Resetting Time & Date

[jonack]

Greetings,
It's been a while since my last post... love my 2008, 135i...

I've had to reset my time & date a number of times over the past few weeks. The service manager believes that it is due to the fact that I am not driving the car much ( Have 16, 500 miles / 2 years old in March), and the battery might need recharging. I do drive everyday, but not highway, just around town. He wants to give the battery a charge...Do I need to do this? Can I just take the car out on the highway a little more? I am not having any other problems, starting, etc. Have any of you experienced this?
Best,
JoNack

[turner23]

To give the alternator a chance to really recharge the battery you need about 20-30 minutes of highway driving. If the dealer is planning on charging you for a recharge, F-that, just drive around for a while, but make sure to get to cruising speeds for some time.

on a side note: I'm surprised your date and time would be affected before starting, etc, I would think there would be a backup battery in the OBC to keep date and time correct even if you disconnect/remove the battery in the trunk.


Nick

[jeremyc74]

Your service manager is lying to you, or he's completely clueless and shouldn't be in a service department.

If the battery has enough of a charge to start the car, it's certainly got enough to maintain the memory function on the clock. I can't believe he even suggested that, as it makes no sense whatsoever. These cars should be able to sit for about a year without starting and still maintain the clock memory. Tell him to stop wasting your time and get a real technician on the problem.

[m_thompson]

We had the same problem with my wife's '08 328xi with 14,000 miles last week. The car monitors the battery draw and will turn off non-vital accessories if there is too much draw on the battery. It was shutting off the clock and heated seats. iDrive status had messages that said that there was excessive battery draw. They replaced the battery. The dealer was nice enough to for the battery because it is not covered under warranty. We brought it back an hour after we picked it up because the time was gone again. This time they replaced the negative battery cable that includes the current sensor. It is fixed now. List price on the battery cable was more than the battery!