awesome fix. thanks! worked like a charm!

Sam,

Excellent suggestion on how to fix the dimming/disappearing illumination on the Toyota Corolla clock! It worked and I am so happy the clock’s back in action with a bit of soldering. What else could I lose? Not much considering it costs like over $200 for the clock. Ridiculous price from the dealership and nevermind the labor that would be involved to put it back in.

Thank you!

Sam,

Thanks for the solution. My 03 Corolla has the same problem with the clock. I refreshed the solder and was able to bring the clock back to life. However, I decided not to connect the clock afterward.

As soon as I finished with the soldering work, before re-assembling it, I plugged in the power cable to test if it worked. The clock display came back but I realized that the three “181″ chips I re-soldered were very hot after 30 seconds of use. I am not sure if it is normal but worried that it might drain the battery very quickly.

I have checked each solering point I touched but there was no sign of short circuit. I believe the surface temperature of the chips are above 140F.

Awesome!! Thanks for the tips. It fixed the clock on my 2004 Corolla. A great big thanks!!!

Sam, thanks a million. Saved my office $200+ at the stealership, and made me a hot ticket with the boss. Much, much obliged!

You Da Man!! Worked like a charm!!! Thanks!!

I need some help please.

I have 2005 corolla-S and clock below radio is stopped working. It was very dim and going off and on sometime, but now it is completely off and not working? (Everything else works fine). I dont know there might be some fuse blown or some connection problem in Clock circuit. Any help would be appreciated.

God Bless you for posting this. Fixed the problem and saved me big bucks

Thanks worked for me, easy instructions

Thanks for the tip Sam! Saved me lots of testing time for me. I found a cracked solder joint on the 27 ohm part.
For Joseph, The chips are resistors and they only run hot when the VFT display is illuminated. The resistors seem to be voltage dividers for the VF display’s low voltage filaments (the tiny wires strung horizontally in front of the glowing numbers) So when the car is turned off the resistors are not using up battery power; only one milliamp to run the clock timing. (according to specs. on the C1210 clock chip.)

Sam -

Thank you for taking the time to put this DIY piece together. I just refreshed the solder joints and the clock is back on and working perfectly! The wife is VERY happy! Really appreciate your help.

Sam,

Before I attempt this I have a question for you, is this to fix the problem of the clock light fading out or the clock not working at all ? The problem I have seems to be a lighting problem, the light fades on and off but the clock is keeping time accurately.

Best Regards,
David

EUREKA!!!! Nutt’n like saving a few hundred bucks. My daughter has bugged me for over a year to buy a new clock, and with your tip, it worked! Luv ya man.

Great information…. Fixed it in seconds… Thanks

Worked for me too! Thanks so much! I love saving money!

I took the clock circuit board out and tried to resolder the chip connections. I couldn’t heat the solder enough to get it to reflow. I will try again using new solder. Is it necessary to do all the chip connections? I also call customer service at Toyota about the clock. I was told that my call was the only one they received. If they receive enough calls, they would reconize the problem and start a recall.

Resoldered the chips and the clock works great. Thanks for sharing this fix.

Sam, I removed the panel around the gear shift, then removed the fan knob and pulled out the screw. However, the panel is not easily pulling off. I’m tugging at it but I’m worried I might break a clip and do other damage. Are there other screws or clips that I need to remove before attempting to pull the clock panel out to replace the clock? Please let me know: yohannd@hotmail.com

The clock in my corolla is working but there is no light on it so at nighttime it is very hard to see the time. Would this also fix the light?

Thanks so much for saving me $350 plus for a new clock. I didn’t realize how much I looked at the car clock until it died!

This worked just fine for our 2004 Corolla S. Saved us a few hundred dollars and will eventually increase the car’s resale value.

Decades of working in the electronics industry really helped in doing the fine soldering work.

Thanks so much for providing these clear instructions, Sam.

Your time and effort to post this repair is greatly appreciated. I didn’t realize this was a fairly common problem till I googled it and found your post.We really love this 2005 Corolla and you helped us with the only issue we’ve had with this car! Thanks so much and may God Bless you! Bob R.

Thanks man!

Thank you – this worked great – only took a few minutes for my husband to repair the clock and you saved me $300 plus installation fee’s for a new clock from the dealer.
Used clocks are running at $150.

I am at 215 000 km on my 2005 Corolla and this is the only issue with my car. (I did not want to get the new 2012 Corolla.) I do a lot of night driving and really missed having a clock the past couple weeks.)

I am very greateful you took the time to video and post the fix. Thank you again.

I tried this with my 2006 Corolla. I got the cover off from around the gear shift, pulled off the knolb and removed the screw. However, the cover over the clock would not come off. Anybody have any ideas about how to pull the cover off withoug breaking it?

there are tabs along the side of the cover, I just used a flat piece of plastic to run along both sides and did some side to side wiggling of it and it popped out.

Im not sure how you found this, but the solution worked beautifully. I “tinned” the tip of the soldering iron with a little solder before heating the connections on the chips.
Great solution.
Thank you.