3rd Gen Dash Clock Fix

[gnu]

My '98 has been intermittent for a year now.
Followed the instructions, soldered the pins (multiple times at different lengths), no worky.
Removed the old solder from the resistors and resoldered them, and now it's back working.
Only problem is somewhere in the process the backlighting stopped working.
I get the voltage out of the car's harness, and onto the board, and past the first resistor, but then I lose sight of the trace. Thinking it might have been the display itself. Anyone ever replace the display? I've also noticed that the board gets a bit warm (but not as warm as when there wasn't suffecient solder in the series resistor circuit)

Any other ideas?

 

[Hiluxsurf 2409]

Great tip thanks i did like you say and works perfect

 

[TheOtherGuy]

I just did this whole DIY including soldering the pins and when I plugged my clock back in I found that it still did not work. I jiggled the connector a bit and found that it would just jiggling it would bring it back to life temporarily. From this I concluded that my connections had become oxidized/dirty and they just needed to be cleaned. So I srayed some deoxidizer and the plug and the pins and jiggled it some more and unplugged and replugged it a few times to "scrub" the pins clean. This worked.

To make a long story short Before disassibling your clock, just spray deoxidizer on the plug and pins and "scrub" them clean by unplugging and replugging the connection a few times this should fix it in many cases. The springs were not the problem on my clock.

The deoxidzer can be found here: Hosa Caig DeoxIT D5, Deoxidizer Aerosol Spray, 5 oz D5S6

I hope this can save you some time and effort.

 

[SJC]

210k+ miles factory clock still works ..

 

[Gerdo]

Time to fix mine.

 

[c_mack9]

yeah, the display comes and goes. the time is always correct just hardly ever being displayed. i'll try cleaning those connectors.

 

[shootmymime]

yeah thanks for telling me how to fix my clock, but what about changing my color to match my white LED. do the resistors in the back change how bright it is? or the color? are the tiny leds that are tinted green? is the screen tinted green? (like the other bulbs of ours with the green cover on them?

i want a white clock!

 

[Gerdo]

yeah thanks for telling me how to fix my clock, but what about changing my color to match my white LED. do the resistors in the back change how bright it is? or the color? are the tiny leds that are tinted green? is the screen tinted green? (like the other bulbs of ours with the green cover on them?

i want a white clock!

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/79771-you-can-change-color-your-clock.html

 

[olhobbler]

great tutorial..i replaced my climate sensor bulbs the other day...tempted to fix that troublesome clock...and yeah, your right, 30 or 40 is too much for that repair.

 

[olhobbler]

thanks, i am a believer in going simple before a total tear down..will try the spray first.

 

[RC57]

9) Realize eyes have gotten worse and vow to stop by Target to get stronger ones for this kind of work.

I keep an OptiVisor on the bench for this kind of work. I prefer the DA-5 for the 8" working distance. If you're far sighted that distance will increase somewhat.

 

[habanero]

I keep an OptiVisor on the bench for this kind of work. I prefer the DA-5 for the 8" working distance. If you're far sighted that distance will increase somewhat.

I am farsighted. Thanks for the info, I will definitely look into it.

 

[dwico]

I read this yesterday afternoon and decided to try it. Went to Wal-Mart and bought a $6 soldering iron, then over to Home Depot and bought electrical solder for $3.50. An hour later I had a working clock again! I did have to press on the back of the fully assembled unit to get it to fire up, strange... Thanks again for the write up!!

 

[CO_FlyFisher]

Glad to see that this post is still helping people out!!!

 

[jtdunc]

Just scored my 4runner yesterday.

Guy pushing the clock into the dash by accident!

Guys, on my center dash, the clock is left of the both vents on the top.

Tried to pry off through the clock hole and the vents and got the left side off 5-8mm.

How can I safely pull this dash trim piece off to get clock in place?

 

[Greg_Canada]

Finally did this fix.
Tried it with the pins all the way deep in the board, and it wouldnt work unless i squeezed the plug. So i pulled them out 1/32" and tried again, no bueno. Theni tired one more time, 1/16" orso, the thing barely fit back together, and now it works like new.
I believe the issue on min is the springs were not pushing the pins far enough into the connector (they had lost their strength).
I alsoused a tiny screwdriver to bend the pins in the harness slightly to make them grab tighter.
I also resoldered the board for good measure. But that wasnt the problem.
I took some pics

Thanks for the writeup OP!

 

[Matt1599]

So I did this repair and it worked!....For a minute. It would intermittently flash off and on so i figured i didnt have all the solder joints perfect. So when I took it back apart one of the pins stuck in the plastic housing and ripped the copper wire off the board! Am I totally boned now?:doh:

 

[habanero]

Just scored my 4runner yesterday.

Guy pushing the clock into the dash by accident!

Guys, on my center dash, the clock is left of the both vents on the top.

Tried to pry off through the clock hole and the vents and got the left side off 5-8mm.

How can I safely pull this dash trim piece off to get clock in place?

Your dash is more like mine.

You have to pull the knobs, then gently pry off the heater/ac control panel first. There's something like 4 catches holding it in place and they are plastic, so be careful. The a/c button will come out with it though you may have to pry on that a little to get it unplugged. I used a flat blade screw driver in both cases.
Under it is two screws that hold the trim to the dash. There are actually 4 screws total, 2 each on either side of the controls, you are looking for the ones with plastic immediately behind them. IIRC, the one on the left is the upper screw and the one on the right is the lower screw. Unscrew those, pull the trim piece off. You can get the clock out from behind, it should make sense when you get back there.

 

[afg10000]

Just to reiterate, F that clock and it's pins. The cup holders, too for good measure. Rather deal with the rust hole in my frame than that damn thing-

 

[SV_Dude]

Huge props to [MENTION=24236]CO_FlyFisher[/MENTION] for this write up. I just did this to mine and it works like a champ!