WTF? No Under Hood Lighting?

[OldGuyNewJeep]

Buy a KC Hilites Cyclone light. I wired the light to one of my factory Aux switches. Works like a champ!

This is cool! Any details on how/where your routes the wire?

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[Tunesoul]

This is cool! Any details on how/where your routes the wire?

I removed the hood liner clips and dropped the hood liner down. Then I found a good location on a under hood brace to mount it to. I marked where I wanted the light to go then measured from that location to the nearest hood clip hole for reference. Then reinstalled the hood liner using the two center most clips. I then translated my measurements I took to the under hood liner and drilled a small pilot hole through the liner and brace for the sheet metal screw to go. (Be careful not to let the drill bit pop through the hole you just drilled potentially hitting the under side of the hood itself) I then dropped the hood liner down once again and fished the wires through. Next I taped the wires down in a few locations to the underside of the hood liner to keep it routed in the direction I wanted towards the left lower hood corner nearest the battery. Then I reinstalled the hood liner securing it with all of the clips and screwed the light in using a washer and short sheet metal screw. Then wired it to a 15 Amp factory Aux switch located off to the side of the battery. And that's it, pretty straight forward.

 

[Sorbs]

My 2000 TJ and 2013 JKUR had a light under the hood. Completely useless but was there. Don’t miss not having one on my JLR. As previous posts suggest, there are many, many options available that do a much better job.

BTW, this is a much needed lighting improvement vs. under hood lighting deficiencies—>

 

[OldGuyNewJeep]

Serendipity. This just arrived to my inbox: https://www.harborfreight.com/845-lumen-underhood-rechargeable-work-light-63990.html

$34.99 with coupon. Not sure if you can combine with 25% off? I’m going to try...

OK, I ran out and bought the big one for $32 (25% off sale price was slightly cheaper than the $34.99 coupon). It’s not as good as the small one that I originally linked. For its size, it isn’t as bright as the small one. Also, the battery isn’t removable. Not bad for $32, but just FYI.

Here’s how it looks under my hood:

And here’s the small one (stuck to bolt with magnet):

 

[melendez69]

I have a couple of the HF lights... I like the 90-degree flex & if I ever had the need to do some midnight wrenchin' one alone lights up under the hood & beyond.

 

[OldGuyNewJeep]

I have a couple of the HF lights... I like the 90-degree flex & if I ever had the need to do some midnight wrenchin' one alone lights up under the hood & beyond.

Also like that it uses a standard 3.7v rechargeable battery. I have several lights that use them and an independent charger, so swapping batteries when the light dies is simple. The big light requires that you plug it in to charge, which I don’t like. I think it’ll be a cool camping light, through. It has hooks on both ends for hanging, and the caps unscrew to reveal bungee attachments so you can stretch the hooks as needed.

 

[JIMBOX]

I installed a 12vdc (female plug), hard wired close to the Battery and I have three mobile lights that'll plugin-

The chances of me ever using it are probably one in 1000, but IT'S A JEEP !

W.E.

JIMBO

 

[JohnP]

@JohnP

Curious... What do you think you would be doing under the hood at night on your JL that would require lighting?

Well, hopefully I will never have to be under the hood at all! I actually purchased the 8yr/125k mi warranty. So I never want to do anything under the hood! However, I do think defensively about the Jeep because this is the vehicle thats supposed to get people to the middle of nowhere! I want to make sure that IF something were to happen, the issue wouldn’t be compounded by not being able to see.

Suggest you buy a decent LED flashlight. That makes far more sense to me.

Oh, believe me. I’ve got the flashlights!!!

I should probably add that I’m all about the lights! I’m putting them all around my JL, plus added the light bar in the back window, so naturally I’d want them under the hood too.

 

[crothrock2000]

Buy a KC Hilites Cyclone light. I wired the light to one of my factory Aux switches. Works like a champ!

How did you cut the under hood pad?

 

[No IFS]

Going to try the KC under hood light. Thanks

 

[MyDaughters20JL]

Clearly, the JL is my first Jeep. And maybe it’s common knowledge among previous Jeepers. But honestly, I was shocked to open my hood only to learn there was no illumination whatsoever in the engine compartment!

I’m even more surprised that I can’t find a single thread anywhere on the forum discussing this situation and what people have done to remedy it. Surely I’m just not working the search function properly. Can anyone help me out here?

I have found one kit over @extremeterrain to add manually operated lights. But I can’t find any write ups or videos of any JL owners installing them:
https://www.extremeterrain.com/kc-hilites-cyclone-led-under-hood-lighting-kit-8717-yj-tj-jk.html

I don’t mind being the first, but I’m awfully nervous about that hood liner, which seems like it’s not going to play nice with removal and reinstallation.

Can I get a little help / guidance here?

real simple solution: and I only say that because if I can figure it out, I'm sure you can too:
I wasn't happy with the tiny light under the hood of my F#%), so set out to do something about it.
first, you'll need some lights and a switch:
Lights
switch
once you get the parts, its a simple matter of running a wire from your battery (or using a tap fuse or some other means of getting power to the switch) to one of the switch wires. connect the other wire to the positive wire of the LED strip(s). Run the negative wire of the light to a good ground & you're done! the lights have a pretty strong adhesive back & I just cleaned where I was going to put them really well with alcohol, tapped the positive wires on the lights to a single wire from the switch & tapped the negative wires to a single wire to ground. here's a picture with 4 of the lights under the hood of my super duty...maybe just 2 in the jeep as I swear you can see these from the moon

 

[JIMBOX]

I just installed a 12VDC Pwr Plug and I can use any of my multiple portable lights --

This way I can move the light ANYWHERE !

Good luck

JIMBO

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