I have been trying to get my underhood light working and have bought two different bulbs for the housing. I am now thinking my housing is broken or missing something for the bulb to mount on. Never looked at one before.

Here is a couple of pics of my light socket. Can anyone confirm part of the base is missing for me.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

Just looking at the pic, it appears that everything is there - at least that is what mine looks like when I pulled the clear cover off of it.

 

what is the bulb #

 

Parts stores, any of them, should be able to tell you!

 

look very close at the top of the light socket and you will see that bulb hooks on the metal tab sticking out then look at the bottom of the socket and you will see the same tab . both ends of the bulb have to be hooked to the element of the bulb.

 

Is the power connected? That might sound like a dumb question but it's possible that the previous owner disconnected it. You can find the connection near the base of the hoodliner.

 

I have a bulb # of sylvania #561 if that helps

 

Do you have a multimeter? Harbor Freight practically gives them away.

 

For starters, if you go to www.corvetteactioncenter.com and go down to the C5 section, open the room and right at the top is the owners manuals for all of the C5.

2. is there power to the blub socket ? If not (And this is most likely problem,) in which case follow the black wire down the hood and you'll come the a connection at the hood leading edge. With the hood open I'd disconnect the connector and I'm betting you'll find a lot of corrosion, once cleaned out and all things looking good, dry and useable, I'd check for power to the connector, I'm betting you now have power to the connector.

3. Make sure the connector is dry and fill the openings with Dielectric grease, and reassemble. Then I would invest in a very humble and cheap "Hood Seal" sold by any of our vendors here and the installation is so simple I could do it blindfold, But the darn little 36 inches rubber seals out water at the hood forward line and keeps out water which if you look at it, the hood line is directly above the connector. Which is why you, and myself kept getting corrosion at the under hood light.

4. I did this operation four years ago, installed the 'Hood seal' and that was the last problem of corroded hood light connector I ever had. Good luck. This is so simple a fix that you'll wonder why Chevrolet didn't do it down in Bowling Green.

 

I have the lower hook but not the top hook. Sorry my pic did not show that. I thought there was something missing. I guess that is why there was no bulb and no lens on that light when I got the car.

 

Sounds like an opportunity to upgrade...

 

Does that come as a kit? Or just the LEDs. Please give more details. Thanks

 

Keep in mind that the underhood light will turn off after about 15 minutes. This is same length of time as the interior lights. So if checking with VOM at connector, be sure the interior lights are on. This shut down is a power saver feature.

On my 2002 I found that the connector was disconnected and there was alot of corrision within connector. I cleaned and now OK!!!

 

Cost me under $10 or so to do this.

Search that auction site for "smd led panel".

Take some measurements of the light enclosure and search that auction site for a LED panel that will fit. The dimensions of each panel are in the description of the part. You can see the size of my panel in my pic and get an idea of the size when you measure your light enclosure.

I managed to find a led panel that fit the light enclosure under my hood lamp. I put some double sided 3M sticky tape on the bottom of the LED panel and also on in the inside of the lamp enclosure. I lined it up and stuck it in there. I then figured out which side of the circuit was (+) and which was (-). You can see that the red (+) and black (-) wires in my picture. I cut the red and black wire on the led panel and crimped on a couple female spade connectors. I slipped the spade connectors on the factory (+) and (-).

Easy peasy !!!

One thing to note. Not sure why it does this, but its the same with everyone that installs these. After the car goes into sleep mode and turns off the under hood light (15 mins?) the LED panel goes "dim", but not fully off. If I'm at a show I just unplug the light from the plug hanging at the base of the hood.

Toque

 

Upon further inspection, both hooks are there. I was wrong. I measured 12 volts at the hooks, placed the bulb on the hooks and no light.

Unplugged the connector and measure the voltage down there and it is 12 volts. Plugged the connectors back together and still no light. I am thinking I may have a bad connection upstream of the connector.

 

check the other hook continuity to ground

 

I figured it out. What was throwing me is I was reading 12 volts across the light socket but getting no light.
I unplugged the light from the connector one more time. I measured the resistance of the bulb and put the bulb in the socket. I measured the resistance of the circuit from the male connector through the bulb and read the same resistance. I found a couple of paper clips and straightened both of them. Pushed them into the male connector and jumped them to the battery. The light came on. All good. I got out the wiring diagram and saw the underhood light had the mirror lights and vanity mirror lights on it. None of these worked. Tried to pull the relay to check it but could not get it to come out. Pulled the fuse and it was blown!! Install new fuse and everything works.

I just don't get where the 12 volts was coming from. Maybe I will look at the wiring diagram again later.

 

I measured that connector and found it to be around .5 ohms to ground, so ground is acceptable for the light to come on.

 

I just cleaned mine and it works now!!! Thanks..