As a general rule, most catastrophic failures in a car offer some kind of warning, and most are at least somewhat avoidable if you take great care of your car. But for BMW i3 owners and owners of other BMW electric cars, there is a failure that can completely destroy their car, and not only is there sometimes no warning, but there’s absolutely nothing anyone can do to avoid it. It’s referred to by some as “The Black Death,” and it is the result of a boneheaded engineering decision.
The BMW i3 is an absolute marvel of engineering. With a carbon fiber body structure, an aluminum skateboard, a rear-mounted motorcycle engine, plastic body panels, and an interior made of all sorts of gorgeous and sustainable materials, the car still to this day feels like the future. But even an engineering masterpiece has its flaws, and in the case of the BMW i3, the three major flaws are the tires (which wear quickly), the battery longevity (which is low on early models), and the AC compressor.
Believe it or not, of those three, the AC compressor issue is by far the very worst, and it’s shared with other BMWs, too. It is a nightmare that has forced many BMW owners to say goodbye to their vehicles. Yes, failure of a simple air conditioning system component — a compressor — is enough to total a BMW i3 and other BMWs.
The Batteries Are Cooled Directly By Refrigerant, Not Indirectly By Antifreeze
To understand why the i3’s AC compressor is such a problem, we need to understand how the BMW’s battery cooling system works, and why it’s different than that of its competitors. (Note that this applies to other BMWs, too, like the i8 and 330e).
Stepping back even further, let’s establish that lithium-ion batteries like to be at about the same temperature as humans. Generally, they want to be cooler than 50 degrees centigrade (122F) and warmer than about zero (32F) — ideal temp is between 15C and 30C, per Mahle.
This isn’t easy when the outside temperature is close to 50C in, say, Arizona or California’s Death Valley. In order to create a larger deltaT (difference in temperature) between the ambient air and the battery temperature, automakers typically use what are known in the industry as “chillers.” These are generally “stacked plate-style” heat exchangers with four ports: refrigerant in and out, and coolant in and out.
The purpose of the chiller is to use the AC system to “chill” ethylene glycol-based coolant/antifreeze below ambient temperature so that the cold liquid coolant can be used to cool power electronics and, critically, the battery.
The BMW i3 and i8’s cooling systems are a little different than those of typical EVs in that the i3 and i8 each have a refrigerant loop that doesn’t cool the battery indirectly, but rather directly, like so:
Most other EVs put the battery cooling circuit in a separate liquid coolant loop that interacts with the refrigerant loop via the aforementioned chiller heat exchanger.
Here’s an example of a typical EV cooling system in which the battery is isolated from all other components except for the high voltage battery heater, the chiller, some valves, and the low-temperature radiator. (You’ll notice that the power electronics are on a separate loop that is passively cooled via a low-temp radiator out front):
My colleague Jason and I made a video in which we show the differences in the cooling circuits of the BMW i3, Tesla Model S, and Chevy Bolt:
Here’s a screengrab of the i3’s cooling system:
The setup is fairly straightforward. The i3 has a giant battery pack packaged between the axles, as is typical for any EV. At the bottom of that battery pack, on the inside, are a number of aluminum extruded channels on which the battery modules sit:
Here you can see how the batteries sit on top of these channels:
This is a close-up of those channels; notice that below the channels are electric resistance heaters to warm the refrigerant, which then warms the batteries on top, as needed.
Here is the heating/cooling setup outside of the battery pack:
Here are solely the heating elements:
And here’s just the refrigerant cooling system, with the horizontal tubes running from the front to the back of the pack. This is what the battery modules sit on top of in order to pass off their heat to the refrigerant:
These flat microchannel extrusions are named because of how small their channels are; have a look:
BMW i3 Owners Have Had To Total Their Cars Because Of AC Failure
You can probably see where this is going; with battery cooling relying on refrigerant passing through extremely tiny channels, any amount of debris running through that refrigerant loop risks clogging those cooling channels, and thus affecting how well batteries can expel their heat. Ultimately, this could ruin the car. And on many occasions, it has:
These are all screenshots from Facebook pages, i3 Forums, and Reddit. On numerous occasions folks have been charged over $10,000 to fix the results of an AC compressor failure. Here are a few quotes from the aforementioned pages:
Here’s i3Alan from the forum “mybmwi3.com“:
Here’s Daniel Heerema from the BMW i3 USA Facebook page:
“$11,71218 to fix the AC! Compressor shredded into all the lines of high voltage battery! Can’t charge most of the day in Tx. 2014 – No Warranty
Here’s SmallestWheel from Reddit:
So sad that between the stupid 12v battery bricking the whole vehicle and now this, we have to stay ahead of problems that shouldn’t exist. I like my i3 but legit thinking about selling it only due to all this insane maintenance. Paying $4-5k every 4yrs to change an AC compressor before it breaks seems absolutely loco to me.
Here’s Appropriate-Mood-69 from Reddit:
The insane cost is due to the cleaning of the system from iron shavings after the compressor disintegrates. Before this happens, you could decide to replace it earlier. This would result in a much lower bill.
Here’s rontombot, also from Reddit:
The “shrapnel” plugs up the expansion valves, both for the battery and the cabin. The repair estimate I saw for one that had the worst-case failure was well over $20k, including every aircon component and HV battery Enclosure . The battery cooling tray is part of the battery enclosure, and I believe all of the control electronics as well.
I do know some have had BMW flush the system and the compressor replaced (to the tune of $7k), only to have another failure… then told it’s not repairable.
When I get my 2015 BEV drive motor and transmission replaced (DIY, due to failed motor bearings), I’m considering replacing the aircon compressor. (with the latest. version)… Justin Case… and only IF I decide to try to keep the money pit a while longer.
I also have a good 90Ah battery that I may install at the same time if I replace the compressor… but even that’s dependant upon the outcome of having the warranty test done on my existing 64Ah battery.
ugh… too many worries… which is why I’m getting more and more serious about a used Tm3-DM.
And these were just BMW i3 issues; the BMW i8’s battery cooling method is also direct-refrigerant, and this means similar issues, as the post “AC Compressor failures on the rise” on internet-forum Bimmerpost makes clear:
I’ve received five messages in the past month from i8 owners who have indicated that they hear strange sounds from under the front bonnet, and after I refer them to the shop to have the problem diagnosed, I’m receiving feedback that the Air Conditioning (AC) compressors are failing. In some cases, the failure was so catastrophic that the AC compressor had an internal failure, scattering metal fragments inside the refrigerant lines. I posted this on the BMW i8 Facebook group and 8 people replied saying it happened to them, one of which said he had metal scattered throughout the refrigerant lines and it cost him $8,000 USD to have it repaired.
Here’s another on Bimmerpost from Patsgarageonline:
Regarding costs, someone in my comment thread mentioned they were in Puerto Rico and the AC just failed when he was driving it, shortly after he bought it. No noise or no indication of failure. He was quoted $8k at first, then a few days later said it would be $18k. That’s the cost of a new low-option VW.
BMW’s decision to use direct battery cooling instead of indirect battery cooling means the cars’ most expensive component — the battery — has refrigerant running through it. This is not an issue, and in some ways is a benefit — unless that refrigerant is somehow contaminated. And that’s exactly what happens when an i3’s AC compressor fails.
It’s a failure that BMW Blog and others have dubbed the “Black Death” (it’s actually a commonly used term in the automotive AC industry, and refers to how a failed compressor can contaminate an entire AC system, though usually with less catastrophic results than in the case of these refrigerant-cooled EVs). I first saw the term when Robin Kuthe posted this on the BMW i3 USA Facebook page:
I’m sad to be leaving this group. I absolutely *loved* my 2016 BMW i3. There is a fatal flaw on this car. It’s the compressor issue. (Search this group for more info) Once the compressor goes, it blows shrapnel throughout the system. Up to $7k to repair. My car was out of warranty by only 4K miles.My independent shop would not work on it. They sent me to the dealership. After several days of consideration, I spoke to the service manager, who told me that his mechanics call this fatal flaw “i3 Black Death” and he sees this issue a few times a month. He also said when out of warranty…he has “never had anyone decide to pay for that repair “.There should be a class action lawsuit.Just wanted to make newbies aware of this issue.
And then I saw this comment from Rontombot on the Reddit post “Looking to purchase 2016 BMW i3 – 68k miles – Anything I should be concerned about?“:
- Air conditioner compressor – many of the pre-2019 year are failing, and it has a name used by BMW techs… “The i3 Black Death“. The compressor can self-destruct, grinding the scroll compressor to powder, then spewing it throughout both systems… cabin cooling, and HV battery… which most consider irreparable. (there were 6 part numbers for the compressor from 2013 to 2019… they changed that part 6 times, but not again since 2019)
The Failure Rate Isn’t Clear, And Some Have Had Better Luck Than Others
If you’re curious what the compressor looks like inside when it fails, here’s a teardown:
To be sure, in CARB states there’s a 15 year, 150,000 mile warranty on the compressor; plus there are apparently five different versions of the i3’s AC compressor, as the company made updates through the car’s production run. It’s unclear whether the compressor failure rate is lower on later models, and it’s unclear if the failure rate on older models is even as high as 2% after 10 years — we just don’t know. (For me, personally, this doesn’t bother me, and I still consider the BMW i3 a true marvel of engineering).
It’s also worth noting that some folks have been able to repair their bad compressors for cheaper; many say they did it for around $4,000, and some DIY’d it for even less (I’ve heard of some folks installing filters to try to prevent a compressor failure from contaminating the system). Presumably, these folks didn’t have as much catastrophic damage that sent metal into the battery. Another thing to note is that some owners have been able to identify a failing compressor early based on how the compressor sounds when the AC is on.
Still, far too many folks have been blindsided by The Black Death, and left with a car whose repair costs outweight the value of their car. And that’s just sad.
Update: It turns out this can be a problem with the bMW 330e as well. From Bimmerfest:
A couple of days ago my 2016 330e with 50,099 miles started making an odd noise while charging. It sounded like the normal fan/cooling system noise that I would hear and then started to make an odd noise, like a pump that was working a bit harder. It’s relatively warm in my garage here in Vegas, so I wasn’t too concerned. However, the next day I started hearing the weird pump noise while driving and my a/c started to not work sporadically. By the next day I was still hearing the noise and the ac was barely working. The noise seemed like it was coming from somewhere under the engine – my thought was ac compressor.
[…]
When I got it to the dealer they looked at it and (4 days after I dropped it off) they called me and said the compressor for the system that cools the battery was out and they had to replace that, which would run $3862. Also, if they found metal in the cooling system from the compressor, they would have to replace the entire battery cooling system – which would cost $10,600
Hopefully I can offer some insight, as I just completed this repair on my own 2014 i3 REX and have been successfully daily driving it in triple-digit Kansas summers with no abnormal battery temperatures, level 2 charging at home.
The official BMW procedure has changed at least twice. Originally, and what the huge $10k+ quotes would be for, BMW spec’d replacing the entire AC system. Dash out, new evaporator core, new expansion valves, condenser, battery cooling extrusion, compressor, and all of the hard and soft lines betwixt.
At some point this changed. These days the BMW TIS specifies the following:
Parts to replace:
A/C CompressorSuction and pressure lines attached to the A/C CompressorCondenserBoth expansion valvesAll o-rings and seals on replaced partsProcedure:
Evacuate A/C systemDisconnect HV battery at front and rear of car using service lock-outsRemove compressorRemove condenserUse specialty fittings with a BMW A/C flush machine to flush out the evaporator core, battery cooling extrusions, and run-between lines.Replace parts as normal, re-charge by weight, perform the “compressor run-in” procedure with ISTA+ or a scan tool.
I effectively did all of this with the exception of replacing the two refrigerant lines directly on the compressor. Lacking BMWs special tool, I used denatured alcohol in a compressed-air flushing tool ($40 on ebay). The important part here is to restrict the flow of the flushing liquid out of the battery. I’d recommend shoving a sponge or some breathable cloth into the battery inlet and flushing through the outlet. This slows the flow enough to make sure the battery gets filled instead of the liquid taking the path of least resistance and missing parts of the circuit.
I actually have even more insight than many, because I used a remanufactured compressor that failed after a short time due to a manufacturing defect (it started leaking out of the case halves), which I then swapped out for an OEM compressor later on. When I removed the reman compressor I took a look inside the suction side and found absolutely no sign of any “black death” having migrated through the system and into the new compressor after a month of it being installed.
ADDITIONAL NOTE:
If you have a 2018 or earlier i3 it’s far more likely to have A/C issues. A brand new OEM compressor is $1600-ish, and incredibly straightforward to install. Far easier than a gasoline car. Go to a shop, ask them to evacuate your A/C, then lift the rear of the car on jack stands, remove a single protective panel with some e-torx bolts, and the compressor is staring you in the face. Flip the battery disconnect switches, undo three mounting bolts, two refrigerant lines, and two electrical connections and down comes the old compressor. Stick the new one in with new o-rings, go back to the shop and have vacuum pulled and the system re-charged. The car is smart enough to disable the compressor if it senses no pressure in the lines.
Thank you for the insight!
That’s very useful, thanks. Bookmarking for reference; I really don’t want my 2018 i3 to kick the bucket.
This is definitely on my short list. I need to find out if it’s been replaced already.
Not sure if there’s a cheaper way to get it evacuated, but for the refill you can actually get the gauge manifold and vacuum pump via Autozone’s loan-a-tool program. The deposit’s pretty steep, but you get it back at the end.
Variable-displacement A/C compressors cannot be properly charged via gauge set. Have to be charged by weight.
Just need a kitchen scale for that, right?
Yeah, that’ll work. Vacuum pump, manifold, and a decent scale. I always forget that’s an option, which is funny because that’s exactly how I charged mine when I repaired the A/C lol
Play German games, win German prizes.
Well crap, I didn’t know this and our 2021 330e is still using a refrigerant cooling system for the battery too and can have the same issue.
Adding a “last chance” filter downstream of the compressor seems like a reasonable idea, although I’m not sure if the plumbing layout and space claim make it reasonable addition. Filters used on automotive a/c refrigerant recycling machines sell for 60 bucks.
Makes a car with a timing belt look downright reliable huh?
Like with a timing belt, you can go in and replace the part before the whole thing blows up. And actually, it’s probably easier to swap the compressor than the timing belt tbh, so long as you have a shop to recover/refill the refrigerant.
Easier maybe, but I doubt it’s less expensive even without the refrigerant flush and refill, which puts the job outside of something you can do in your driveway over the weekend
Depends on what your time is worth, I guess.
AutoZone loans all the tools needed to fill. Dunno about recovering though, my system was empty by the time I got there.
David: This 4.0 is super reliable and amazing! I’ve only had to replace 3 cracked heads, a couple of valves, and it probably needs a ring job or something because compression is still low.
Also David: Replacing a timing belt is hard, and that makes a car unreliable junk!
I never heard about this problem before, so thanks David for writing about it.
It doesn’t put me off eventually getting a used one, though it’s certainly worth knowing about beforehand. 🙂
Mine’s still for sale! Cheapest fully-loaded, 80 mile per charge BMW i3 in the country!
Duly noted, though as I might have mentioned in an email at some point, I was initially looking for a non-REX car with the middle or ‘big’ battery pack. Out of curiosity though, can you provide a link to wherever yours is listed? Also, why ’80 miles per charge?’ Didn’t you do a range-til-empty test with the new battery and it went further than that, right?
Here it is!
(80 mi per charge means it’s a 60 Ah with 100% battery pack health. It can get more, it can get less, but 80 is fairly normal for me to get).
Thanks David, I understand. 🙂
Obligatory question: Has the A/C compressor been replaced?
Not under my ownership. But then, it’s unlikely you’ll find an i3 that has had its compressor replaced recently.
Alright, so one approach is to try to put a filter in the loop. How about throwing a magnetic chip detector in there, while you’re at it? Any BMW techs send samples of recovered refrigerant to a spectroscope ?
A magnet may not be a terrible idea tbh.
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If the ac compressor has steel pistons on aluminum bores, as is fairly common, then it’s the aluminum that wears and gets chewed up first so magnetic sensors or filtering won’t do much good
The photos and videos above show a scroll compressor.
“Why my Pontiac Solstice has tires that may wear differently if I change the A/C.”
DT bringing it today!
I work for an extended warranty company and I’ve covered quite a few of these, crazy expensive. You’d think they would have come up with some filter to prevent it from going through the whole system but the reality is the manufacturers just don’t care very much about repair costs, and they don’t care at all as long as the failures happen mostly outside of warranty.
You’d think the extended warranty companies would have found a way to weasel out of covering this by now.
I suspect most would from what I’ve seen of the industry. The one I’m currently with seems like probably the best one around, why I can stand working there.
Which one do you work for?
By reputation, I’d assume CarMax. They’re the only one I’ve consistently heard of honoring the warranty more often than not. Maybe because they actually have a dealership network and brand to protect, where most aftermarket warranty companies can just vanish and reappear under a new name after their reputation gets bad enough.
Oh, good! I was just starting to get tempted by i3s as they’re the only BMW that really interests me these days. Good to know they still have the same surprise BMW repair bills! My XC70 eats AC compressors too but at least that’s only a $1k fix.
What year XC70? My ’02 V70 T5 is on its original compressor, as is my wife’s 2015 XC60.
2012, but I live in Tucson so it runs pretty much 24/7. My brother’s 2012 out here had a compressor go as well—I guess it’s not really the compressor itself but the clutch that connects it to the belt, but it’s all one assembly that gets replaced.
Can’t you replace the clutch without disconnecting the compressor?
Yes the clutch can be replaced separately on pretty much any compressor, in fact back in the day most reman compressors were sold w/o a clutch. The problem now is that often times the clutch is only available with the compressor and may be pressed on.
I think AutoZone loans the tools needed to pull such clutches:
https://www.autozone.com/tools-and-equipment/loan-a-tools/air-conditioning-loaner-rental-tools
The only tools they have are to pull the clutch plate, not the coil which is the part that goes bad. Some are held on with a snap ring while others are pressed onto the compressor housing. Though it is possible to replace those pressed on coils, I’ve done it several times, it is just getting really hard to find the coil only or the complete assembly.
Ah, you don’t just buy the pre-assembled clutch separately?
There is no such thing as a pre-assembled clutch unless it is on the reman compressor. You have to remove the driven plate which is what those tools are for. Then you remove the pulley, drive plate and bearing assembly that fits around the coil. That is usually a snap ring and easy enough. Now you can get to the coil. The coil can be retained by another snap ring and a roll pin to locate it and prevent it from rotating, or it can be pressed onto the snout.
As you assemble it you have to check and adjust the gap between the drive and driven plate using shims, usually included with the replacement clutch kit.
Ah, ok.
Our 04′ compressor lasted until about two years ago. The electromagnetic clutch wasn’t strong enough to engage at high engine bay temps. The compressor itself ran fine though!
Once more I appreciate Detroit iron. Our 2003 Buick LeSabre needs a compressor, the part is $150 from Rock Auto and my son knows a guy so we can legally evacuate the system and use my Harbor Freight gauges to refill, so about $250 and some sweating and cursing.
Viva LeSabre! They just don’t quit.
My mother’s 94 LeSabre’s AC still blows cold. The transmission is mighty slow to wake up for the first start and has a bit of shudder on the freeway, but that AC works fine.
The trans shudder is pretty common. I think new motor and trans mounts are the cure.
It would be cheaper if you bought through FCP Euro with the lifetime warranty. Buy once, cry once.
A BMW having a catastrophic problem that could have been avoided with some simple forethought? Knock me over with a feather.
Why do they all refer to the i3 as a REX?
Range extender!
Ahh! Please tell me I wasn’t the only one to not figure that one out!
It’s all good. It’s a BMW i3-specific term.
Not all i3s are REX, some are BEV (battery electric vehicle). They don’t have a range extender – simpler, but no backup power source. They’re the ones with no gas door on the right front fender.
(I’ve heard of some folks installing filters to try to prevent a compressor failure from contaminating the system).
That was exactly my thought, as well as a pressure switch triggered warning light, then a claxon and timed shutdown (assuming BMW didn’t put one in out of an overabundance of hubris). At least TRY to save the batteries from frying.
Depending on the metals involved I think magnets and series of very fine mesh screens should do the trick as long as the back pressure is kept in check.
So question: Why is this compressor so bloody expensive? Even on Amazon its over $1200. Its not a BMW tax as regular belt driven BMW compressors are like $200 and its not because its electric because a Prius electric A/C compressor is also about $200.
W.T.F?!
Interesting.You thought of a few things i would have missed.
I wonder if another brand compressor could be made to fit? Physically it’s a doddle but maybe the internal electronics are a problem?
Oh I’m sure DT can figure something out…
I tell you, I tried, I really did. I’ve been receiving the good word and was opening my heart to the gospel of the i3. But I saw a couple in person this weekend, and you know what? I still think they’re irredeemably ugly, and this is just the refrigerant frosting on the cake. I’m sorry, kind of, not really.
Ugly?!
Yeah :/ that English bulldog underbite, the “oops we ran out of [body color], load the robots with whatever’s left” two-tone paint job, the Ford truck window kink just sort of hanging out amidships, the skinny wheels (I know why, I still don’t like them). It’s like the upper 40% of the car is from a different car than the bottom 60%, and it’s not just the paint making it seem that way.
Man I love two-tone. And I love a cab-forward-ish design. And I like small! But I get it; it’s not for everyone!
(Also, I drive an Aztek).
Yeah, but when are you gonna sleep in it for a week?
(and shower + spaghetti)
One of the ugliest cars ever! That said i still respect it.
..or i did until seeing this story
Wow, that’s terrible, the i3 has long interested me but this just makes it an absolute hard no, that’s just not a manageable repair cost. I didn’t see what the failure rate is as compared to the number of vehicles sold but it doesn’t seem particularly isolated or at least it seems to have happened to a fair number of owners.
If I was David I’d be selling both my i3’s.
Insurance
Gasoline
Claim
Profit!
My 2021 still has 12 years, 130,000 miles on its warranty. So I ain’t concerned.
Then why did the Reddit post with a 2019 (in 2023) say they were looking at thousands in repairs? Sure the longer warranty isn’t just on the battery itself, not the cooling system?
I suspect it depends on which state, as the crazy warranty isn’t every state, just a few of them.
Exactly.
This one really feels like it should have received a warranty extension. Frankly, I’m astonished. This is obviously a design defect.
Eh, “Black Death” implies that it is contagious. “Congenital” might be more appropriate.
Counterpoint: the Windows “Blue Screen of Death” isn’t called that because an operating system is feeling a bit under the weather
Well, in Windows’ case the hardware is fine. It’s the virus (er, OS or associated driver) that causes the problem.
Honestly, am I a numbskull and missing the super obvious answer: put a filter into the path to catch debris in the freon if/when the compressor fails?
Was that in the story and I missed it?
I was thinking that too. What prevents the aftermarket to simply design a coupling/fitting with a foam or mesh filter? If the compressor fails, it’d be just a compressor replacement.
No doubt. But I guess a $5 filter was a bridge too far for BMW.
Yes its in the story.
I’m not sure an AC system would work with a filter fine enough to catch powdered metals.
I think the real flaw is that the coolant lines are multipath and too narrow to purge. Look at the photo above of the lines that run under the battery pack.
If the cooling system was all a single loop, a prolonged solvent flush could reliably clean the lines. But with multiple tiny parallel tubes, a flush might only purge one or two of those mini-tubes. The debris in the remaining lines could break loose at any time later, ruining the replacement compressor.
Similar designs are seen in some cheap refrigerators, where the evaporator lines aren’t a coil with a single path through, but a stamped or molded sheet with a matrix of paths the refrigerant can pass through. But those aren’t nearly as tiny as the ones in the BMWs.
A single path would result in less cooling for the battery packs at the end of that path. Easier to flush in the unlikely event of a pump failure, but functionally worse all the time.
That’s an also issue with any heating or coolant loop. The end of the loop always get less cooling. Further, with any system that includes parallel tubing, unequal distribution of cooling is also unavoidable, but BMW probably calculated it as not enough to be trouble.
A possible solution (other than indirect cooling via antifreeze, like others have used) is to use cooling fins attached to the coil, with gradually longer heatsink fins near the end of the line.
But the real point is that BMW’s solution has obvious defects. An unfortunate trait of German engineering is the frequent assumption that nothing will ever fail unexpectedly, so there is little concern shown for secondary damage or ease of repair.
All solutions have defects, engineering is compromise.
The defect is the assumption that nothing will ever go wrong.
“I’m not sure an AC system would work with a filter fine enough to catch powdered metals.”
I think if the filter surface is big enough the pores can be small enough to catch the worst of it. I dunno the viscosity of liquid R134 under the system conditions but I don’t think it’s any thicker than water which is easily filtered. Or engine oil which is also filtered for similar metal particulates.
I looked up viscosity of liquid R134 and found a study that showed it to be significantly lower than 1.0 while compressed, in normal operating conditions. Thinner than water.
It seems odd to want a filter primarily for complete failure conditions, but it makes far more sense than not having one if the alternative is to disassemble everything and replace all the lines.
Maybe having such a filter would extend the life of the compressor enough that complete failures would be extremely rare? Metal particles are pretty ordinary even in fully lubricated parts, and always worsen over time if not removed from circulation.
I know, right?
It’s not like filters, even ultra fine mesh ones are expensive or particularly challenging to package. For example 0.29 uM syringe filters are quite common in biotech to filter bacteria and such and from personal experience it’s not difficult whatsoever to push water with a higher viscosity through those just using your thumb.
Even oil filters are *only* rated to catch 40+um particles:
https://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/30697/choose-oil-filter
So again, WTF BMW?!
Ouch! This sounds a lot like the CP4 failure on F-Series Super Duty trucks with the 6.7-liter Powerstroke, in which failure of a HPFP will send shrapnel through all the fuel lines, causing $12K-$20K in damage. This happened to my mother’s husband on his ’20. Fortunately, his insurance covered it.
My understanding is that the majority of failures are due to misfueling (either putting DEF or gasoline in the fuel tank), but enough people claim to have experienced it spontaneously that it’s of concern.
The CP4 is just a crappy pump. Ram has the same issue with the CP4 and went back to the CP3. There will be class action lawsuits where the lawyers get rich….
6.7 Powerstroke and the and the cp4 disaster prevention kit was what I was thinking about the whole time I was reading.
I imagine the aftermarket would have come up with a solution if the i3’s sold anywhere near the number of 6.7 Powerstrokes sold in a year.
Wonder if anyone has homebrewed some preventative measures/extra cooling mods for the i3. I’ve been recommending one to my dad because he wants something funky and he lives 2 miles from work but now I’m a little wary just because he has horrible luck with issues like this
How much is it to do preemptively? Are compressors interchangeable so that one of the other part numbers can be used (if there’s one that’s ID’d as being better)? German cars are very reliable if you just preemptively replace most of the parts every 60k miles. Some people are just too cheap to own the best engineered cars in the world! /S
That’s like saying cancer is very survivable if you replace all your internal organs every 10 years. I should know, I own 2.
My E39 with its suicidal cooling system and my G30 with its time-bomb oil pump. Even if you replace everything constantly, there’s always that feeling of impending doom. Nobody changes oil pumps every 60k miles, or AC compressors for that matter.
See end of his comment please.
/S equals sarcasm.
I probably should have used an extra S so it would be more obvious and because, German. Is that too soon?
Never too soon my friend.
EVs are great! No timing belt changes, but you have to put in a new AC compressor every 3 years.
Well, someday we’ll have batteries that don’t need heating/cooling. Someday.
It is always bad owners on the VW/BMW/Mercedes forums giving their amazing vehicles a bad name for quality.
Nah, German vehicles are trash outside of a lease. This is automotive fact.
I’ve just always accepted that German cars are built for the first owner/lessee. I assumed it is a function of the strict vehicle safety standards and culture of company cars.
Yep, just have a periodic service schedule so that you’re driving the “Car of Theseus” after about 6 years and BMW’s are trouble-free!
The stress of owning my N54 and waiting for the next thing to catistrohpically break outweighed the joy it was to drive. Never again BMW. Never again.
As a 2017 i3 and a 2012 Golf TDI owner, I’m having mad de javu.
Replace ‘Compressor’ with ‘CP4 fuel pump’ and ‘refrigerant’ with ‘fuel’ for lines, the whole scenario of metal shavings grenading the circuit snaps right into place with a satisfying click.
So much so that I actually wonder if there is a Whitbread bypass kit equivalent out there for the i3 coolant issue??
<insert nail biting emoji, if it exists>
BMW at it’s BMWest. Even with a lot of fewer moving parts they still manage to make it terrible.
Just miserable. A person tries to buy something with character and this is their reward. My sympathies to all i3 owners.
This is kind of bad to hear about, but also for a first gen product it’s not the worst. At least theres lessons learned.
Dunno.. making an A/C compressor that lasts more than 60k from the start should be a solved issue, then needing 6 revisions to actually make it last past that is just incompetence. Out of all my cars I’ve owned in my entire life the only A/C compressor I ever had to replace was on a very neglected Citroen Saxo that I bought with 80k miles on it. I’ve also owned plenty of old italian cars, which, according to people on this forum who’ve never owned one are made out of cardboard and sawdust, but somehow never had an A/C compressor fail 🙂