koneazny

Same trouble here with our 2001 Forester, Clock went intermittent as
temp dropped this winter. The clock was still keeping time, just that the
segments weren't staying lighted. As described, the resistor (510 ohm I
presume) had some bad joints. In my case, the end under the display was
the worst case. Also noticed the resistor was slightly raised above the
surface. I think that's a good sign the automated place and solder flow
at the assembly plant has a slight variation causing the consistent
quality issue among many owners. No doubt a machine calibation issue.
Without a schematic, I definitely would never have found this one. Thanks
to your advice, it was fixed in 15 minutes. Dollars saved and appreciated!

ac30treb

Thanks for this write up! I fixed it in less than 15 minutes. I'm a little embarrassed that I put off working on it for about a month.

Great98

I resoldered the 510 chip with no results. After ten minutes or so it came back to life! Then it quit, and periodically returns. I guess the internal gremlins are going to tell me the time only when THEY feel it's important. My display has the burnt mark on it, too.

doduff

There is no excuse for not fixing this yourself. Not to demean anyone for just replacing the whole clock, but why do that when the fix job is so easy!

Look at the absolutely horrible solder beads I did on mine(since I didn't have a fine tip for my iron) and it worked just fine!

The bad resistor:


The main bead:


Both beads re-soldered:


They look nasty but it works! We'll see if it lasts.

===
If you don't think the resistor is the problem, or you tried to solder it with no results, be sure to inspect all connections very careully. I thought my resistors looked fine at first until I looked at them under a magnifying lense with bright light. It also to a couple of tries to get the solder to fill the gap.

SenorSubie

Check all of the resistor's, because most of mine seemed to share the same trend in the poor quality. Even if it looks like there is a connection you still might want to re-solder it! Try using more solder material too, this maybe also help :)

__________________
99 AT-
wrx goodies
Subiegal Gauge Pod

jus got scoobd

hey there,
this was the first thing i went out and did when i bought my s/tb (used)
thanks for the advice and heads up!

ekul_84

My overhead clock has been out of service for quite some time now ('98 forester). Until I found this thread I thought it would be a case of shelling out the cash for the new clock. This weekend I popped it out and resoldered the bad joints (resistor 510 and 300) and now it works like a charm!!
Thanks for the great post!

grookes

Amen to that! Just last weekend my wife thanked me AGAIN for fixing it. I guess the time-change brought the subject up. (wow - it's been 3 months already? guess so...)
:-))

askimdog

Hey there, bought a 1999 Forester, everything is awesome and working but the clock after seeing this post, 10 minutes later, clock works. thanks

ValuePack

My clock has been broken for about 1.5 years, then I saw this thread. Popped it out, and #510 had a crack in the solder, just like in your photo. 5 minutes with the soldering iron, and it's fixed!

Thumbs up for a great, helpful writeup.

And for those of you who are slightly hesitant to go ripping apart your electronics and work with molten solder, I offer you this:

1. The clock is already broken. If it's working intermittantly now, it won't for long. You stand nothing to lose if you accidently break something.

2. Think it's too hard? I showed my wife physically, then this thread, what the reasoning behind my long-failed clock was... when I came home, SHE had fixed the clock, with no soldering experience. So, no, this is not too hard for you.

Just do it.:)

__________________
MY04 Forester XS seacoastsubarus.com

tonyf333

i got my forester on monday an old 98 ,clock didn`t work when i picked it up went to subaru and they wanted £38.50 +vat .then saw this and now my clock works, so easy to follow and a great post ty senorsubie .

benjamin

Got a new clock for my 99 forester and THEN saw this post!! Just making sure before I start soldering: we're talking about the line of solder that actually connects r150 to the board at the ends of r150 right?

__________________
benj. burch
'99 Subaru Forester S Version

benjamin

Just checked out some of the pics posted, sure enough, we're talking about the actual long beads of solder at the ends of the resistors, r150 and r300. I'll give it a try today and see if it works. :)

__________________
benj. burch
'99 Subaru Forester S Version

pleiad7

^^ yup... in some cases you can actually see a crack in the line of solder. For best results, resolder both ends of the resistor, even if it is cracked only on one side.

__________________
-Silke
04 FXT PP PSM ~ "Subed"
98 Forester S ~ "Slynki"
92 SVX LS-L ~ x2

benjamin

YUP thats exactly what I did, and it worked!!!! r150 had come completely loose on the inside side, so I re-soldered both ends. amazing what you can learn. Thanks!!!!!!

__________________
benj. burch
'99 Subaru Forester S Version