Fiber optic indicators...

[Rick Biarritz]

Where can I get the fiber optic indicators that are on the hood of my 83 Eldo'?  I called a dealership and have looked online a bit, but no luck thus far.  Thanks.

[Dave Shepherd]

If my memory serves me correctly they are the fenders, no?  Do you need the housing and the lens ass'y?

[Jimmi]

Dave is right they are on the fenders but you already knew that.. They are no longer avaliable at the dealer. I would say you need to go to the pick n pull junkyard and get them.. I would try to find some junk fenders so you can cut them out.. that will give you a pattern for your fenders.. 

[Pat Caruso CLC #17825]

Rick,

Yes a pick-and-pull might be your best bet, but I often see them on eBay, too.  The fiber optics assembly is made from multiple parts:
* The harness - the ends of the fiber optics terminate at the indicators, that you see.
* The housing which sits on the top of the fender.  I'm not sure if there is a gasket underneath.
* The housing has three colored lenses (blue, white, orange).  Each lense is a separate, little plastic piece about the size of a pencil eraser. You'll need to install these lenses before you install the housing because they install from behind/underneath the same hole that the fiber optics eventually fit through.

Good luck,
Pat

[Walter Youshock]

What exactly is wrong with the ones on the car now?

You might not always be able to see them illuminated during the day.  Night is a different story.

There are 3 cells--white (low-beam headlamp); blue (high-beam headlamp); and amber park/turn signal). 

The fiber-optic leads attached to the respective bulb with a little piece of rubber hose.  MOST replacement headlamps had a nipple that you plugged the hose connector to.  Check to see if they're actually connected to the headlamp bulbs or turn signal, unless you definitely know the fiber-optic lead is broken.

These wont be easy to get off at all.  You might be looking at removing the fender skin.

[Rick Biarritz]

It's like this.  Access to the parts is easy -- there are convenient holes on the fender skins.  All 3 on the right work fine.  Two of those on the driver's side do not work.  I've taken them off and cleaned them twice.  The problem appears to be where the wires plug into the headlights.  The plug-ins are covered in oily gunk.  How could that happen, by the way?  Well, I've thoroughly cleaned them of all the oily gunk, of course, but they still do not work.  The 2 not working are the high-beam, and headlight.  The turn signal indicator works fine.  What to do?  Thanks. 

[Walter Youshock]

Hmmmmm...

I'm thinking cleaning the ends with a solvent to remove whatever is making them black, like mineral spirits or, remove the rubber or plastic connector and filing down the plastic wire to remove contamination.

Have you looked at the lamp itself?  Could there be gook on the light nipples?

[Rick Biarritz]

Hmmmmm...

I'm thinking cleaning the ends with a solvent to remove whatever is making them black, like mineral spirits or, remove the rubber or plastic connector and filing down the plastic wire to remove contamination.

Have you looked at the lamp itself?  Could there be gook on the light nipples?

I THINK all is clean at this point, but I'll have to go back tomorrow when it's light out and look again.

[Walter Youshock]

If you're REALLY bored and REALLY curious, you could take all four lamps out and swap them left-to-right...

Pull the car into the garage and check them.  I had a '77 that I could never see the front monitors work unless it was dark.

One more idea--I wonder if that one side wasn't hit at some time.  IF you can get that monitor unit off the fender easily with the optic wires attached, they should be painted black to retain the light up to their terminus--the monitor you see on the fender.

[Guidematic]

This is all assuming that the cables have not been cut, and are attached to the housings in the fenders.

When you have them apart again, cover the lenses in the fenders to make it "darker" and then shine a bright flashlight onto the ends. If the lenses do not light, then I would suspect the cables. They can be removed without removing the fenders and you can inspect for cuts in the cables.

Mike

[RobW]

Switching the headlights is a good idea. Look at the back of the headlights. There is a small "bubble" between the contacts. Some aftermarket lights might not have enough light emitting from these bubbles. That's where the fiber optics are picking up their light.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

When I replaced the headlights in my '72 Eldo, I found that there was paint over the ends of the Fibre Optic cables from when the car was previously painted.

Seemed like the painter didn't mask up too much.

A simply flick off of the offending paint, and it is as bright as new.

But, when I changed to Halogen Lights, I had to carefully drill a hole on the base of the replacement globe to take the end of the cable, as these Halogen Globes don't show any light to the rear, through the plug.

This hole has to be placed correctly, and the Cable positioned in such a way that the end is pointing directly at the filament inside the globe, and also make sure that one doesn't touch the glass with fingers whilst performing the drilling process, or the glass will break the first time the lights are turned on.

Bruce.

[Dennis DiNorcia CLC 19071]

Here's a trick I learned. The ends of mine were either dirty or burned from the heat of the bulb. If you do this carefully you should get the same resutls I had. With a sharp razor, I cut off the fiber optic wire right at the end of the brass bushing. I placed the bushing in my bench vise with the wider end of the bushing facing up. DO NOT TIGHTEN THE VISE. I only put it in loosely to hold it in place for the next step. I the took a center punch and CAREFULLY punched out the old piece of fiber that was left in the bushing. Then I slipped the clean end that was just cut back into the bushing and carefully crimped the bushing to hold the wire in place. Now you have a clean as new end and the light should shine throuh perfectly. One note to remember, if the optic wire gets crimped somewhere and has ANY cut through the black outer casing, the light will be lost through that opening and that will dim the monitor. Let us know how you make out.

[customcars]

i learned the hard way ...i used a solvent to clean the fiber end thinking it was glass, what could it hurt..?.....it looked clean but hazed the end i bench tested it and got some light through but not like it should.....i had to trim the end as dennis said.....it was not this application but for what it is worth.....i would bench test it as some one else has stated...if all is good make sure your source is clean (as someone else has stated)....not positive about this particular cable but most are a plastic composition so it is like cleaning your late model headlamps with solvent....they look clean but they don't work so well..they diffuse the light kinda like a frosted light bulb vrs a clear one..so maybe.....if that is what you did, you may have cleaned off the problem but made another....just a thought.....k