Well a couple months ago I got tired of NOT being able to see anything under the hood at night unless I had a drop light. So I started letting my mind go wild with ideas of putting led lights all over in the engine compartment. Then I thought well then I'll have to wire all them and put a switch somewhere. Then I thought to myself "K.I.S.S." Mind you I have a whole shelf in my garage with new parts for either my truck, boat or motorhome so I started digging and I found a light I was going to put in the engine room of my boat. It is a Bargman #34-78-517 Porch/ Utility compact exterior light with a build in switch and it is surface mounted.

So to keep it simple I cut the factory under hood light plug off (cut one wire at a time) and wired up the new light and used short self tapping screws in the rib under the hood where the stock light was. It is a big improvement over stock I can now check fuilds in the dead of night. It is not bright enough to be turning wrenches by. I didn't take a wide shot photo because my under hood insulation is in sad shape. But this give you idea of what it looks like. Great part about this mod is it cost less than $10 and took about 15 minutes to do. It took me longer than that to find 2 short self tapping screws

 

Interested to see how this holds up with the engine heat. I replaced my bulb with one of those fancy LED bulbs but it's heavier than the stock bulb and you've got to fiddle with it a lot to make it work. It's brighter than factory, but not ideal for much other than being able to tell where the engine is.

 

Nice job. I can get those lights at my local RV surplus place for $3 all day long. Might look into it myself.

 

Chris I had tired a fancy LED bulb too but it ended up falling out and went MIA somewhere down the road. And like you said at best I was lucky to see the engine. The new light I see coolant level and even be able to check p/s fuild without getting my hand in the fan belt. Actually it is bright enough I could change the fan belt on the side of the road or be able to add oil without missing the fill hole. But how long will it hold up only time will tell. But as cheap as it was it was worth a try.

That right Seth you are out there in the RV capital of the world. One of these days I am going to take a pocket full of cash and head out by you to some of them RV wholesale parts stores. Hopefully next spring I'll be gutting my old Holiday Rambler motorhome and redoing the whole thing with new fresh interior. So which of the stores out there by you do you like the best? I know there are alot of them.

 

Personally I like the store on county road 19 the best. They have everything and will help you find whatever you want. There are two that I know of in Elkhart but I am sure there are a few I don't know about. Just a 15 min ride from my house. Give me a shout and I will drive you there

 

Thanks Seth I would like that besides I would love to be able to check out your truck. Maybe sometime this fall we can get together and do lunch and go check out the RV store for some cool stuff. Besides I need to get some ideas for the old motorhome.

 

good idea Kuzz...i'm really dig'n the led thing, wrapping the engine compartment. Battery is there, so a switch to turn on, wont take much to install...no need to run it into the cab

 

BDK, your one light looks like a good idea. It wouldn't take much to add a second light to the other side also.

 

I still would like to put a led lights on the bottom of the main wiring harness between the valve covers by the spyder so I could see a oil or fuel leak in the valley. Also one on the right front frame rail area pointed at the cps. I've had to change a cps in the dark with a flash light in my mouth. Not my idea of fun.
Will I ever get around to it............."At this point in time we just don't know!!" So it would be nice to someone do it

I was thinking about that but where the rib is on the under side of the hood on the right side you have your a/c compressor so there might be some clearance issues. But with 2 of these lights under the hood you would get a better view of everything. I'll have to pick up a few of these lights next time so I can try that and put one or two in my boat's engine room.

If you look at the light the cover it is like a defuser lens and I found with the lens cover off you get better light output and coverage.

 

Looks good Ed. I like that you are able to do minor roadside stuff with just that light. Great job. I'm also interested to hear how it holds up in the engine heat.

Just throwing an idea out there, I keep a Pelican headlamp in the cab. Very bright and throws the light far distance too.Pelican HeadsUp Liteâ„¢ 2690 LED Headlight.

Rich

 

Headlamps - as a backpacker and a field tech, I was wearing those before they were widely known. I remember showing some mechanics how to work on the machine I calibrated, and I was wearing a headlamp. When I returned on another trip, every one of those mechanics had headlamps.

I have a link here [LINK], but it's not to the headlamp I suggest for a mechanic. It is, instead, a lesson of what to watch out for - and to introduce a feature you may be interested in.

I had a headlamp with a retractable headband (like the one in the link), and that was a handy son of a gun for just slipping in my pocket - like a car key FOB (I'm shopping for another one as we speak). This would work well in the glove box.

This example has a lever to operate it - not good when crawling under the truck. It will get bumped and flip to some stupid feature... like flashing SOS or going to the night LED (red). Fancy features (like flashing and night light) are best to be avoided on a mechanic's headlamp - so read the package. This one uses watch batteries - not very long-lasting when the light is on, or handy to buy. It's best to find one that uses AAA batteries - lithium is best for long-term storage and have excellent battery life with the lights on, plus they are very small.

I have one headlight that has a flip-down diffuser (low-profile flip handle) - this is actually handy. When the diffuser is up, I have a bright spotlight for detail - for inspection. When down, the diffuser spreads the light wider and evenly (not as intense) - for wrenching.

 

Sounds good to me. Let me know, and I can work it out with my schedule. Gonna have to check out one of those headlamps myself.

 

I think the headlight is a great idea over wiring in some led's. I had one that I used when working inside boat engine rooms until my daughter seen it and now who know where it is at. She took it out of my toolbox. I'll have to get another one and try to hide it in the toolbox in the bed. But with my luck and my daughter being so nosey she'll find it. I'm not real good at telling her NO. Ok actually she always gets her way.

 

Boy my wife yells at me for doing that with my son all the time. Hard to tell that cute face no.

 

In my case my wife is as bad if not worse than me when it comes to the little one getting her way. I wish I had the heart to be a hard a$$ like my dad was to me. When he said stay away from something I didn't dare. He would say "What part of NO don't you understand!" I guess I'm just a big softy when it comes to my little one. Only once did I ever freak out and tell her "No and don't you ever do that again!!" That was when I caught her writing in the dirt on the side of my truck as her mother watched. My wife just didn't get it. Her dad never taught her no better. So I sat both of them down and explained you NEVER write in the dirt on a car or truck because you can or will scratch the paint. My wife still doesn't get it and now my little girl knows the one thing that will send me over the edge and she has never done it since.