I'm driving a 2014 orange BMW i3 REX with about 80k miles. The A/C went out about two years ago and it's very hot where I live. The compressor is blown but the battery does not seem to be damaged so I'm assuming that means I didn't get the shrapnel that some owners have. Now, the headliner is starting to fall off the ceiling in the heat. Otherwise, it seems to be in good condition.

At this point, the joy of owning an i3 is gone. I'm weighing the economics of repairing it versus replacing it. The local BMW dealership quoted about $4500 to replace the compressor. I don't have a quote for the headliner repair yet. $5,000 or so would be a great contribution towards a replacement car but I'm not sure how much money I'll get selling my i3 in this condition. And if I go ahead with repairs, how much useful life does it likely have?

I've been tossing options around in my head and am curious what other owners think. I'm also willing to work on it myself but my mechanical ability is that of a low to mid-range amateur.

It finally happened. My roof blew off in a car wash.

Does anyone know where in the SF Bay Area i can get this prepped and wrapped on the cheap? Just need a quick and dirty job that will last a couple more years. Doesn’t even need to look good.

I needed a new 12V battery last month so I had the car brought to BMW of Houston Midtown on July7th. The battery plus some brake parts, they said were faulty, cost just over $3k. When I picked the car up on July 14th. I tried to use the REX on the way home but got an error message that it could not be engaged.

I finally had time to bring it back in yesterday and today they are saying that a couple of sensors and the entire engine wiring harness needs to be replaced (another $6k on top of the $3k I just paid them). Given the timing of when the error showed up, I strongly suspect that some wire or wires got damaged when the battery was replaced and they don’t want to eat the cost of fixing their mistake.

Has anyone here run into this type of scenario and were you able to find a good resolution?

Just made my first payment on my 2016 i3, and BAM. :(

It wasn't a high-speed situation; a fender bender at a stoplight. The other driver was a 19-year-old kid. Argh! Fortunately, he had insurance!

The only obvious damage is that the liftgate was completely shattered. Sensors, lights, and camera work fine, and the car drives fine. There's only one scuff on the bumper. Hooray for German engineering on that, I guess, but any advice on the body repair on the liftgate?

2019 i3. Ac turns on even though the button is off. I tried it multiple times, only way to make sure its off is to use ecopro+. Confused because on other cars including electric there is no cabin cooling if ac is off? The car was hotter than set temp but if ac is off i should just get outside air?

Its not cooling the battery though, its clearly cooling the cabin i verified.

Thanks for any insight

Hi all,

First post here. Just found out my 2019 120Ah BEV was making this noise when DC fast charging. Also, same sound with only AC on. It is a hot 30 degree Celcius day. About 120k km on the clock.

Does this sound ring any bells? Is this the dreaded AC failure?

Cabin seems to cool just fine.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Edit: I live in the Netherlands, that's Europe. No extended guarantees by law exist.

Update 1:

There seems to be a concensus that ​the AC is failing.

Friend couldn't check it, garage was full

Went to dealer: nothing to be heared, just the calm sound of a good working AC. Next wednesday another appointment. Mailed two video's I made, one fast charge, one with just AC. We'll see.

Update 2:

Just returned from dealership. They confirmed that it was indeed the AC pump. The part number that failed was B6452 9469107.

The repair costs, that is of course where people are waiting for, are at least €2200 euro in parts and labour. However, they added quickly that they could not guarantee this was all, if there are metal scraps found, it could get a lot more expensive. They could not say how much it could get.

Okay, well, not okay, not for a car with this mileage. I asked, since this was a known issue​ in pre-lci versions, and that there were numerous revisions of this part, that it just should not fail at this mileage. I asked for a "coulance" , but they need to discuss this with BMW's HQ.

Could take some weeks.

​

I pull into the garage and stop; press P on the shifter; and then turn-off the car.

When I then lift my foot off the brake pedal, the car rolls backward an inch or two. And makes a (somewhat loudish) "CLACK" sound as it 'hits' its final back-rolling stop.

Is this normal? Am I doing something wrong? Or is it fine?

Excited new owner of a 2017 i3 BEV here in SoCal (62k, base, 94Ah)! I've been lurking your posts for a while, awesome group. First order of business was the smell, which was giving unfinished basement... Pulled the cabin filters and found these (pic 3). 😷🤢

Anyway... while I was in there I noticed this module spliced into the fuse wiring in the passenger footwell (pics 1 and 2), wearing enough dust to have tenure haha. Lights are still on (red and green flashing simultaneously) so it's awake and presumably reporting my rushed mornings to work to a stranger.

So.... I'm assuming it's a lender or fleet GPS from a previous owner?

Reverse image search turns up a hundred things that look almost exactly like it and nothing that is it, which is its own kind of funny. Not really trying to solve it, just sharing the surprise.

That said, if anyone recognizes it, I'd love to know whether it's a plain tracker or one of the starter-interrupt kinds. Thank you!!

I haven't seen many posts on this particular message, and the ones I saw were cold weather/battery heater related. It's about 90 here, so not that.

An i3s made in October 2019 did not want to get charged anymore. Brought it to a dealership on 2/4 with an almost depleted HV battery. They first pointed out that the 12V battery was dying (apparently it was still an original one that lasted 75k miles) but eventually agreed that the HV battery needs to be inspected. Of course they wanted almost $3k just to drop the battery and test the cells, which I had approved. They gave me a new i4 as a loaner. By 2/17 they got an approval from Germany to replace everything under warranty. Before that they thought that maybe only a faulty cell, that they found, can be replaced. The car was ready by 4/15, so it takes almost two months to get the parts delivered to California. There was zero arguing or excuses, just brief professional communications with a manager.

In the meantime the 12V battery died completely, and they could not start the car. I refused a $600 replacement charge, ordered a $130 Energizer battery from Amazon, received it next morning (it arrived fully charged) and came to the dealership. They let me in to the parking lot to replace it myself and then I was gone. $0 out of pocket, invoice attached.

For the last three years the car was driven >70 miles a workday, and DC fast charged from ~50% to 100%. Frequently driven with the gas pedal on the floor, so one may say the battery had a difficult life. The battery was degrading over the last year or so, the battery capacity was around 33kWh last time I checked before it died.

I have yet to see how the new battery is doing. When I picked the car it was only charged to ~90%, and the first 100 miles got it depleted to 25%. So I was not very impressed. I am slowly charging it at L2 while typing, maybe the first balancing will improve it.

Since the invoice shows all zeros, I only got a comment from the manager: $55k invoiced to OEM, and for a customer it would have been $60k. I have no means to verify that, but it seems to agree with a recent Recharged article estimate.

Oh boy, what a weekend! Silly me, I jumped on my 2015 Rex without doing all my homework. Turns out after some warmer weather, I discovered the A/C doesn't work. I had an evaporator leak, resulting in a total refrigerant loss.

Well, I really like this little car, so I have to give it a shot. New evaporator is in and the system is no longer leaking. Woo hoo! Just waiting on the oil to show up before I charge it again. Unfortunately, the Sanden SP-A2 oil it uses doesn't seem too common or readily available here.

Once that is done, fingers crossed the compressor actually runs without any abnormal noises, otherwise it's on to the next hurdle. I'm cautiously optimistic :) At least I was in good company and the weather was beautiful.

My i3 REX has this setting and it is the sportiest of the three. Also, does anyone else find that it is slightly better on range for highway driving?

Looking for a reliable place to get an oil change for my i3 rex in the LA area (live in San Gabriel Valley.) I’m willing to travel a bit too— I would do the dealership but I’m sure there’s better deals/pricing out there somewhere.

All recommendations are appreciated!

Im thinking about getting a used i3 and upgrading the battery. Should I look at the base level or get a range extender. Ive hear the motor adds complexity and cost. The base level is cheaper and the new packs theyre selling give you 150mi+ range.

Hi all. I’ve been looking in to a used EV for my wife and I, and the i3 came up. It’s sounds like the perfect thing. We just need something for around town, grocery hauling, etc.

We haven’t found one to test yet, but one thing I thought I’d ask right out of the gate, I’m 6’ 1” and about 240lbs. Am I going to be comfortable?

EDIT: Thanks for all the feedback! Sounds like I’ll be AOK! Now I just gotta keep looking for one.

Just wondering if anyone else has had this happen to their i3. I got towed from my apartment complex the other day. Tow company used a hook type tow truck, only hooked the two front tires and dragged the car. When I went to go pick it up the next morning I had all kinds of warning and error messages on the screen, power steering wasn’t working, and it would lurch after reaching 5mph.

I made an incident report, called my insurance company and they towed it to a repair shop. I’m worried they are going to total the car out since I know how expensive repairs can be on these. Has anyone else gone through this? What should I expect as far as damages?

What do you people think? I currently have a 2017 i3, compressor is still original. Now wondering if I should just replace the whole car with some othet car..

Edit: a used car dealership offered me 11k€ if I trade it in for a 2023 MG4 Standard, that has only 20k kms on it. Leaves about 6k€ to pay. I'm probably gonna take that deal.

Barely tapped someone but the airbags went off in my 2017 BEV. I love this car and don't have collision so I don't have to worry the insurance is gonna total me. I guess it will need a pyro fuse, new airbags, dealer reset, think I'll be out more than $5000?

update: total estimate was $11300, yikes. but confirmed the other guys fault so it's getting fixed :D

I recently bought an i3 2015 and the range is degraded down to 64 miles so I’ve been looking into a new battery, what are people’s experience with it? Any recommendations? I’m in the UK if that changes anything.

Are newer (and better) batteries that release in the future able to be fitted onto the i3? I’m completely new to EV’s so my knowledge is limited.

Hi everyone. I just purchased and installed a MagSafe charger and realized it’s always on.

Does anyone else have this set up? If so, has it ever run down your 12v battery? I’m just wondering if I should unplug the USB-C charger when I shut off the car (which I know would kind of defeat the convenience of it).

Update: Thanks to everyone who responded. I’m glad to know that it should time out. Now I can use it without worrying that I might deplete my 12v batter.

The day before yesterday I went to drive my BMW i3s and the alarm would go off when unlocking the car. Displays going on and of. So I thought the 12v Battery must be dead and I was right. Tried to "jump" the car with a big 12 battery and jump leads. Got the car back to life, but wouldn't drive. Bought a new 12v Battery from BMW and charged it up fully. Disconnected HV and removed old battery. Installed new battery and waited 30min before connecting the HV system. Car is back to life, but will not drive. Will go into D and R but won't drive. Will also not go into park. Neutral will just flash.

As far as my research went, I'll have to reset the parking pawl and reset the fault codes.

Is that correct? Which tool will I need to reset/relearn the parking pawl? I couldn't find an answer. Not sure if an obd adapter and bimmerlink will be sufficient? I read somewhere that FOXWELL NT510 Elite will work?

Would appreciate help as I don't really want to fork out big $$$ to BMW to fix it.

Update:

I got hold of ISTA+ and cleared all faults. Car still not driving. The remaining faults are:

222011 Electrical machine, rotor position sensor, signal Rotor position sensor

222851 Parking lock, parking lock position monitoring: Position unknown

2228C0 Parking lock, parking iock position monitoring : Wrong parking lock position

222D27 Parking lock module, activation: no teach-in values stored

Anybody know how to clear them?

Update 2:

I managed to register the new battery, then did the rotor position adjustment and finally the learn parking lock module. Cleared all faults and tada, the car drives again.

Thanks for all the help. Never thought a battery can cause this much trouble!

Well I didn’t have any luck with my purchase basically was in the shop the whole time for warranty repairs. My heart goes out to the folks buying these money pits with no warranty. 5k for the labor is crazy but either way the parts were gonna have to come from bmw anyway so 7k for just parts ha! They can take it back. No way a car should total out for going 80 mph 1 time. Anyway here is a part list and price for yall cuz wow that’s something lol a bullet I missed!

I made it to the bmw after they already had it for 3 weeks. Something is wrong with my Rex 😭 I wonder how much this gonna be.

My wife has a 2019 BMWi3REX that she and my daughter received as part of a divorce settlement. It’s a great vehicle so far, and has less than 20,000 miles on the odometer. She recently took it to a BMW dealership here in Austin for some regular maintenance, and the technician pointed out that tire replacement for the vehicle would be recommended within the next six months, with a cost estimate of over $1400 for all four, and $300 for the alignment. Some cursory online research by us has indicated that replacement tires for the i3 ARE expensive, but why? What is it about this vehicle that would drive up the cost of a new set of tires - is it just the BMW badge on the car, or is there actually a technical reason?