If the Mini seats for more than an hour or so the date and time go to -- -- and need to re reset. Anyne else have this problem? TIA

 

Sounds like you need to check the battery or battery connections.

 

How well is the car starting?
I would also guess voltage problems

 

I don't believe it's a battery issue. The Mini is a daily driver. I just checked the battery and it reads 11.8 after sitting all night. Any other thoughts out there?

 

I had that problem once a few weeks ago. The car was sitting for about 3 days without starting it. During those days I would be opening and closing the doors and trunk several times sometimes not closing them all the way and leaving the interior lights on. When I started my car back up I noticed the clock was no longer set and the trip odometer had reset to zero. I figured I had let the battery voltage drop too low.

 

The interior light will turn off by itself after a preset time. The car is smart enough to not let that kind of thing drop the voltage too low. The only time I've seen mine give a warning about the battery voltage was the day I took delivery. It was from spending too much time looking though the Nav system and checking out the car. The car finally gave a warning about needing to be started.

Even with that warning, it didn't lose any settings or the clock. If you're near a dealer, it sounds like something they need to check out.

 

I hope this is a misprint. A fully-charged lead-acid battery should read 12.8 volts. 12.5v is 1/2 discharged; 12.2v is nearly fully discharged. If you're really reading 11.8v, I think you have a battery problem.

- Bob

 

Thanks Bob, you're right... no misprint. I went back to the car and found that I had a service message that the battery was low. I have it on a battery charger and will see if that fixes it or if there is a drain somewhere.

 

Three different times I have had to set the clock on my 08 MCS. It will read --:--. I have also had the TPMS come on about four different times - twice I had to reset it, two of the times it reset itself within a few seconds. I checked the air presssure and it was always proper. Today when the time was lost the Comfort access would not work and I had to push the unlock button to open the car. It did start though without having to put the fob in the holder. After I started, I noticed that the time needed to be set. The rest of the day, the time kept and the comfort access worked fine. BTW, I have also have the NAV option. Chuck W., I assume that you also has NAV.
Don't know if there is any correlation there or not.
Chuck W., Have you had the problem since your last post?

 

I have a ScanGuage and it will also show 11.8 Volts in morning, before starting, when running it will read over 14 Volts as it should.

I did have to 'trickle-charge' once, back in early May, shortly after delivery and complained to MA at that time.

No problems since, longest 'sit' was about a week and have never had any problem with clock (or anything else).

Wonder if the fact that is is a 'Gel-Cell' rather than the usual 'Flooded-Cell' has anything to do with this 11.8 Volt reading.

 

Yeah, I have the nav and about every option they offered. I put it on a charger for 24 hours and have not had a problem since. However, I checked the battery voltage and noted that it is going down slowly but surely. If I lose the time again, I'll take it in.

 

Battery for sure. On my TT 11.8 = nearly dead battery. With cold weather=absolutely dead battery

 

For about the 3rd time in the last 3 weeks (I haven't really been driving much since I've been laid-off), when I start the car, I get the little audible signal that I need to reset the current time and date. The trip odometer is also reset back to all zeroes . Nothing else seems to be affected. I have a 2007 MCS with the factory NAV. All of my radio station presets are still there, all my saved addresses for NAV are there.

If it is a battery issue, why is it only the clock and trip odo? What was the ultimate outcome for you, Chuck W.?

 

How long does the car sit between driving and how long do you drive it when you take it out?

My 07 MCS has done this a couple times in the last 2-3 months. Both times the car had not been driven for almost 3 weeks. I had been in/out of it a few times during that time causing the interior lights to turn on/off.

Both times mine has done this, a little exclamation point was next to the trip meter in the tach display after I started the car. If I press that voice button on the steering wheel and say "check control messages." On the Nav screen it will say something to the effect that the battery is in a discharged state. If it happens again, see the dealer.

I looked through the sight glass on the battery and it wasn't showing green. A charge for a few hours on a charger brought the green back.

I have been driving it more since then and haven't had this happen again.

If it's happening all the time you may need the dealer to check out the charging system and battery.

The radio presets and nav addresses are stored in memory that doesn't need power.

 

If the battery is below 12 volts - REPLACE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. If it is still covered by the warranty, have the dealer do it. If you have to buy one, it will be a relatively inexpensive fix.
As to the nav and radio maintaining settings while clock and trip meter reset, - the nav and radio have "non volatile memory" (a small memory with a battery to keep the data alive in case of a power loss) and the clock reseting is the primary indicator that you had a power problem.

 

It gets driven every 3 or 4 days, because we always drive it the 4 mile roundtrip to church on Sunday, and then usually on an errand or 2 during the week.

 

There are a few niggling little issues that I should have the dealer look at anyway, so I guess I will add this to the list and get them all addressed at once.

Thanks to all who responded!

 

What do the seats have to do with the computer?

 

I'm sure he meant "sits" and not "seats."

 

http://tinyurl.com/6xccrm

 

My bad. I just thought you were stupid.

 

Sounds like a battery or charging problem. 3 to 4 days is too short. Let us know how it goes at the dealer.

 

Yep, sounds like the battery. Whether it's a gel-cell or a standard flooded battery, it's still a lead-acid battery, so the voltage for each cell should be about 2.1 volts. With six cells, that's 12.6 volts for a fully-charged battery.

If a battery hasn't been charged or discharged in the past 6 hours, and the voltage across the terminals is 11.8 volts, the battery is only at about 35-40% of full capacity.

 

It happened again today. It's weird, because I know today and at least one other time, it happened after we drove somewhere, and came back later (today after 2 hours, before after about 20 minutes). I'm calling Monday to get a service appointment.

 

Although I was having a problem with the time reset for a while (and the TPM) it has behaved for the last 3 months or so.