ICQ>

I took the advice from the follow-up posts to my message regarding my clock in the instrument cluster stopping when it dropped below 55 degrees. I removed the capacitors and took them to an electronics repair shop... the guy tested them, gave me two 16 volt, 100 microfarads. I put them in, last night it got to 50 and the clock was still right on the money. Supposedly the capacitors are the only parts on these clocks that will go bad. For anyone else having this trouble here's how to fix it:

Tools Needed: 1 small flat head screw driver(usually found in a precision screw driver kit)

1 regular flat head screw driver

1 phillips screw driver

1 solder gun

1 roll electrical solder

1 roll desoldering braid (aka solder wick)

Pull the instrument panel out and remove the screws (5, I think) that surround the black plastic backing to the clock, then pull the clock out (there may be a little resistance due to the electrical plugs that fit over the posts on the back of the instrument panel board. Next, place the solder wick over the bead of solder under the neg. terminal on the back of the clock... place the heated soldering gun on the wick, the solder will be sucked up into the wick. Remove the flat head screw to each of the terminals, remove the terminals then the plastic backing. Remove the needles and face plate (just to protect them from any damage). The capacitors are the two gold "towers" on one side of the clock board. Touch a piece of grounded metal to discharge any static electricity. Wick the solder away from the bottom side of the board underneath pos. and neg. terminal leads of the capacitors in the same manner as described above. Take your new 16 volt, 100 micro farad caps (avail. at Radio shack, I think) and place them through the holes on the board, bending the leads inward to hold it on the board for solder. MAKE SURE YOU PLACE THE LEAD THROUGH THE CORRECT HOLE THE POS. SIDE SHOULD GO THROUGH THE HOLE WHERE THERE IS A POS. SYMBOL. These capacitors usually indicate the negative side with a series of minus signs. Drop a bead of solder over each lead being careful not to oversolder to prevent bleeding into another electrical path or solder. Reassemble and reinstall...Your done.

Let me know if you have any questions

Hope this helps somebody,

Mike

84 240 219,000mi