How to adjust clock with no buttons ?

I've never taken my dash that far apart to know how they work.

I guess you could wait until 11:50 AM or 11:50 PM, disconnect the negative 12 V battery cable, wait ten minutes, and hook it back up right at noon or midnight. (You'll lose the radio presets, and the two trip odometers will reset to 0.0, if you do this.)

 

^Thats brilliant!

 

What's where the two buttons should be? Just two square holes?

 

I would have thought a paperclip would have done it. But is that what a "part clip" is? I'm thinking whatever you did you just missed the little internal button on the board.

 

Ask a dealership.
If they don't know the answer, they should be able to FIND it.
You are just wasting your time and money now.

 

I'm finding that rather odd myself. But good to know if I ever lose my buttons.

 

Were there tinned pads on the board below where the buttons would be?

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around how the buttons weren't there in the first place. Are you saying there were just two small square holes in your faceplate where the buttons go?

 

I've got nothing. That makes no sense. (What you're saying makes sense - I believe you. Just the set up makes no sense). So if anyone ever figures that out I'll be happy to know.

In the meantime, mobile phones keep pretty good time!

 

DPO must have had the panel apart at some point and lost the buttons, along with what were probably conductive-coated rubber membranes on the ends.

I had that panel apart once while I owned my Gen 1, but I don't have detailed memories of how those buttons looked specifically. I just made sure I included them when I put it back together.

 

If those are metal squares, they could be "chicklet" switches that will "snap" when pressed hard enough.
Might need something more substantial than a paper clip to make them work.

Note: Are there holes where you expect the buttons to be ?
If not, you likely are chasing a ghost here and the answer is something entirely different.

 

If the metal pads you saw looked domed at all, then Sam might be right and you could be able to push them. I don't think I would use a paperclip end, too hard and pointed for the possibly delicate domes. I might push with something a little wider and softer, Q-tip with the fuzzy end lopped off, something like that.

If they were not domed, but just flat pads on the circuit board, probably the ends of the buttons were conductive.

I wonder if the pair of buttons could be this. The diagram could stand to be clearer, but this part number is indicated to be a pair of things, and they look small, and like they go in about the right place.

It would be around twelve dollars at one of the discounting dealers to find out.

 

As for why disconnecting the 12V doesn't reset the clock, it seems that the clock setting was programmed to be kept in KAM ("keep alive memory" - stored "hard" / physically so it remains even with loss of power - like a thumb drive). I think it would be weird if some programmer/engineer/manager/etc. decided that was a good idea - but not a day goes by that I'm not thinking "Wth?" about programmer/engineer/manager/etc decisions about how things should be set up.

If you have a techstream knockoff you might see if there is a way to control that or to just reset the clock. It would surprise me if there wasn't a way to control that and/or reset the clock using techstream.

Otherwise, I'd say that the "conductive coating" idea is right - that they're membrane switches - and that Chap is right that you need something like a stripped Q-tip rather than a paperclip. Think something wider, gentler, and without being as hard and possibly sharp as a paper clip.

Personally, I'd still just have a mobile phone sitting on a holder regardless and say F the clock. And tiime is overrated. But to each their own.

 

Hear hear...

 

They don't all work via a conductive coating that you can SEE.
It might be under that shiny metal square that you see.
And maybe the battery needed to be disconnected longer ??

 

I'm hoping somebody will take the plunge and risk $12 to find out if 55937-49085 is the pair of buttons.

 

I was tempted to go try to pull my buttons just to see...but then I thought I'd end up regretting that. And not because I care if the clock in the car is right. Just in case I ever decide to sell it.