clock goes dead sometimes

The clock on my 2001 tacoma keeps perfect time but 95% of the time the display is blank, every once in a while for a little while it lights up like normal then poof months go by then back on again for a few minutes always with the perfect time.

 

Probably a broken solder making contact every now and then making it "appear"

Easy to undo the panel under your steering column and remove it.

 

Common issue with 90’s and 00’s vehicles. Cold solder joints caused by lead free solder mandated by the federal gov’t during this era. Lead free solder is susceptible to cracking as it’s more brittle and weak that leaded solder.

Chrysler was especially bad with cold solder joints, but you see it in all cars of the era.

You can try to re-flow the solder yourself in a toaster oven, send it to a re-flow service on eBay, or just replace the clock.