failed clock

This might be no help to you, but my 99 Forester clock failed at least a year ago, maybe more, not covered under warranty as I was over the mileage amount anyway. Someone did post some info about repairing clocks (similar to these, I think), and I'll post it below. I have not gotten around to trying the fix, but have been somewhat satisfied just to reprogram my eyes to look at the clock in the radio instead. (I set the display to default back to the clock after station changes. I seldom miss the upper clock now.) Here is what was posted back then, along with what prompted the response:

The digital clock on my 98 Forester is dead. Instead of replacing it with the same old boring timepiece maybe I can put it smth more advanced, like clock + compass? Is there anything like it available on market? Peter

It doesn't sound like you would want to bother repairing the clock, but if it is like the one in my Loyale, they fail due to a design weakness. Dimming the display is done with a simple resistor which is in the circuit when the headlights are on. As this is the case for prolonged periods, the resistor is hot for many hours and eventually fails due to metal migration from the solder joint. The fix is simply to dismantle the clock and resolder the joint, a simple process and the resistor is easily spotted since the joints discolor due to the heating/migration. In my car it took about 5 years to fail, and when I sold the car last year it hadn't happened a second time after another four years.