Started up my car this morning to move it for a detail and the engine idled rough, as if the timing were off. I didn't think much of it at the time. When I restarted the car tonight to move the car back, it idled rough again. In addition, I noticed the clock was spinning as if I had just changed the time using the user interface. The idle smoothed out after a few revs, but I'm wondering what could have caused this strange behavior. Has anyone observed anything like this with their car?

 

Yes, I've seen the clock spin from time to time. It seems like this happens when you leave the car unlocked for a while. I suspect when you lock the car it leaves the analog clock powered but sometimes when it powers everything down after a certain amount of time with the doors unlocked it powers down the analog clock and then has to catch it up when you power it up again.

Of course, its tough to tell if the "proper" behavior is to power down the clock or to leave it powered on. But one of the two is a bug.

 

Ah, I did leave the car unlocked all day yesterday because my paint guy was working on the car. So, I guess that explains the clock spinning.

Still wonder about the idle though. When I started the car yesterday morning with the driver door open, the idle was so rough that it caused the door to vibrate to the extent that I could see it move. Almost like not all cylinders were firing.

 

I had both symptoms (plus a few others) when two cells died on my battery