Teq Offroad Under-Hood LED Light Strip Kit For The 5th Gen 4Runner – Install & Review

Teq Offroad Under-Hood LED Light Kit For Toyota & Lexus Trucks – Step-by-Step Install & Review

Not every modification we do to our truck has to be expensive. The Teq Offroad under-hood LED light kit is an easy-to-install accessory that every truck should have.

Having lights under the hood of a car or truck can be beneficial for several reasons:

• Improved visibility: Provides additional lighting in the engine bay, making it easier to see and diagnose issues.
• Safety: Especially important in emergency situations, such as when changing a tire on the side of the road or making repairs in low-light conditions.
• They look cool: Enhances the appearance of a vehicle, giving it a custom look.

While you could just use a portable light, having something permanently installed and always ready to go is much more convenient.

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• Teq Offroad Under-Hood LED Light Kit: Check Price

Installation

After seeing an under-hood lighting setup from a friend, I wanted to replicate it for my truck. I started my research by looking for parts to assemble my own kit. Then, I came across a small business named Teq Offroad which offers a ready-to-install kit custom fit for the most common Toyota and Lexus trucks and SUVs.

The kit itself is pretty simple and doesn’t require any particular skills for the installation. Even though the DIY route is possible, I decided to just buy the Teq Offroad kit given the final difference in price was minimal. Plus, I would save time spent doing research to buy the right components.

The Teq Offroad kit includes a light strip, braided wires, connectors, a push switch, and a manual switch plus 3M tape, zip ties, and zip tie mounts. The light strip is 40″ long and even though it’s sold as compatible with Toyota and Lexus models, I’m sure it will work with many other cars and trucks.

Specifications

• 40” LED light strip with 5050 LEDs for a total of 1,300 Lumens
• Automatically turns on when the hood is open and off when closed
• Wiring harness with braided sleeving
• Water-resistant
• Kill switch in case you want to keep the hood open and don’t want to drain your battery
• 3M tape for a secure and long-lasting installation

Tools Needed

• 10 mm wrench (to disconnect the battery)
• 12 mm wrench (to install the push switch)
• 5/16″ drill bit
• Optional
  • Step drill bit
  • Center punch
  • Painters tape
  • Heat gun
  • Rubbing alcohol
  • Microfiber towel

Step 1. Cleaning

Start with cleaning the area under the hood where you will install the lights. Use rubbing alcohol and a microfiber towel (or another cleaning product available to you).

Step 2. Placement

For more precise placement, you can use painter’s tape to help center the light strip.

Make sure the power input connector is placed towards the driver’s side. Next, remove the protective tape from the back and attach the light strip to the hood. Apply a good amount of pressure for the best adhesion. Also, if you are doing the installation in very cold temperatures, I would recommend doing a couple of passes with a heat gun to warm up the glue.

Step 3. Connect Power Wire

Next, connect the wires to the light strip and run them down on the side of the hood. If you have a hood liner, you can feed the wires behind it and fish them at the bottom. I don’t have one so I just used the zip ties mount all the way to the bottom right of the hood (drive side).

Step 4. Route Wire

When you get to the base of the hood, run the wire along the inside of the fender and continue toward the front.

Step 5. Attach Override Switch

While you making your way to the front, attach the override switch on the fender in an easy-to-reach area. The ground wire should be run all the way to the front since it needs to be connected to the bottom of the pressure switch.

Step 6. Drill Hole For Pressure Switch

This step might vary depending on the vehicle you have, but the process should be the same. In the 5th Gen 4Runner, you can use one of the existing holes used to hold the plastic radiator cover. Specifically, the one at the top right.

Start with removing the plastic clip. Since the hole is not big enough for the pressure switch use a 5/16″ drill bit to make it bigger. As an optional step, I also enlarged the hole in the plastic cover with a step drill bit so that would be big enough for the entire pressure switch assembly to go through. This will come in handy later in case you may want to remove that plastic cover so that you won’t need to remove the pressure switch too.

If your vehicle doesn’t have a hole, you can use masking tape and a center punch to mark the drill location and then drill a new hole with the 5/16″ drill bit.

Step 7. Pressure Switch Install

With the hole drilled, we can install the switch. Remove the nut and grab the provided washer. Then, insert the flat washer and slide the switch into the hole from the top.

Start tightening the nut from the bottom with your hand until it’s tight, then use a 12mm wrench to tighten the top nut.

Step 8. Connect Power

The last part of the installation comprises connecting the negative wire to the bottom of the pressure switch (which also acts as the ground) and the positive wire to your positive battery terminal or power distribution block.

When it’s all connected, test out both the override switch and pressure switch, closing and opening the hood making sure the hood can close normally.

Step 9. Adjust Pressure Switch Height (If Necessary)

If when closing the hood the light stays on, that means that you don’t have enough contact between the hood and the pressure switch. To fix that, you have to adjust the height of the switch itself by adjusting the bottom nut.

This check is important because otherwise, you might risk draining your battery!

Final thoughts

Overall, I’m very happy with this kit, the installation was very quick and simple. The amount of light emitted by the light strip is really good and lights up every corner of the engine bay.

Thanks for reading and as always, if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below or reach out @trail_runn4r on Instagram. See you on the trails!