C3: Dash Light Problems.

[Tony Roussos]

What's going on here?

I recently acquired a 71 350 coupe. The lights control did not dim the dash lights. No problem I thought. I'll just replace the switch some day and solve that one. Well, in the process of trying to access the fibre optics assy to make sure the optics were in the lens assy, I noticed the dash lights flicker then extinguish altogether. I checked the fuse panel. Fuses look good.

What could I possibly have touched in the tunnel to mess with the dash lights?

PS In the mean time, where do I look for the high beem lamp fibre optic at the lamp end?

Thank you
Tony

[george romano]

Re: C3: Dash Light Problems.

I don't know what is wrong with the dash lights, but if you know the headlight switch is suspect, I'd change it out before trying to troubleshoot any farther. The fiber optic line is attached behind the headlight bucket. There is one fiber optic line for each headlight, high and low beam.

George

[Jack H.]

More....

The individual H/L fiber optic tubes run inside the H/L wiring harness and exit at the H/L plug-in connectors. The 'light pipe tubes' look like common electrical wires (black sheath) and are frequently cut & discard targets of that famous Corvette mechanic, Bubba....

The end of the black sheathed light pipe SHOULD have a brass ferrule crimped onto it that slides/snaps into the center hole of the H/L electrical connector. Originally, the lamps had a piece of rubber hose slip-fit over their center/rear glass envelope evacuation 'tits'. The rubber hose 'masked' ambient light and provided a 'pipe' collar to focus light from the bulb's rear 'tit' to the center hole of the H/L electrical connector where the fiber optic pickup tube terminated.