So I started my 10-day road trip in the service dept at Niello BMW in Sacramento. My first clue should have been that I've had to reset the clock a couple of times lately, but I didn't pay attention to this. As I was leaving home yesterday for Palm Springs I got an excessive battery discharge warning so (thinking I shouldn't start a road trip with a possible dead battery, or worse, an electronics problem) headed over to Niello where Carlos, the service advisor worked me in without an appt even though they were really busy and short staffed. After a battery charge and diagnostics I was good to go. Turns out Carlos told me I don't drive often enough to keep the battery charged (not being my daily driver sometimes the 6 sits in the garage for a week without being started). He said this in the same tone of voice you would use to tell someone they're not feeding their pet enough. So the first thing I'll do when I get home is buy a battery tender ( evidently all the computers draw quite a bit of juice). The moral of the story is drive your Bimmer more often.
Amen, bruddah! I bought a Battery Tender just because I sometimes leave the roadster for days or weeks. . . but in the last year, I've managed to drive it often enough to keep it charged up. Of course, living in SoSoCal helps!
