My clock resets to 1:00 every time I turn off the car?
 

I'm pretty confused about this, even though it seems pretty simple. I don't think I'm all that mechanically retarded but I can't figure out what is causing this.

About three days ago I had to take off my passenger door lock to find the key code since I'd lost my last key, for some reason even since I've reassembled the doorpanel and lock, whenever I turn off the car, the clock on the idiot light cluster resets back to 1:00. It always stayed right on time before this, and didn't do it until I had opened up the passenger door panel.

I'm not really sure what I could have messed with that could have made this start happening, or if this is some sort of mysterious common RX7 mystery problem, but any suggestions on where to start on getting my precious clock functioning again would be appreciated!

cold solder joints

I re-soldered the joints inside the idiot cluster a couple months back as most of them were broken, but up until this day (I pulled it out again and checked tonight) they all are solid. I don't know if that's the issue.

I can literally sit in the car, set the clock, turn off the car, take out the key, put the key back in, and it'll be back at 1:00 again.

Check your fuses.

If a fuse was bad, the clock wouldn't work at all.
It's the solder joints, sorry.

Suck as much of the old solder off as you can and drop on fresh solder. It's the joints, or you have messed up wiring to the clock. It's always the joints as previously stated.

i've run into this too, its the solder joints. the solder Mazda used seems to suck

after 20 years in a baking hot car i would probably drag ass to get up every morning also.

Not exactly true. There is a constant hot and a ACC hot to the clock. If you loose the constant hot, the clock will reset. The ACC hot is what turns on the clock display when you turn on your car.

The constant hot is the "Room" fuse.
The ACC hot is the "Audio" fuse.

So, if the interior dome light doesn't go on and off when you open and close the door, that confirms the Room fuse is blown and is why it's resetting.

Otherwise, it's indeed probably a cold solder joint causing a circuit break to the constant hot to the clock itself.

Well I'll say I definitely have to thank all you guys for all the soldering experience I've picked up the past day, that board for the cluster looks fantastic now :lol:

HOZZMANRX7, you're right on the money.

Clokker, you owe me a beer though, as a fuse was the problem after all, specifically it was this one:

http://i46.tinypic.com/163mzq.jpg

I'm not sure how I didn't notice this before (maybe it was the relief from the constant activation of the car alarm going off every time I open a door) but the same fuse that controls the power to the clock's memory, also controls that. I noticed as soon as I changed out the fuse the alarm's "BEEP" returned as soon as I cycled the key to test the clock out.

My guess is that when I was messing around trying to take off the door lock I somehow shorted out an element of the alarm trigger on the handle itself and blew the fuse.

I suppose maybe next time I have a minor electrical problem I should perhaps check the fuses first :blush:

Any particular brand?

I don't believe the car has a 5 amp fuse.

True, it was just a temporary one since for some reason all I had in my box were 5's and 30's. I wanted to err on the low side just in case it actually blew from a legitimate electrical issue.

The Correct 7.5 now resides in the spot.

my clock doesn't even turn on :(

well maybe like once a month. and it starts at 1:03 for some reason O_o

The clock always worked good in my 86 for years until recently i destroyed the rear view mirror/sunroof control area and i believe the wires to the lights touched and now my clock resets to 1:00 every time i start the car. I assume that some how fried the solder joints? The fuses are good.

LOL, did you read the above? Make sure the wires aren't touchand and then you might want to check your room fuse..............:lol::lol:

The wires arent touching anymore. They touched each other once for a split second. LOL. did you read my post? Last thing i said was the fuses are GOOD ; )

ha i got you all beat. my clock picks a random time to display every time. some times i think my car is from the future... not the past. :) (i think there are too many time references in this post)

I have a similiar problem to this. My clock has not been on when I bought this car this February. Then this morning I started the car and the 1:00 popped up. So I then setted to the desired time, then I was driving then out of nowhere it reseted back to 1:00. I was like "Whats this?" I got a clock no lol. Meanwhile I turned off the car then I turned it on shortly after then the time disappeared. Why? :(

?.Because the darn thing is 25 years old!.
I fixed my clock.I covered with a 3 gauge pod.
Now I read boost,water temp and oil pressure!..
What time is it??...10 PSI!..PSSHH!
Seriously though,the joints in the board are crap.If you can't solder (some people can,some can't) then just buy another used "Idiot cluster" in the Parts section.

LOL! Ok. I mean the clock is not that important to me I can tell time regardless. As long as my oil pressure, tach, battery meter, water gauge works. I got to work on getting my speedometer to work again and my mileage reading

sooo you just read this whole thread and couldnt figure out why it didnt work?
ooor you didnt read anything in this thread at all?

The speedometer is cable operated,so if the cable from the transmission to the cluster is not hooked up,you get 0mph!
Speedo and Odometer( mileage reading) are integrated.

thank god, now you can go about your days. Must have been Bill Murray in Groundhog day

Yeh i fixed the problem haha. Thanks