Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Under Hood Light - Always On

Hey guys,

I was hoping you could help me out with this one. I don't know exactly where or what the switch for the Underhood light is, but my light is currently always on. I have temporarily disconnected it after I noticed it. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Zack

Is this like the question of does the light in the fridge stay on (and your food has a party) when the door closes?

I personally don't have a under hood light, (bummer) but I have seen two designs.

One design uses a mechanical switch (usually located in front of the engine bay) that the hood depresses when it's closed.

The other design uses a switch (like a mercury type) that will close/open (turn on/off) depending on the position (like a bubble level, of sorts.)

Not much to go on, but good luck.

Thanks,
David

My guess would be right at the hood latch!

Similar to the switch for the trunk light, it is right at the trunk latch.

When the trunk lid or hood is closed, the protruding hook will press down, depressing the switch "element" that opens the circuit, turning off the light.

I would try to locate the trunk switch, play with it to turn if off to get an idea.

This would mean the hood switch is always ON (?) implying the battery would drain after some time.

Dave

PS Can you define "always ON" ? Does it mean you close the hood and crawl underneath the car to see the hood light is still ON ? My '95 Mystique does have a hood light and it is ON as soon as I pop the hood

(To verify the trunk light is off when closed, I folded the rear seat then open and close the trunk lid.)

Rewire it to the side lights.Who needs it in daylight?

One night I came out to my car and noticed a light coming from under the closed hood. So "Always On" means always on. Regardless of the hood being open or closed, and regardless of the ignition being on or off. Makes my car look like I installed some strange ricer undercarriage neon light or something!!! Can't have that.

Zack:

If the switch is right at the light assembly, I feel really ignorant ! As this can be the case.

I would drop by the dealer's Parts Dept and ask for the underhood light assembly for your model year. Then you can verify if there is a switch right inside it?

If so, you would need a new one, as the existing switch inside the light is defective!

The fact that subsequent model years, after 1996, don't come with this light suggests that they can be separately purchase to add on ? All you need is to find the predrilled hole to attach and the live and ground wire from the battery ?

Dave

Could a 95/96 owner please take a good look at the underhood light assembly? I (and others) would love to add this back in. Where does it mount? What path do the wires run? Where's the switch? Pictures would be great too.

Brian Dors
99 SVT

Thanks for all of your help guys. I'll take a look at it tomorrow at work, and try and take some pictures there as well. I know it attaches to the driverside on the hood, if that helps. I'll see what I can do about pictures.

Hopefully I'll get to the bottom of this problem too!

- Zack

It is mounted onto the 1/4" sound deadening pad, right in the middle of the hood. The wiring is hidden behind this pad, and run along side the driver-side hood hinge. Similar to other wirings underhood that go into the passenger compartment, this wiring would go into an insulated hole at the firewall, to be terminated at a possible fuse for those 12V lamps in the car. I took a couple photos but it is not convenient to upload right now.

BTW, the underhood light assembly P/N is F5RZ15702A, costs $CDN 31.63, $US 19.99 ?

Zack, before you hurry out to replace this one, you may try to verify if the mercury switch, presumably part of this assembly is properly level? At any rate, your mercury switch, if it is still functional, is always not level, with the hood up or down ?

I used a flat screw driver to simulate the hood latch closure, by pressing down the plate to see the latch grabbing down the hook, while the hood is up with the light is on. It did not turn off the light. The latch is not part of the switch!

Dave