Why did ford not put a under hood light on my 02 ranger fx4 off road ?

[Curious Hound]

Can you please find out if all 02 rangers have under hood lights

I have no reasonable way to do that. Plus, I believe the answers in this thread have already established that they do NOT all have a hood light.

Gary, I am getting the impression that you may mistakenly believe we work for Ford. This website and forum is all put together by volunteers. We are just people who enjoy Ranger-based vehicles. Jim Oaks has worked hard for many years to build this website with help from the membership. It is an awesome resource for all of us. We do the best we can to answer all questions and accumulate new info and have fun along the way. A few members are Ford certified technicians, which is incredibly helpful. But some things we may never learn unless we can speak to the design engineers and marketing people who have made the decisions along the way throughout the history of Ford.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Back in the 80’s or 90’s, some vehicles (GM products?) had a little light in a cord reel under the hood. It worked as an under hood light and would also reach far enough to help if you had a flat tire. They still weren’t extremely bright, if I recall correctly.

Iirc, I pulled one from a dodge. Still haven't used it...

 

[Curious Hound]

Iirc, I pulled one from a dodge. Still haven't used it...

The concept seemed great on paper. I think someone who actually had one told me they were cheap and unreliable. That’s why I haven’t pursued watching for them in the junk yard.

 

[97RangerXLT]

I don't remember did the 93-97 rangers have under hood lights ?

My 97 does not have one. And it is a pretty well optioned truck for that year.

AJ

 

[97RangerXLT]

Back in the 80’s or 90’s, some vehicles (GM products?) had a little light in a cord reel under the hood. It worked as an under hood light and would also reach far enough to help if you had a flat tire. They still weren’t extremely bright, if I recall correctly.

My best friends dad has a 1990 Silverado with that feature. Kind of neat, just has a single 3057 bulb in it

AJ

 

[rusty ol ranger]

My 87 has one (that dont work).

My 97 F250 doesnt...and it was pretty feature packed for the time.

I think like cigarette lighters and cassette decks they just kinda faded away as time went by.

Not to mention the fact that as time goes on people care less and less about doing shit under the hood. Back in the day owners manuals had instructions how to adjust valves, set timing, and set the carb. Nowadays they need 600 pages just to explain the infotainment system and include warnings not to lick battery acid.

 

[00t444e]

I don't like underhood lights, I disconnect them on my vehicles, all it does is run the battery down.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I don't like underhood lights, I disconnect them on my vehicles, all it does is run the battery down.

.....they are supposed to shut off when you close the hood

 

[cbxer55]

No underhood light on my 98 3.0 Ranger SPORT.

My 2004 LIGHTNING has one though. I pulled the bulb a long time ago. I never leave home without a flashlight in my pocket. And an extra fully charged battery for it. And a charger for it in the truck. Don't need no underhood light.

 

[Curious Hound]

.....they are supposed to shut off when you close the hood

“Supposed to”

 

[cbxer55]

My 87 has one (that dont work).

My 97 F250 doesnt...and it was pretty feature packed for the time.

I think like cigarette lighters and cassette decks they just kinda faded away as time went by.

Not to mention the fact that as time goes on people care less and less about doing shit under the hood. Back in the day owners manuals had instructions how to adjust valves, set timing, and set the carb. Nowadays they need 600 pages just to explain the infotainment system and include warnings not to lick battery acid.

Don't eat the big yellow mint!

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Don't eat the big yellow mint!

Sometimes i think we should just remove those kind of warnings and let nature take its course.

 

[cbxer55]

I didn't even know there were such warnings. I was just quoting a comment from Sam Elliot in the old movie Road House. He was a bouncer in a flop bar somewhere in the South.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

My 87 has one (that dont work).

My 97 F250 doesnt...and it was pretty feature packed for the time.

I think like cigarette lighters and cassette decks they just kinda faded away as time went by.

Not to mention the fact that as time goes on people care less and less about doing shit under the hood. Back in the day owners manuals had instructions how to adjust valves, set timing, and set the carb. Nowadays they need 600 pages just to explain the infotainment system and include warnings not to lick battery acid.

Well, like if a modern car dies on the side of the road it isn't like you can just scrape a little crud off the points and sneak it the next town.

.....they are supposed to shut off when you close the hood

People hate them at car shows.

 

[Bgunner]

My 93 has one that works as it is intended to but it is so dim with the incandescent bulb in it that it is really useless unless I hold what I need to see up to it. Great Idea but disappoints in practice.

I have seen some systems that had a switch similar to a door jam switch to turn it on and off attached to the fender lip so the hood pushed it to turn it off.

As a thought maybe LED strips across the hood with the jam switch would work better and give plenty of light to be useful.