clock broken?

[kassim503]

i took apart the clock and i got some pictures, I think the display is out. I might try to get another clock with a green display and just make a bracket and mount it up in the old clocks place, and put the factory faceplate on it too, or figure out how the displays work and fix or replace it.

clock pulled from dash



the white conncector that i thought was the problem last time


front face of the clock


a picture of the clock with the connector and the 6 wires that go to it


opened the clock, all the connections are pretty clean and none are broken


i jumped two connections on the display, and i got the display to work for a split second, also it made some wires in the display glow red.


anybody know why it would do this? i dont have too much knowledge in digital clocks or semiconductors

[83_maxima]

Is there any new information about the clock fix?

I have two of these and neither work. I was hoping that someone had figured out how to fix em.

[asavage]

I've got two that work (in the Wagons) and one spare. Carimbo has a spare. It looks as if it's tied into the timer unit (of which I also have a spare or two).

Do you want to trade a working one for a non-working one? I'd like to have a broken one (I guess). Now that I think about it, I'm not sure the spare I have is working or non-working, so I'd have to pull the cluster on one of my wagons to check, and I'm not sure I'm up for that right now.

[83_maxima]

I too may have a spare timer unit. Let me check my box. I can't remember if the unit is the voice or the timer.

You don't need to give anything up, I will find one of these in the JY soon and will pull out a timer unit then. I had read that it might be related to the timer, but forgot.

Thanks for the offer.

[asavage]

I can't remember if the unit is the voice or the timer.

The voice warning unit is black plastic, is blocky and almost a cube of about 3" or 3.5". It sits on top of the knee bolster on the left side.

The timer unit is smaller, more like an oversized hard pack of cigarettes, and its case is galvanized steel. It's located in the right kick panel.

[83_maxima]

It's black plastic, must be the voice unit. No timer unit in my stash. I'll have to put it on the list.

So is there anyway to fix the timer or is it just easier to pick one up from the JY?

[asavage]

At this point, nobody knows if the Timer goes bad when the clock dies. I don't have a failed clock. The FSM says to check for a 1024 Hz pulse out of the timer as part of the clock diagnostic. It gives a voltmeter equivalency (which is probably wildly inaccurate but good enough to determine if a pulse is present). I own a 'scope and I know how to use it, but until a failed unit comes my way, I can only guess.

The Timer may be the same between the gasser & diesel models, but I haven't checked.

I have a spare Timer that I'd be happy to loan you, but picking one up locally may cost about the same as two-way shipping. If I remember, I'll check the Timer part Nos. tonight, or maybe Glenlloyd can.

[kassim503]

In my case the clock itself died (the display), dont think about the clock too much it will drive you crazy, I epoxied a clock from a 96 honda accord on the clocks faceplate and jumped the hour/min adjustment connections to a switch in a empty hole in the kick panel.

I have a spare unit, still in the car working and all, if anybody needs one just pay for shipping.

The voice unit is under the kick panel and has a sticker on it, i think it says voice warning unit- do not open

The timer unit says time control unit- DO NOT DROP in red, its under the passenger seat just between the ECU and transmission tunnel

[83_maxima]

My clock will flash on and off. Sometimes when I will drive over the railroad tracks the clock will flash 12:00 for a while then fade out. At this point it is black most (90%) of the time.

So can this be attributed to the timer unit or the clock itself?

The 84 is similar. It will fade in and out all of the time. So the display still works...

[kassim503]

Its the display in the clock thats your problem, if you can get ahold of a new clock it would work for but it may burn out again.

I got pictures of my clock, it looks stock and is fully functional (except for the engine timer) and it dosent need the timing unit.

This isnt the stock clock

The posts are epoxied in place

toggle up for minutes and toggle down for hours


heres a pic of the timer control unit- its under the passenger seat


The voice warning box is under the kick panel, when unplugged the front driver speaker dosent work




good luck with ur clock woes

[83_maxima]

Ugggggghhhh...

I seem to recall in my earlier days when I would scower the junkyard on a weekly basis that I pulled a clock out of a junker and put it in mine. It worked for a while and then stopped.

So I believe my spare is my car's original clock.

I will go with your advice Kassim and not worry about it. It IS driving me crazy...

[asavage]

My clock will flash on and off. Sometimes when I will drive over the railroad tracks the clock will flash 12:00 for a while then fade out. At this point it is black most (90%) of the time.

So can this be attributed to the timer unit or the clock itself?

It's not an electrical problem, it's a mechanical problem. Whether it's a connection on the harness connectors or a broken PCB or a cracked solder joint, this isn't going to take a lot of work to track down, and once fixed it will tend to stay fixed.

I used to repair computer monitors & terminals for a living -- bench tech, all day every day (loved the job, but that industry has gone the way of VCR repair). About one out of seven monitors' problems were a bad solder joint. Five out of seven were bad electrolytic capacitors. The rest were a pot pourri. The bad solder joint rigs were the gravy jobs, because once fixed, they never came back for warranty.

(About one-third of the fixes on this page are mine; most of the rest were collected by a former co-worker. Neither of us work in that field anymore, so I put it online. Back in the day, this list was jealously guarded, as it contains shortcuts for specific recurring problems for a lot of equipment, and that's how I paid the rent. Now, of course, it's nearly valueless.)

Ben, please consider sending me one of your bad clocks. I can't guarantee that the problem is in the clock and not the timer, but as you have no Timer-related symptoms in the rest of the car (and that Timer does run a whole lot of stuff!), chances are that the problem is in the clock.

I've fixed several Subaru digital clocks, they're easy. I don't have a lot of experiece with other digital clocks but I've repaired a few instrument clusters (BMW & VW mostly; no, don't ask me to replace the dead/leaking nicads in your '80s BMW cluster!).

The radios are a different situation, tightly packed and the fluorescent display driver power supply has a tendency to fry. I've got one open here and have considered fixing it but I've always been able to find a JY one for under $15 so I keep just swapping the radios out -- hey, I'm lazy!

[asavage]

One of the most endearing features of the Gen1 Maxima is the lovely green displays. I really like that color.

[83_maxima]

Well Al, I am looking at my box of maxima parts right now and the clock is just sitting in there. If you could provide me with a good mailing address I will fedex that baby tomorrow to the great state of Washington! [Have I ever mentioned how much I like PT and the Olymipic Peninsula?]

[goglio704]

Both of my cars have clock issues. They fade in, fade out, sometimes keeping time, sometimes not. Amusing / annoying according to my mood, but just not enough of a problem to get fixed.