3rd Gen Dash Clock Fix
 

As you all know, the dashboard clocks on our 3rd gen 4Runners tend to die early. Mine starting showing the symptoms last winter, and it recently completely bought the farm. My wife has been hounding me to fix it saying that she uses it more than she ever realized before it broke. I’ve seen all the clock threads here over the years, and there are now a couple people offering services fixing these clocks for a (not so small) fee. I think I’m pretty mechanically and electronically inclined, so I figured if they were able to fix them, I probably could too.
The quest begins with pulling the center console trim piece off. This really isn’t hard, especially when you only need to get to the clock. Personally, I find it easiest to push the heater vents in at the bottom which allows me to easily grab and pull on the strip of trim directly below the vents (see blue arrows).
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Carefully pull the piece straight off, then kind of pivot it toward you like it is hinged at the bottom (it isn’t, but it IS connected to the lower trim piece in a way). Once it comes free of the clips holding it on – there are no screws – it will hold itself in place because of the wiring harnesses still attached to the backside (see red arrows for clips, fuschia arrows for their slots).
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...d.jpg~original

I found it easiest to remove the wiring harness from the hazard light switch above the clock in order to gain better access to the clock. I actually wound up reconnected the clock harness to give me something to hang onto.
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With a small, wide-bladed object (screwdriver, butter knife, etc.) carefully pry up on the center “wing” of the trim on the driver’s side of the clock (right side in the picture), freeing the two tabs holding it in. Lightly press on the clock face from the front and it should easily pivot out of the holder in the trim. Doing it this way will prevent you from having to pry up on the two tabs on the opposite side individually, which risks breaking them (I split one in half, but it still does its job OK). Note the dummy slot for the clock wiring harness at the bottom right in the picture. Nobody seems to know why it’s there…
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Once you have the clock module out of the trim panel, carefully remove the wiring harness and take the clock to your workbench. Start by removing the face of the clock. To do this, put the clock face-down, and carefully pry up and free the two black plastic tabs on either the top or bottom. This will free the face from the module. Set it aside, being careful not to let the three buttons fall out. Turn the clock over and you will see two small Philip’s-head screws on the left side; one on top and one on the bottom. Remove these screws and set them aside. This will free the circuit board of the clock from its housing. Lift it out and set it aside for now.

You should now see the four silver electrical connection pins for the clock on the left side of the housing. Each one has a small silver spring around it. These springs are what are supposed to make contact between the pins and the back of the circuit board. Honestly, I think it is a poor design. These springs are the cause of ALL your problems. :D Well, maybe not, but they ARE responsible for the clock not working in most cases. They appear to be silver-coated (I suppose it could be chrome, but the color looks like real silver to me, which is a very good electrical conductor), but in my case, the coating was flaking off. I think this has lead to loss of electrical conductivity, thus the flaky clock. Also, while I was inspecting the springs, one of them broke in half without hardly any effort. I think it boils down to the fact that these springs have simply corroded and failed.
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I considered seeking replacements for the springs and refurbishing the clock the same way it was built from the factory. However, upon closer inspection and a little thought, I decided a more robust solution would be to solder the pins directly to the circuit board. I’m thinking that the reason this wasn’t done from the factory was simply for ease of production (I could be wrong). The four pins push through the case back pretty easily (from outside inward), so it’s just a matter of getting them soldered onto the board perpendicularly, laying roughly in the same plane, and spaced properly. I lightly soldered each one on, then lined them up and added solder to get a good, solid joint on one side. Be careful not to overdo the solder joint or the pins won’t fit back into their slots in the case. You must keep the solder pretty close to the board and don’t let it go too far down the pin. Here are a few pictures of the pins soldered to the main board before reassembly of the clock.

edit: While I was in there, I also re-flowed the solder joints on all of the components. The solder joints on the large resistors (marked 240 and 270) are known to crack occasionally. This wasn't the problem with mine, but it could be with yours.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...0.jpg~original
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...6.jpg~original

Long story short, this repair worked fine for me. My clock is back working 100%, and it didn’t cost me $30 - $40 to send it somewhere and wait for someone else to do the work. I’m not knocking these guys that offer their services to fix them as not everyone will be able to do this repair work themselves, but IMHO they do charge a bit too much for this job.
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Anyway, hope this helps someone out!
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Nice...

I have been looking into ways to replace the Green on the clock with a blue or red to match my LEDs...

any ideas?

I may just have to find another clock and work it into the spot and then cut the harness and rewire...

what do you think?

Niiiiiice. I've been waiting for someone to do this, so I could see what the inside of the clock looked like....without taking the time to do it myself. :) Mine still works, but about every 2-3 days, it's kinda of dim. I can tell it's dying...just a matter of time.


EDIT: Ninja'd by Duhockey and I guess we both think it's "nice", lol.

There is a trick to make the clock blue. Buy a bottle of "KaBoom" brand household cleaner. It comes in a clear purple bottom. Use the cleaner if you want, but you're after the plastic of the bottle. :) Cut a rectangular piece of the plastic out, and install it behind the factory clock face. The mixture of the green with the purple creates a decent blue color.

thats awesome, you have any pics of that??

Something like that is the only way you're going to change the color of this clock. It is not backlit, so you can't simply change the color of the back light, but instead the digits are actually LEDs (maybe neon) inside of a sealed glass enclosure.

Yeah, I saw that when I pulled it out... I was doing my LEDs and figured I would see how it was made, didnt look like there were many options

Brilliant job! My clock has been out for about 6 years....I might try this to see if I can bring it back to life.

What are the deal with the pins though? Is that something you made yourself out a sheet of metal, or did you buy something specifically for this application?

No, the pins are already in the clock. They're mounted in the shell of the caseback, and when fully assembled, poke through the board right where I permanently mounted them.

The main difference is that there is usually a spring that gets sandwiched between the little tabs on the pins and the board, which is supposed to make the electrical connection. All I did was solder them in place instead. They need to be lined up properly in order to fit back into their slots in the caseback though.

It all makes sense when you have the clock apart in front of you. I could have done better with the pictures, but honestly I almost forgot to take any until I was nearly done fixing the clock.

Nice, mine is starting to go, and i pushed it through the dash the other day by mistake.

well mines been broke for years guess ill try this and see what happens funny thing is my freinds 85 has been through worse crap and it works fine go figure

woot woot finally a write up. now i just gotta figure out how to do all this soldering stuff....

thanks anyways i will do this sooner or later

i think its funny bc kaboom would cost more to buy just for the plastic then just to go to a hobby shop and get some purple plexiglass. i plan to get some red plexiglass and see how it comes out.

Im an arch major so i know the plexiglas works well and can be bought very thin.

ahh bummer 98 is different

Im screwed too.