Hey all!


Had some really weird issues the last two days with my R56S.


It started out the other day at work when I went to go get lunch. I noticed that my clock had been reset and was blank along with my trip odometer, MPG and average speed counters. The small icon (triangle with exclamation) popped up next to the odometer. Basically, once I reset my clock and re-started the car, it was fine.


Later on that night, the same thing happened again. This time, I had the red mini on a lift icon. I re-set the clock, drove to my destination, and it was fine.


Yesterday, same thing happened in the AM. My hatch also kept popping itself, until I locked all of the doors. I reset the clock, and went on my way. Went to a few more places during my day, and the issue never came back up.


I checked the battery terminals to make sure that they were good and secure, checked the entire engine bay for loose connections, etc. Nothing looked out of place.


It has been a colder, and more snowy winter than the past 2 winters that I've owned the car, but this is the first time I've experienced something like this. Roads have been pretty rough (packed down ice and snow), so I thought that might have jarred something loose.


My question is, would these symptoms be either the battery or the alternator going bad?


I have an appointment at my dealer tomorrow for the timing chain issue, and I'm hoping that they'll be able to give me an idea what could be wrong. I'm perfectly capable of replacing either the alternator of the battery, but I want to make sure it's not something else.

 

Wow, 70+ views and no input :-(

 

Year?
When was the battery last replaced? Any hesitation or slowness in the cranking for start? Dimming of lights?

When my battery was dying, i did not get clock issues with the mini but others cars would do it.

My cause was the Key system not letting the car go to "sleep" mode and ended up with the CAS system being replaced under warranty.
I had already replaced the battery with an OPtima red top.

Let us know what the dealer finds. With a Complete diagnostic they should see some errors being set that even a odb2 reader will not see.

DB
2010 Camden S

 

It's a 2007. Battery is about 3 years old. No hesitation, no dimming lights. Everything else with the car seems normal, which is why I'm stumped.

I'll definitely report back tomorrow.

I went through the manual this afternoon to look at the explanation of the mini on a lift icons.

Red says stater failed, ignition malfunction, or lighting system fails.... None of which were a problem.

Yellow says control of brake lamps failed or fuel supply malfunction. Again, nor driveability problems and the tail lights work.

 

On an old school car I would say remove the positive cable while its running to see if the alt is putting out enough power to run the car. I think it would create havoc on a mini.

Hate to say wait to see what dealer says and post results but probably best.

 

Had the same problem with the clock and odo. Had the battery check said it was fine. Went to department store bought battery and kept receipt so if it wasn't the problem could return. It was, problem solved!. The car should have a message hi battery drain or something to that effect.

 

Yeah, I used to do that too. Worked great on my older Hondas.

Hopefully the dealer will give me an idea what is wrong even though I will want to do the work myself (provided I can. Lol)

 

Yeah. That's the weird thing. I don't have that message or icon for battery drain or anything.

 

Sorry forgot to mention my car has GPS that message comes up on that screen. If you have a code reader you may see a code for that.

 

Ah nice. Yeah mine doesn't have that. Hopefully the dealer will tell me in the morning since it's going in for the timing chain diagnostic.

 

Since your car has NAV then you probably have an intelligent battery sensor, if that's the case the replacement battery has to be coded to the car with the batteries CCA and AH as well as AGM or flooded battery. If you or someone else replaced your OEM battery before with a battery of different CCA and AH and didn't code it that could be causing some of your problems.

 

My car doesnt have navigation. One of the other members had it.

The battery is three years old and this is the first time this has happened.

 

So my SA seems to think that it's the hatch switch that is shorting out. I told him that this morning, it was popping on it's own and once I got it closed I couldn't open it unless I used the key fob. Going to have them diagnose it for the usual $124.99 fee and go from there.

Hopefully that's it.

 

That would be me. I changed my own battery works perfectly for the past two and a half years I think coding after a battery change is an urban myth, but my car is Euro spec.

 

Turns out it's the latch handle. Getting it fixed in the morning.

 

How does this effect the clock reset?

 

Please do not do this on any car with a PCM (computer) controlled regulator/alternator setup.

Removing the battery (b+) cable causes the alternator to spike to 18 volts and damage electronics. The battery also acts like a surge suppressor. I've personally made this expensive mistake while taking the advice of an old timer.

 

It was shorting out and causing the battery to drain. Which in turn kills the clock. Makes sense to me and it seems like other people on here have had the same sort of issue.

 

I also have this issue along with clicking gauge needles

 

I didn't have anything with the gauges, but I was getting a lot of clicking in the rear of the car when I would lock the doors after closing the hatch. It sounded a lot like a relay clicking.