grookes

+1 for a broken clock.
Gotta go get myself a fine-tip soldering iron...

How do I get the clock out of it's little overhead spot? Does that plastic covering just pop forward?

Danielrhume

Yes. A small flat head screwdriver or a knive will pop off the cover trim right off.

__________________
'99 Forester L AT

jdboy

Well I finally got around to taking my clock out and tried to fix it. Now I'm thinking that mine is done. The LCD had a burnt spot on the display. I checked the local wrecking yards with no luck.

__________________
98'L w/manual tranny

SenorSubie

Mine has the spot on it too, it doesn't affect the lcd screen at all. Don't throw it away! My guess is that your clock is perfectly ok!

__________________
99 AT-
wrx goodies
Subiegal Gauge Pod

jdboy

Thanks for the advice! I'll give it a good looking over.

__________________
98'L w/manual tranny

jdboy

You were right, I fixed my clock this evening after work. Thanks for the advice to give it a second look!

__________________
98'L w/manual tranny

SenorSubie

No problem, I'm glad it works for ya again :)

__________________
99 AT-
wrx goodies
Subiegal Gauge Pod

grookes

I'm such a rookie. Like a dummy, I tried to use a soldering iron that was too thick and ended up melting the solder, and the 510 chip started floating away from it's original position - not far - just about an 1/8 inch. You think it's still salvagable? I'm going to get a fine-tip iron and try it again - try to reposition it to its original spot. Worth one more try, I guess.

Legacy

I'd try to fix it, (hopefully )can't be that bad.

laughlen

great to have these instructions!
although in summary:

1) yippee it worked!
2) its not as easy as it sounds for some of us fumble-fingers.

I seem to remember being handy with a soldering iron a long time ago (too long in hindsight) but I managed to make a minor hash of this.

my solder joints did not "look" bad at all but the nearest one to the end looked slightly less good than the other so I decided to clean it up a bit with some fresh solder... as soon as I touched it the whole resistor slid away. turns out that the inboard joint had a very clean fracture and in fact had no solder on the underside pad at all... clearly a manufacturing issue.

after much fiddling with tweezers and such I got the resistor back in place with some (by now) really crappy solder joints....

... and most surprisingly when I popped the clock back in IT WORKED!

I do wonder how long it will keep working but fingers crossed

:D

p.s. grookes I hope you got yours fixed too... doesn't sound like you screwed up as badly as I did....

__________________
2002 Forester S Sport

grookes

Just finished - FIXED!! Whoo-hoo!!
Had to get a finer tip soldering iron, and had to pop the board completely out of the black housing to get to the other side of the 510 chip (soldered both sides).
Done, done, done!! Thank you guys!!!!!!

Oh - side note - the guy at Radio Shack said to use a 15 watt iron; not a 30 watt. The 30 watt might "fry the board". The iron I bought had a switch to toggle between a 15 and 30 watt setting. Don't know if it's true, but whatever - fixed now!! :-)))

SenorSubie

Glad it works for you again :) I was really glad once I got around to getting mine fixed!

__________________
99 AT-
wrx goodies
Subiegal Gauge Pod

liciarothermel

Yessss! Add me to the list of quick-fixed clocks. Mine started flickering and fading in the summer, and eventually stopped working. I have the burnt spot on it too, BTW. Showed it to my older brother, an electronics engineer, and he didn't see anything obvious.

So today I did a search for "clock" on the forum, mostly interested in seeing if I could find a cheap replacement. My younger brother just spent a few minutes with the soldering iron, said the 510 resistor started moving, but he was able to reinforce the solder. I put it back in and voila! All good again. Yay! Thanks!!

Roo

Umm...that's not fair.

YOU are supposed to do the repair .

Then you can show your brother a thing or two...

__________________
-There is no such thing as can't, only won't.

c-low

After some read up on "the clock fix" I attempted to go at it so..................... WALLLLLLA!!!!!!!!!!!!! FIXED! NOW I CAN DO MY HAPPY DANCE .........THANKS TO ALL FOR THE PROBLEM SOLVER!