Ok. So. Many of us have noticed that there's an odd rectangle in the hood liner and hood sheet metal with nothing in it. On Euro cars, there was a little lamp in there that turns on when you turn on the parking lights. The light extinguishes when the hood is closed, or when the parking lights are off.
Parts required and approximate prices:
Parts from BMW (buy this stuff from Tischer):
-Engine room light assembly
63 31 8 350 554
$8.10
-Engine room light switch
61 31 8 360 875
$3.08
-Bulb 12V 10W
63 21 7 160 912 (or 07 50 9 063 577 - same part)
$1.39
-Rivet
65 75 8 357 500
$0.72
-Female Pin (Qty. 2) [Called 7-CBL SOCKET by BMW]
61 13 1 376 202
$0.74 ea.
Total cost from BMW: $14.77.
Parts from radio shack:
-Tap-in (18-22 Ga.) connector, to tap into parking light
-Insulated 1/4 inch female tab connector, to connect to switch
-Shrink tubing, to cover BMW pins
-Approx. 20 feet of cable, 18 gauge, solid (Better if this cable is black, mine is red as you can see in the DIY)
-Black tie-wraps (no more than 10 needed)
Most this DIY can be found at http://www.unofficialbmw.com/e36/ele...ood_light.html. I've copied a bit of the relevant text and added it to my own write-up. Credit for this procedure goes to Ron Stygar, who wrote the DIY from which I worked.
Step 0: The hood liner has a serrated rectangle directly above the valve cover. If you look into it, you will see a similar rectangle in the hood sheet metal below the hood liner or above the hood liner depending how you look at things. The engine room light assembly will end up snapping into this hood liner sheet metal rectangle with its connector end facing away from the nose of the car (at least in my case, it might be reversed on your car).
Step 1:
Examine parts. Note the two female connectors. These will connect to the two male pins on the bottom side of the lamp itself. Note the bulb. Insert the bulb into the light, and put the plastic cover on. It should snap on. Push the female connectors onto the male pins at the bottom of the light.
Step 2:
Cut your wire into two equal length strands, approx. 10 feet. Strip one end of each wire (strip approx. 1/2" inch) and insert the stripped ends into the female connectors. Use needlenose pliers on the two sets of small tabs at the near ends of the female connectors to clamp the wire into place. Slide two pieces of shrink tubing (3" long each) down the length of each wire and cover up the entire connection from the male pins to the part of the wire that's unstripped.
Step 3:
Open the hood. Look above the passenger side high-beam. You will see two 1/4 inch holes and a dimpled smaller hole to the right of the 1/4 hole closest to the front of the car. The dimpled hole is the switch mounting screw hole. The screw is the same as the one used in the trunk light switch. You can use any screw you like, as long as it isn't longer than, say, 1". Before you screw the switch in, however, you have to enlarge the hole to its left.
Step 3.5:
Get a drill and a towel (you can see above where the towel goes, so as to not get bits of metal everywhere). Get a 3/8" or better yet, a 7/16" drill bit. The 1/4" hole to the left of the dimpled screw hole has to be enlarged to accommodate the switch barrel. Once the hole is enlarged, put the switch in and make sure it fits. Take the switch back out, and leave it aside for now.
Switch test fit (you can see where I've scratched up the area to the left of the switch- BMW touch up paint will do well here later):
Step 4:
Remove the passenger side hood liner. There are a number of small screws and expanding rivets. You will need to remove approximately 7-8. Pull the hood liner down from the passenger side and either have someone hold it up and away, or just push it towards the intake manifold. It should stay.
Step 5:
Insert the other end of the wires through the hood liner sheet metal rectangle and snap the light assembly in place. Follow the wiring down the hood support continuing toward the right front parking light area of the vehicle, tie-wrapping as you go.
Step 6:
Tap one of the two wires coming from the underhood lamp to the front right hand parking light (gray/yellow) wire using one tap-in connector.
Step 7:
Route the remaining wire to the hole which you enlarged for the swich. Crimp the 1/4 inch female tab connector to this wire and attach to the switch. Install the switch.
Step 8:
Turn on your parking lights. Your engine compartment light should turn on. Pressing in the black engine light switch button should extinguish the engine compartment light. If this happens, good job!
Step 9:
Note the presence of a small hole in the hood, right above where the light switch is. This hole does not extend through the hood liner. In my case, this hole was located at the exact spot of the light switch. Cut this exact size hole in the hood liner (make sure it's aligned properly). Install the rivet. Reattach the hood liner. This should depress the switch when you close the hood. It's VERY hard to tell if you've done this right. If you really care, wait until nighttime, turn off ALL the lights around you, and just turn on your parking lights with the hood closed. If you get down under the car and can see the hood light illuminated, your rivet isn't positioned properly or isn't pushing the switch down far enough (it only needs to push it by 1/8" of an inch - barely any force will extinguish it, and I'm not even sure that you need the rivet at all).
And you're done!
Note:
In my photos, you can see my two red wires running from the lamp to the parking light area. I've since wrapped these properly in electrical tape, and clipped them into the stock clips that hold the wiring harness along the passenger side of the hood. It is now basically impossible to tell what I've done, except that there's an underhood lamp now!
Parts required and approximate prices:
Parts from BMW (buy this stuff from Tischer):
-Engine room light assembly
63 31 8 350 554
$8.10
-Engine room light switch
61 31 8 360 875
$3.08
-Bulb 12V 10W
63 21 7 160 912 (or 07 50 9 063 577 - same part)
$1.39
-Rivet
65 75 8 357 500
$0.72
-Female Pin (Qty. 2) [Called 7-CBL SOCKET by BMW]
61 13 1 376 202
$0.74 ea.
Total cost from BMW: $14.77.
Parts from radio shack:
-Tap-in (18-22 Ga.) connector, to tap into parking light
-Insulated 1/4 inch female tab connector, to connect to switch
-Shrink tubing, to cover BMW pins
-Approx. 20 feet of cable, 18 gauge, solid (Better if this cable is black, mine is red as you can see in the DIY)
-Black tie-wraps (no more than 10 needed)
Most this DIY can be found at http://www.unofficialbmw.com/e36/ele...ood_light.html. I've copied a bit of the relevant text and added it to my own write-up. Credit for this procedure goes to Ron Stygar, who wrote the DIY from which I worked.
Step 0: The hood liner has a serrated rectangle directly above the valve cover. If you look into it, you will see a similar rectangle in the hood sheet metal below the hood liner or above the hood liner depending how you look at things. The engine room light assembly will end up snapping into this hood liner sheet metal rectangle with its connector end facing away from the nose of the car (at least in my case, it might be reversed on your car).
Step 1:
Examine parts. Note the two female connectors. These will connect to the two male pins on the bottom side of the lamp itself. Note the bulb. Insert the bulb into the light, and put the plastic cover on. It should snap on. Push the female connectors onto the male pins at the bottom of the light.
Step 2:
Cut your wire into two equal length strands, approx. 10 feet. Strip one end of each wire (strip approx. 1/2" inch) and insert the stripped ends into the female connectors. Use needlenose pliers on the two sets of small tabs at the near ends of the female connectors to clamp the wire into place. Slide two pieces of shrink tubing (3" long each) down the length of each wire and cover up the entire connection from the male pins to the part of the wire that's unstripped.
Step 3:
Open the hood. Look above the passenger side high-beam. You will see two 1/4 inch holes and a dimpled smaller hole to the right of the 1/4 hole closest to the front of the car. The dimpled hole is the switch mounting screw hole. The screw is the same as the one used in the trunk light switch. You can use any screw you like, as long as it isn't longer than, say, 1". Before you screw the switch in, however, you have to enlarge the hole to its left.
Step 3.5:
Get a drill and a towel (you can see above where the towel goes, so as to not get bits of metal everywhere). Get a 3/8" or better yet, a 7/16" drill bit. The 1/4" hole to the left of the dimpled screw hole has to be enlarged to accommodate the switch barrel. Once the hole is enlarged, put the switch in and make sure it fits. Take the switch back out, and leave it aside for now.
Switch test fit (you can see where I've scratched up the area to the left of the switch- BMW touch up paint will do well here later):
Step 4:
Remove the passenger side hood liner. There are a number of small screws and expanding rivets. You will need to remove approximately 7-8. Pull the hood liner down from the passenger side and either have someone hold it up and away, or just push it towards the intake manifold. It should stay.
Step 5:
Insert the other end of the wires through the hood liner sheet metal rectangle and snap the light assembly in place. Follow the wiring down the hood support continuing toward the right front parking light area of the vehicle, tie-wrapping as you go.
Step 6:
Tap one of the two wires coming from the underhood lamp to the front right hand parking light (gray/yellow) wire using one tap-in connector.
Step 7:
Route the remaining wire to the hole which you enlarged for the swich. Crimp the 1/4 inch female tab connector to this wire and attach to the switch. Install the switch.
Step 8:
Turn on your parking lights. Your engine compartment light should turn on. Pressing in the black engine light switch button should extinguish the engine compartment light. If this happens, good job!
Step 9:
Note the presence of a small hole in the hood, right above where the light switch is. This hole does not extend through the hood liner. In my case, this hole was located at the exact spot of the light switch. Cut this exact size hole in the hood liner (make sure it's aligned properly). Install the rivet. Reattach the hood liner. This should depress the switch when you close the hood. It's VERY hard to tell if you've done this right. If you really care, wait until nighttime, turn off ALL the lights around you, and just turn on your parking lights with the hood closed. If you get down under the car and can see the hood light illuminated, your rivet isn't positioned properly or isn't pushing the switch down far enough (it only needs to push it by 1/8" of an inch - barely any force will extinguish it, and I'm not even sure that you need the rivet at all).
And you're done!
Note:
In my photos, you can see my two red wires running from the lamp to the parking light area. I've since wrapped these properly in electrical tape, and clipped them into the stock clips that hold the wiring harness along the passenger side of the hood. It is now basically impossible to tell what I've done, except that there's an underhood lamp now!
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