mbsl98

Has anyone got any insight into the cause of my 530XiT's clock slowly losing time? The battery is about 1 year old, BMW. The clock seems to be losing just a minute or so each week, very consistently. Has been happening for some months now, but it is subtle enough that I didn't notice just when it started. Everything else seems to be doing great, no random electrical issues or draws. It can (and often does)sit for 3-4 days between uses, but never turns over slowly or has any symptoms of being under-charged. It's got 9 months of CPO warranty left, and no claims so far - 48k miles.

vkhong

My clock used to be a little off over time. After a software update, it seems to be dead-on (according to a Casio atomic watch). I don't know if the software accuracy os much improved, or if it is now reading off the GPS satellite time now (I have the CCC Navigation). This is on a 2004 E60.

Jucas Blue

Where did you get the battery installed? I had the same issue with a slowing clock then after a while I started getting "High Battery Discharge" warnings and the clock needed to be reset and all trip info, date, etc. was wiped. Eventually, the dealer installed a new IBS and a new battery. It's been perfect since then.

AchtungE60

I had a problem with the daylight savings and what's up with LEAP YEAR? HOW does this car have a Feb. 31st? Give it up for German Engineering!

mbsl98

The battery was dealer installed last year. No symptoms of any sort other than just slowly losing time on the clock.

Jucas Blue

In that case, I would suspect the IBS. It is my understanding that a faulty IBS will shut down non-essential devices, the clock is one of those. Good luck finding that gremlin...

Paul77035

Any black holes in your area?

blinker528

I just saw this topic and my clock is also losing time. I have even gotten a few "Low Battery Charge" messages when I was on a road trip yesterday. Luckily the car started right up every time.

So, what is an "IBS"? Is it very expensive? I think I need to take my car into the dealer this week.

borderchris

Drive exactly 88 MPH, and enter the time on the iDrive.

wantanm5

I used to have this problem just up until this weekend. First I had a high battery discharge warning, then my clock would lose a minute or so a day. I didn't drive the car for about 5 days and it lost about 20 minutes, and my headlights wouldn't come on when I unlocked the car.

I noticed that if I drove the car for an hour or so a day this didn't happen as much, but on weekends, when I wasn't driving as much it happened again with the clock falling behind.

I looked at my battery, and I thought I had an original BMW battery but it was actually an EverMaxx! It had run just fine for 3 years with no problems and it was probably nearing the end of its life.

I did a lot of research about non OEM batteries, and registering the battery, etc...

I ended up taking the car to a local tire/battery shop, and the guy said they replace BMW batteries all the time with no problems. They put in a device in the lighter to keep the car's memory in tact, and replaced the battery with an Exide AGM (glass matte) battery.

So far I am a week into it, and problem solved! The first day after replacing it though my clock did lose a few minutes, but since then it has been solid. I'll update this post if I see issues again, but it looks like this solved the issue.

Note -- you don't need an original $450 battery from the stealer. And I also didn't register the battery from the stealer.