Why would my car's clock keep losing time?

[skygazer]

It's done this three or four times now. It's not a gradual thing - I know because I look at it every time I go to work and it always matches my watch. When it's off, it's off by a lot - 15 minutes to two hours - and it's slow, not fast. At first I thought it was happening when I got it washed - that one of the workers accidentally hit the buttons when cleaning the interior. But that would probably have set it forward, not back.

I'm mystified - it's a new car and everything else works fine. And it's not a big deal - it only happens now and then but I want to know why!

[DS1]

1. Driving at the speed of light will do that

/Einstein

[Call Me Wesley]

2. Wormholes.

Take the long way home, I tell you! Don't go over the Einstein-Rosen bridge.

:hi:

[skygazer]

4. You guys!

Yer killin' me! :rofl:

[Call Me Wesley]

5. DS1 started!

Actually, I just saw his post after I made mine. Spooky.

Heh heh.

:hi:

[Maddy McCall]

3. Maybe you have a loose connection, terminal to battery.

Might want to tighten your terminals, just to be sure that's not what it is.

[libodem]

28. Maddy, could be right

I was losing time and it WAS the battery. By the time i took the car in something had messed up the alternatator. $400.00 later my clock was working fine. :(

[Oeditpus Rex]

6. Car clocks are notoriously unreliable

Particularly if they're analog.

I took mine out years ago and replaced it with a vacuum gauge, and more recently a tachometer. My stereo has a clock, and either I'm wearing a watch or I'm not concerned with time. :shrug:

[skygazer]

7. Interesting

I may never have noticed because I was always driving old pieces of crap and expected things not to work. LOL

That's probably all there is to it - and it doesn't really matter since I wear a watch. I just hate not knowing why things are the way they are. :P

[Call Me Wesley]

8. Wow wow wow,

don't believe this guy -->

He just uses you for cheap jokes!

[Oeditpus Rex]

9. I'll have you know I pay a great deal for my humor

It's cost me many friends. :blush:

[Call Me Wesley]

10. Really? Perhaps they were not 'friends' in the first place.

I just adore your humor. I think we could have some good laughs together, until all our 'freinds' run away, screaming.

But hey, they're no fun anymore! :rofl:

:pals:

[skygazer]

11. Oh, hey, he's the only one here who ever gets my humor!

Here's a photo of us together -

[Call Me Wesley]

12. He's melting now. ;)

BTW, which one is you? :rofl:

[skygazer]

13. I'm the intelligent looking one, of course

Jeez.... :eyes:

[Call Me Wesley]

14. Oh, sorry!

Yes, it's a long way from car clocks to Monty Python, but we'll do it!

Changing thread topics since 2005.

[rug]

15. You need to buy higher octane.

[skygazer]

16. For my clock?!

Nope. I'll wear a watch.

[crispini]

17. You are being abducted by aliens.

Lost time is a common symptom.

[skygazer]

18. Ding, ding, ding!

Of course! Makes perfect sense and I should have known that - I just started watching X-Files on DVD. Duh! :silly:

[crispini]

19. Now you need to go through deep hypnosis

to recover your repressed memories.

You are getting very sleeeeeeeeeeeepy.

[skygazer]

20. Mmmmmm..... I see a light........

A bright light...... And a figure coming out of the light...... It's.... it's......

AAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[crispini]

21. LOL!

Wouldn't that have made a great X-Files spoof episode? Like "Jose Chung's From Outer Space."

[LSdemocrat]

22. Feds bugged your car

[enigami]

23. Alien Abduction

[0007]

30. Very strange, do you get sleepy when this happens?



[leftofthedial]

24. have you been driving in reverse alot?

[skygazer]

25. Well, yes

But my odometer is still moving forward. :grr:

[leftofthedial]

26. odometers are a scam

trust the clock


edit: spurious hickey thingy

[Throd]

27. Check the license plate frame...

...it could be a little loose, creating vibrations which impact the clock.

[0007]

29. Call up the dealer and ask them.

[Swede]

31. Electronic clocks use crystals to keep accurate time.

The piezo-electric effect, add physical pressure to a crystal and it emits electricity,add electricity and you get physical pressure (the crystal will vibrate at a certain frequency). Your crystal is defective. If you lost power to your clock it would reset to 12:00,not lose time.