post mentioned an 1156 bulb. If that's the case, it looks like this will work.

 

[XISophos]

So I got the underhood lighting in from eBay along with the bulb I listed in the part above. That bulb is unfortunately too big to fit under the globe of the light itself. The one I went with instead is a 67-CW12-G. Here's a pic with both bulbs and the globe to show the difference.

I then took the one that was too big, and compared it to my reverse lights, and they're pretty much a 1 to 1 swap.

Hope this helps!

Edit: Sorry the pics are bad. I was about to start dinner, and the War Department was starting me down.

 

[Kenneth G Zinis]

So I got the underhood lighting in from eBay along with the bulb I listed in the part above. That bulb is unfortunately too big to fit under the globe of the light itself. The one I went with instead is a 67-CW12-G. Here's a pic with both bulbs and the globe to show the difference.
View attachment 76167

I then took the one that was too big, and compared it to my reverse lights, and they're pretty much a 1 to 1 swap.
View attachment 76168

Hope this helps!

Edit: Sorry the pics are bad. I was about to start dinner, and the War Department was starting me down.

Thanks xisophos

 

[XISophos]

Thanks xisophos

No worries!

The one thing I don't particularly care for is that the smaller bulb, while the diodes are protected by a glass bulb covering, doesn't have as many diodes, so I'm sure it won't put out as much light as the original 1156 that I ordered. I'll probably get another one that has a lot more diodes to keep in the goody bag in case I get into a situation where more light is needed. I like options.

 

[Kyle_W]

No worries!

The one thing I don't particularly care for is that the smaller bulb, while the diodes are protected by a glass bulb covering, doesn't have as many diodes, so I'm sure it won't put out as much light as the original 1156 that I ordered. I'll probably get another one that has a lot more diodes to keep in the goody bag in case I get into a situation where more light is needed. I like options.

Bro, I still freaking crack up at your profile picture. Every time.

 

[T Crawford]

I used to have an 80’s xj like mentioned above, always like that it could reach down the side at night

 

[ScottB]

ScottB, after seeing your post, I picked up same light. Could you tell exactly where you mounted yours on the hood support bracket, I don't want it to hit anything when hood closes. Thanks!

There is a center support down the middle of the hood. I simply used self tapping screws and mounted it the support.

 

[BuildBreakRepeat]

Lucky for me I happen to own a 1989 Chevy 5.7 truck I need it more on my Jeep!

 

[q8ieng]

Great share!
I was searching around on a fix to my OEM Underhood light, that mercury thing is a mess!!!!

and I was lucky to find this post.

Can someone share a link of decent pieces so I can purchase one, Thanks.

 

[RubiconMike]

I found mine on eBay with the wiring harness, magnetic base, and an LED bulb. I don't believe they make then any more, so it's eBay or a local junkyard to look for a Chevy pickup. I think someone in a previous post listed which ones it came on.

 

[Kenneth G Zinis]

Local junk yard best option as RubiconMike says

 

[Wade]

I did a writeup of these lights in 2016. There are a bunch of photos, so maybe linking here would be helpful? I don't know.

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/cool-under-hood-light.904/
I never moved up to the LED option; mine is fine as it is. And I have actually had to use it on a rainy night in the mud when my tire was holed through the sidewall. I was afraid to use the Hi-Lift in the soft mud, so I used an 18" square of plywood and the stock bottle jack, which did surprisingly well.

The GMC Suburban under-hood light has more than enough length to go around the side of the TJ and then underneath. I placed it above and forward of the axle to help me safely place my plywood and the jack. Once it was up and stable I moved the light to the tub above the rear wheel. I pulled the spare, pulled the holed tire, swapped them, moved the light back under and removed the jack and wood, tightened everything properly, and rolled on home, soaking wet but happy that I did not have to do that crap in the pitch dark and the heavy rain. The light really made this much less crappy for me. It also works well UNDER THE HOOD since you can move it around like a small work light. I really like this mod.

Anyway, I just looked for this seller and he is still on eBay (with a very high count of feedback at 100%!) but his store no longer lists these. I think he still lists his phone number, so you could call him to see if he has one on a shelf somewhere.

I did an eBay search for these and came up with the following:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=Chevy+GMC+Suburban+under+hood+light
Hope someone gets some use from this additional info.

Good luck!

 

[Mark K]

I found, but have not yet installed, one of these GMs along with a harness and good LED lamp. After several idea iterations, I consulted with Murphy, who advised retaining the "closed hood, light off" feature. So, I plan to splice the new GM wiring into the output of the OEM gravity switch. The OEM light will continue to work (LED in there, too, much brighter) and the GM will have power available only when the hood is open. The greatly increased brightness of the LED in the OEM housing has cooled my ardor for mounting the GM - it'll get done, it's just not as urgent.