3rd Gen Dash Clock Fix

[biglar]

Your are the umpteenth victim of the dummy plug. Your clock harness is plugged in to a blank hole in the center fascia--I think its lower and to the left of the clock. This does not mean it plugging it in will fix the clock, because this often happens when someone is trying to fix an already broken clock--but it might.

Well, guess I'll be double darned. You're absolutely right. I'd thought that plug went to the rear window switch, but pulled it off and plugged it on back of clock and clock works.....and so does rear window. Many thanks ! ! !

Now, there's the question(s) - why have a dummy plug in the 1st place, and why would someone un-plug and dis-able a working clock in the 2nd ?? I am amazed.

Lar.

P.S. I've given up on the power problem with my engine as stated in the gforce thread. Car's going in shop Monday to try to sort it out. If they can't do anything, I believe I'll sell it. It's exhausting to drive - constantly shifting and screaming the engine while on cruise control.

P.P.S. How long has the email notification been out of order ??

 

[mom]

Solved: 3rd generation Toyota 4Runner digital clock repair DIY (aka tooth surgery)

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 ... there are no screws

Thank you for this wonderful tutorial!

Standing on your shoulders, I rewired my digital clock circuit board and wrote up a DIY with details (especially where you didn't get a chance to snap pictures) so everyone benefits. Please let me know what you think of it:
- Solved: 3rd generation Toyota 4Runner digital clock repair DIY


Bear in mind the center-cluster-removal procedure is DIFFERENT for the basic '97 4Runner! You don't touch the heater vents and you have to remove the AC panel cover plate and two #2 Phillips head screws holding the center cluster onto the dashboard.

Other than the center-cluster removal being totally different, the rest of your DIY was spot on.

See the added details and let me know what you think of it since I'm a newbie here.

 

[CO_FlyFisher]

Hey mom - no problem! :bigok: Glad I could help!

 

[mycotopian]

I can't get the solder to stick to the pins. Any tips?

 

[kball]

I can't get the solder to stick to the pins. Any tips?

Flux

 

[biglar]

I can't get the solder to stick to the pins. Any tips?

For a start, I built a page years ago while building my plane and some of it will apply. Go to New Page 3 and read the part on soldering the sub-miniature pins.

Those pins you're trying to solder are tiny and great care is needed. A small pencil soldering iron from Radio Shack is necessary and a small diameter fluxed solder for radio/electronics use. A small spring clamp sometimes will help in holding things steady.

When ready, make sure your pieces to be connected are shiny clean, then carefully tin both pieces you want to join. I've found that holding 2 odd pieces of different sizes together and trying to make solder stick to both of them simultaneously is very difficult, so if you tin (coat with solder) each piece first, ¾ of your problems are solved before you start.

To tin the pieces, hold the tip of the solder against the piece to be tinned, then touch the soldering iron to the spot where they meet. The hot solder melting will help heat the metal to the point where the solder can stick. Don't put too much on or you'll have problems - just a film of metal is all you need.

When ready, hold the 2 pieces to be joined in position and touch the soldering pencil to the junction. In just a second or two, you'll see the solder flow together. Hard to describe, but you'll see it happen. Take the heat off it instantly and hold it very steady until you see the joint go from shiny to dull. The dull tells you that it's cooled and joined. If you move it at all during this, start over because you'll almost certainly have a "cold soldered" joint and it WILL fail - no matter how good it looks. If you're not sure - do it over. I have extensive experience in this and I've learned it all the hard way.

With the clock, I don't remember exactly how it was laid out - mine didn't need soldering - it just wasn't plugged in. Go figure. Good Luck and if that doesn't help, email me at: biglar (at) gogittum.com.

Lar.

 

[TheDurk]

^^^^GOOD POST! Somebody has stuck wires together before. It's an art.

 

[tvbuster1]

Just to let everyone know, I fixed my clock and have one piece of advice.

When soldering try doing one piece at a time and after you do one, make sure it fits. Then solder another and make sure it fits, then the third and the fourth. It makes fitting the clock back together a lot easier. Good luck!

 

[mycotopian]

Thanks for the help guys.

I picked up a Weller digital solder station for $50 on CL then went to Radio Shack today for some flux and .22" solder today. I took another swing at it tonight.

I set the iron to 600F for all of this (gotta love digital)

I "tinned" the pins on both sides first. Once that set I then used a tiny binder clip to hold them all even and upright on the pcb while a tacked them in place with a bead of solder. Once I got them lined up nicely I did a nice pass on both sides of each pin to finish it up.

The pins slid in no problem. I slapped it back in the truck and she fired right up!

I love fixing my own **** :reddance:


Thanks again for the assist.

 

[str8kaos]

This is a great site with lots of info, glad to have found it! I also have no clock lights on my '97 4runner, but to go along with that there are no lights for my hvac, are the two problems related?

 

[Clemsonfan15]

This is a great site with lots of info, glad to have found it! I also have no clock lights on my '97 4runner, but to go along with that there are no lights for my hvac, are the two problems related?

No. The lights for the HVAC should be much easier to swap.

 

[Clemsonfan15]

Is someone who has fixed their clock willing to do mine for me? I'd love to see it working all the time.

 

[edburzminski]

Clock repair SUCCESS!

Following the suggestion above, I took out the clock, disassembled it, discarded the springs, soldered the terminals directly to the pc board, put it back and the clock sprung back to life!

Thanks for the pictures... they really helped.

 

[eduardo_kang]

It works!

Thanks for posting the write up! My trucks clock hasn't work in 20-30k miles - been driving me nuts.
i used an old plumbing trick to get the solder on the pin. Heat the pin then touch the solder to the pin not the knife.

 

[habanero]

This thread came up in a post over at YT. I read it, then saw Qyota's link and checked that out. Then I fixed my clock a little differently using the information at hand and after doing a little thinking. Can't say I know what I'm doing, but it's been working terrifically ever since.
So here is my write-up for fixing my clock in the 96, from my build thread:

1) Get home from taking kid to school
2) Pull 1 larger flat blade screw driver, 1 phillips driver, 1 small flat blade and 1 very small phillips driver from tool box.
3) Pull climate control knobs off
4) use lg flat blade to carefully pry climate control panel from dash, using upper slots and remembering that a/c button is plugged in directly and must also come out.
5) Unscrew the 2 screws behind panel that hold trim on but not the 2 that hold climate control mechanism in.
6) Trim will now pull away from dash.
7) Unplug clock, carefully use small flat screwdriver to pry clock out of its holder.
8) Bring inside, find strongest reading glasses.
9) Realize eyes have gotten worse and vow to stop by Target to get stronger ones for this kind of work.
10) Go downstairs and get small soldering iron
11) Remember you forgot to switch laundry over.
12) Bring whites upstairs
13) Run back down and put reds in dryer.
14) Notice slight dead animal smell downstairs
15) Bring soldering iron upstairs then go outside and check house overhang that you've already repaired twice.
16) Find the hole creatures have made to get into house.
17) Repair hole.
18) Come inside, plug in soldering iron.
19) Use small flat blade to take front plastic off clock. Watch out for the 3 buttons and 3 button covers as these could fall off and go who knows where.
20) Use very small phillips to unscrew 2 screws holding circuit board to the backing.
21) Be VERY careful when you pull these apart. There are 4 small springs you don't want to lose on 4 small blades.
22) I pulled the springs out a little to make them longer so I'd have better contact.
23) Then I picked up the soldering iron and realized 7 cups of coffee (been up since 3 am) are not favorable for soldering on circuit boards but dang it, I'm gonna get this finished! Also re-vow to get stronger readers- the board is pretty blurry.
24) I carefully carefully repaired a slightly cracked solder at one of the resistors (? larger squares on circuit board) on the circuit board, then went over the other 3 as well.
25) Then I added a little solder to each of the contact areas on the board for the springs because there was some wear there.
26) put clock back together making sure springs had good contact with board
27) plugged back into truck
28) turned on and checked. I have the time again and the lighting's all even!
29) clipped clock back into trim panel
30) pushed panel back into place, screwed screws back in, put climate control panel/ a/c button back into place, put knobs back on.
31) Came in and wrote lengthy ridiculous story about it and now I've gotta get ready for work.

 

[imhighlander]

Bump for a brilliant writeup and the perfect fix. Massive thanks from one Coloradan to another! I did this over the weekend and the clock works great!

:thanks:

 

[barndoor]

Still the best instructions anywhwere....

WOW thanks flyfisher

I just bought a '99 (113K) to replace my '96 (167K) that I've had 10 years.
Of course the only thing not working was the clock.

Fix worked for me! Comments:

1) I needed to know how to get the dash panel out

2) I'm an electrical engineer so soldering was a no-brainer. I modified your technique to just snip away all the plastic at the connector side so that I could just reach in and solder with the clock plastic halves snapped together and so the pins all held in place and nice aligned.

3) Sigh, my problem wasn't the springs (which looked good and by the way have NICKEL plating (not silver or chrome). In desperation (not wanting to buy a used one on ebay and redo the soldering etc) I measured all the big resistors. They all seemed OK 1st time, 2nd time, but the third measurement of one of them was flaky. (They are 27, 27, 24, 24 ohms in a series string that provide bias and illumination control to the fluorescent display)

4) So I touched up soldering of all the big resistors. They did looked a bit crazed/granular/gray compared to a all the rest of the soldering which was still nice and shiny. SUCCESS!

5) BTW, there should be about 4 ohms between the 2 lower double posts/pins of the display module (otherwise the display' module's filament is burned out and you won't be getting anywhere soon) Also, those 2 lower double posts are pretty soft (I mashed them a little while the clock was face down and I was working on the pins. CAREFUL straightening them, if you crack the seal into the display module you are dead--the gas leaks out. There is a reason these pins are soft)

Congrats on a great post of mucho importance and I hope my little insights have made a contribution...

 

[Killa-Cotton]

I just finished repairing mine. I pulled it this morning, soldered the pins and it still didn't work. I didn't notice any cracks around the resistors and i thought it was a lost cause but I figured before I junked it I would reflow the larger resistors just to be sure. That must have been the problem because now it's working great. While I was reassembling it I noticed the plastic lens was pretty scratched up and had something on that just would come off so I got out the Mothers headlight restore and polished it up. Wow, what a difference. The plastic is super clear now and it literally looks brand new. Mothers is some good #^&*. Thanks for the great write up!

 

[tacona]

Dash clock fix

Awsome write up. Mine's a 99 runner and when I opened it up the springs were fine none were broken, so I just carefully strecthed the springs alittle and now it work's great. Now don't have to go to the dealer and get a new one or to Ebay to send it to be repaired, Thanks again.

 

[Hiluxsurf 2409]

thanks for the tip where can i get the the springs