Over the last month, the digital clock in my car started to go out. I knew it must be a bad connection because it would work intermittently.
Then a few weeks ago, it stopped working all together. I decided I would try to fix it myself. Thanks to scoobymods.com, I was able to figure out how to get the clock out of the dashboard.
First, I removed the facing around the radio. Then the top piece with the vents and the hazard switch. To do that, I pull out the cup holder and unscrewed the two Phillips screws inside on both sides.
I know it seems like you could skip taking the facing off but I would suggest doing it. I made the mistake of trying to take the vent cover off first and wasted 15 minutes putting it back on before going forward. Others, have reported being able to do it without problem.
The facing around the radio has four clips, one on each corner. I was not worried about scratching the surface and just used a butter knife. A good suggestion was to use a flat screwdriver wrapped in electrical tape and slowly pry at the corners until the facing pops free.
Then, I removed the plug from the hazard switch and radio using my fingers. I took out the clock module. With a flat screwdriver, I had to press firmly on the clips in the front of the clock pod until it pops up. It took some time to look at how the clips were angled into the plastic and bit of jiggling while pushing on the clips. Eventually it popped off. At this point, I was able to disconnect the plug from the clock. Then pull the four clips off the plastic molding and bring the unit inside to inspect the issue.
Note: If you decide to fix your clock, make sure not to lose the buttons for the hour, minute, and second. A rubber and plastic piece connect with the main board.
Now that I had the module inside I searched online and found reports of issues with resister 510. Here is a picture showing where the break occurs. It appears this happens frequently on all Subaru’s. I’m not too upset because this is the only part on my 02 WRX that has failed out of warranty.
I pulled out my fine pointed solider iron and got the connection fixed up. I did not see any other problems so I put it back together.
Final Result!
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