68hemi

What years came with the fiber optic lights on the console? Are they difficult to repair if not working?

Sully1882

68-71. 72 did not have the fiber optic light monitoring sytem.

TimAT

Repair can be done. Start by cleaning the ends that are in the light housings, and checking that the seals to the nipple on the back of the headlight bulbs are both clear and have the foam seal (vacuum tube works well too). If there is a break in the fiber, most of the vendors have repair kits.

7T1vette

All the fiber optic system does is transmit the light being produced in each bulb housing and deliver it to the plastic lens readout panels on the console. The usual failure modes for this system are:

1. Dirty/foggy/painted-over plastic 'receiver' lenses inside the bulb housing. Open the bulb housing and clean up/clean off the little plastic end for the FO line going to it.

2. End of the FO cable in the 'receiver' lens is cloudy/dirty. Ditto, but remove the plastic lens from the FO cable and clean the cable itself.

3. FO cable end has been removed from the bulb housing. Replace it.

4. All of the above at the other end of the FO cables in the transmission tunnel console.

5. One or more FO cables could be broken or cut so that they cannot transmit light. Repair the damaged/broken cables. There are splice kits available. What is important is to make as straight and smooth a cut as possible. The flatter and smoother (even polished) the end of the FO cable, the better the quality of light transmitted into or out of it.