Have you ever wished for more light from your front dome light...
My 98 had great light for reading a map, but for general lighting it sucked... It didn't throw any light into the center console or into the floor area behind the seats.... I don't know about you but I put stuff in both places and often had to hunt blindly in the dark... That was until last night.... I added a 20 watt booster to the lights in the dome light.

Here's how I did it.... first go to Radio Shack or the like and buy a 20 watt 12 volt halogen bulb... It's the same bulb used in some land scape light systems. I paid $1.89

Anyway, once you have the bulb, pop off the dome light cover. On my 98 XLT it has two light fixtures with reflectors and the power is fed through a flexible flat panel material. Right near the end of this material you will see the wire connector which has three wires running to it. The center wire is the ground and the outside wires control the driver or passenger side lights... You will note that there is a small amount of space around each of the wire terminals. This is where you stick the wire ends of the 20 watt bulb... You can pick which ever pair you like... one set will turn the bulb on with the driver side light the other with the passenger side...

Just press the wire ends from the bulb into the terminal block... friction will hold the bulb in so you don't need to solder or glue anything...

Two words of warning.... first don't touch the glass of the bulb with your bare hands, the oils on your hands will cook the bulb. Second, plug the bulb in with the light off, because that sucker gets Hot.... and you'll burn you fingers right through cotton gloves.
I don't expect the heat to be a problem after it gets installed, since it has plenty of space around it.

Man what a difference... light everywhere!

I don't know if this works on any other year Expy than 98... but check it out... pop your dome light cover off and take a look.
I'll try and take some pictures to post if anyone is interested...

 

We like pictures.

 

Hel all, just did this mod, only I got the bulb from Home Depot. It's great, much brighter (about 3X), and only cost $4. Took about 30 seconds to install.

I'm not worried about heat, as the dome light is not on for extended periods. I'd recommend this as one of the top cheap mods.

Sorry, no pics

 

what kind of light did you use?

 

20 watt 12 volt halogen bulb as stated above. They have two straight wires (stiff) coming out of the bottom, and they look like a large LED.

Real easy to find at Home Depot, I think it was made by GE.

 

Where can you get a replacement Dome cover for a 1978 F150 4X4...... one of the rectangle shape?

 

Add pictures...I will say on my other vehicle this proved to be a bad idea. I will watch this.