Used BMW i3: £3k of Repairs (including MOTOR MOUNTS) & Still NOT Perfect

hello it's martin from weissler automotive and we are back with yet another i3 preparation video this is a unique example because it's not one of our stock cars in fact it was brought to us by a person who has bought it privately because we did not have the exact spec they were looking for and it's going off to a nice tropical destination so we were asked to give it a proper look throughout on the outside inside and the mechanicals as always to stand the test of time with that said we have a list of things which need to be addressed so let's go to bmw and get some parts before we get the car onto our ramp to tackle the bigger issues we start with the little things the whole jacking pad is missing on the front driver corner so the new jacking pad simply slides into place and is pressed in by the weight of the car as it's jacked up these can be dislodged when you for example drive over a tall curb but we also replace money due to damage caused by incorrect tracking next is the undersea dashboard interior trim the middle section has an anti-slip mat on it which has fused with the plastic probably after being exposed to sun throughout all the years the trims are secured in by clips so with a bit of skill and the right trim tool they just pop off we try one more time to see whether we can salvage the parts but the mat is not giving way and if you look closely you can see that the surface starts bubbling up around it before we proceed with the replacement we vacuum up any of the dirt which accumulated underneath if you're doing this job yourself we would recommend removing the central idrive display it is only held in by two screws to give yourself more access eddie has replaced many of these in the past so he manages even with the screen in place he then applies pressure across the entire piece to ensure that all the clips are secure and the panel fitting flush the other two bits of trim are held together largely in the same way but note that the glovebox section also has a couple of screws underneath not to forget we also swapped the torn frank protective cover for a new one if you want to explore what hides under the bonnet it's super simple because these covers are held in by velcros just make sure to pull them off using the tab on the leading edge to avoid damage the next problem is to address the broken led repeater in the offside wing mirror we pop off the plastic skin to get access to the internals even though it may look like the indicator is completely fine a piece of the trailing edge is missing again it's one of those things we see very often as the edge can snap off if you clip an obstacle with the mirror housing but having said that it's quite difficult to spot unless you know to look for it the risk is that even if there are no immediately visible cracks they could start propagating from the point of impact as the part expands and contracts under different temperatures back to the repair though removing the mirror glass is nerve-racking and a job will really dread even with dozens under our belt the risk of cracking the glass is high and it's not cheap as you can see it's a case of prying and easing it out carefully until it finally lets go if you are really stuck or not confident in prying it out you can attach a suction mount of some sort and give it a firm tug worth noting is only early examples get heated and auto dimming mirrors on both sides whereas later cars only get auto dimming on the driver's side we need to go through this procedure to remove the screws located underneath these release the other plastic trims enabling us to finally remove and unplug the repeater itself side by side hopefully you can see the missing bit quite clearly new unit plugged in and put into place quick test using the hazards to make sure it works as expected and with that cleared we can go back to the assembly despite it being the same process just in reverse great care needs to be taken with these little screws as they differ based on whether they are screened into plastic or metal given we do not refurbish alloy wheels in-house it's the job we get started on immediately as we get the car on the ramp as mentioned in our previous videos diamond cut wheel refurbishment is something which needs a bit of consideration as it involves stripping the whole wheel painting in black and then removing a thin layer of material from the front face to achieve the two-tone design this fact means each wheel can be refurbished only a limited number of times but given all four were both heavily scuffed and corroded at the same time now is the right opportunity to get them done regarding tires given the car had three worn out bridgestones and one almost new continental we settled on using the good continental and getting three new ones to keep the tire matching across both axles note how the front wheels use a narrower alloy entire combination because despite this i3 being fully electric the upgraded 428 style wheels result in a staggered setup if you have no idea what i just said i will leave a card to our video which specifically covers i3 wheels and tires in the top right hand corner with the car up we tick off the front under tray from the list the old part is broken along the trailing edge which just like the jacking pad can occur if the car came into contact with a large curb origin debris on the roads remove all the bits and replace with the fresh part it has many mounting points along the edge of the bumper which are a bit cumbersome as the bumper is quite flexible but arthur completed the task in about a minute the customer stated that the driver side window has issues going up and down we have indeed confirmed this the window would only move in small steps we tried re-initializing the window regulator but there was no change to its behavior so we followed the official bmw guidance which suggests replacing the part itself to gain access the door skin had to come off nothing obvious at this point so we proceed by removing the safety reinforcement bar and unclipping the window virus sleeve to give us extra room the window regulator which is essentially a small motor with some basic logic electronics and a gearbox lives at the bottom of the door the wiring harness is unplugged and bolts removed enabling us to take a look at the part this is where we start noticing that something is not right the inside of the window regulator plug shows significant signs of burning and looking deeper into the plastic casing it continues into the assembly on top of that it seems one of the small wires going into the connector plug is loose and that draws our attention to further burn marks in the connector so we need to figure out a sequence of events to determine which parts exactly need replacing or repairing as the burn marks suggest an electrical fold within the regulator which most likely caused a current spike in one of the wires causing it to melt with the new regulator in place the window behaves just like before moving up and down but only in short steps so our attention turns to the wiring oyster removes the terminals from the connector housing using a specialized tool and fits them into a new housing along the way he replaces the two heat affected terminals using repair tails from bmw not the prettiest of repairs due to the difficult access but at the end of the day it's going to work and saves us billing the customer for an entire new door loom the window now seems to work so we first make sure the memory of the regulator is clear this can be done directly from the vehicle by pressing and holding the toggle in the fully down position for about 20 seconds followed by holding in the fully up position to quote unquote learn the correct closed window position and enable pinch protection you may ask why not keep the old window regulator in place then well the presence of the fault will most likely cause a current spike again undoing all the work we just did not to mention given this car is being exported we want to be certain that it will remain in working condition for many years to come everything can be reassembled now the safety bar while looking quite simple has a cutout to create enough clearance for the window tightening cog as it moves up and down so it needs to be installed the right way around before the door skin is attached we need to remove the old plastic clips these are very brittle and 99 of the time end up breaking leaving small pieces in the mounting holes to ensure that the new clips fasten effectively it's important to remove any remains in this case oster finds it easiest to vacuum them out among the last smaller jobs is the repair of the near side high beam i am intentionally saying repair ideally we would just replace the part but for reasons unknown bmw jacked up the price of these at some point in 2021 from about 71 pounds plus what to wait for it 315 pounds plus v80 despite the fact that the high beams will rarely be used on this example the unit also houses the indicator so the customer asked us for a lack of a better phrase watch this just to secure it as best we can without new parts and no it's not a fog light no i3 comes with transfer glides from the factory to get the light out we peel back the front section of the wheel arch liner in case of the left light it clips on the right side and is supposed to be secured in using two screws on the opposite side of the cutout as you can see here the bracket has snapped so we unplug the wires the light comes out but the parts of the bracket with the bolts stay in behind once we retrieve those as well it must have been a very lucky accident because the plastic has snapped off very cleanly that means we can super glue the edges and to make sure it stands the test of time arthur also reinforces the back face using a metal bar repurposed from an old wiper blade it is also important to stick these on the back instead of the front of the brackets otherwise these might get in the way of where the unit screws into place resulting in a slightly off-angle fit we let the glue cure overnight and are very pleased with the results meaning we can now place the light back not only does it look pretty much perfect from the front it saved the customer a lot of expense once tested we re-secure the wheel arch liner now we officially move on to the biggest job on the list and in fact one of the biggest jobs we regularly see here advisely replacing the motor mounts this is a problem which early i3 suffered from but it got rectified by bmw on both software and hardware level the electric motor is housed under the boot floor and they suspended on motor brackets these are subsequently held in place by motor mounts themselves which are small rubberized blocks with mounting points for the arms especially under hard acceleration these are subject to a lot of forces which in extreme cases would mean the rubber base splitting if left unresolved the crack can continue along the entire bottom edge causing the mount to fail completely meaning the motor is no longer attached to the vehicle not a good situation to be in especially as it can damage some of the surrounding electronics if it fails at speed to get started with the job we remove the protective under trays unlike the front these parts are solid metal and bolt on along the edges with all of the smaller fasteners removed remove the bigger corner ones which exposes the drive electronics on the top side the boot floor is removed these earlier models had the part manufactured using cfrp like the rest of the chassis but bmw switched to metal later on mostly due to cost saving it is secured using bolts which you may assume are easy to take out but they screw into rubber sleeves if over-tightened the sleeves spin as you are trying to unscrew them making them next impossible to remove which is the case on a couple here with the cover off as you can see we are in the high voltage territory so even though we are not working on the electronics directly we disable the high voltage system using the safety isolator under the bonnet confirming the drivetrain is de-energized on the instrument display this not being a range extender we get started with the easier right side the ground lid is unclipped and removed from the arm there are two of these one on each side as you can see it's a shame bmw did not repackage the electronics a bit differently for the versions without directs as there is otherwise a lot of wasted space under the boot anyways moving on with the repair we brace the motor using a professional jack right in the middle the positioning is important to make sure it does not slide off and does not subject the other opposite motor mount to excess stress not that important now as it will be replaced but crucial later on as it would undo all of our work first the bolts on the motor are removed followed by the one going through the mount itself accessed from the outer side of the wheel arch the mount is just press fit into place so it's carefully hammered out from the inside dropping out by the suspension assembly when inspected we can truly see the scale of the problem dry as a bone with all of the oil drained through the crack further comparing the old and near designs side by side the overall shape of the right bracket seems unchanged but because the size of the mulch mount bolt has increased the whole bracket needs to be replaced as well to ensure compatibility if this was a younger car which already had the new bolts and hence brackets only the rubber motor mounts and the single-use bolts would need replacing considerably reducing the labor for this job truthfully it is very unlikely to need doing on neural vehicles though as the increase in bulge size is not the only change on the motor mounts they feature a much more pronounced stopper reducing the maximum angle the entire motor assembly can rotate by which would result in a further increase in life span one interesting point is that the hole on the earthing bolt does not come pre-tapped so we need to do that before putting the parts in all goes well and we can attach the lead fasten the bracket to the motor using fresh bolts hammer the new mount in place marry it to the bracket and fasten using fresh bolt from the outside as well at this point it's worth explaining that bmw's official guidance for the entire job involves removing much of the suspension and dropping the entire drive unit out of the vehicle which is why at the main dealer this job would set you back thousands of pounds our tried and tested technique which you are seeing here is how we are able to reduce the cost of this job substantially with the right side done we move on to the left which is a lot more challenging firstly the axis is quite a bit more restricted but in essence we are undoing three bolts just like on the opposite side though the axis is so tight that we can't even show you on camera with a bit of team effort the bracket eventually comes out side by side we see a much bigger difference here the old parts used to be plastic and even though we did not have anything against plastic parts especially on a car which is meant to be lightweight it seems like bmw reconsidered the decision as it is now made of aluminum just like the opposing brackets it also utilizes the updated more robust bolts and bigger stoppers in the mounts everything is put back together high voltage system energized and once tested you can see how the mounts do not move as much as before even under hard acceleration and braking we can't help and admire the result for a while [Music] once they finish fighting the truly terrible balls for the booth floor and put set floor and the undertrace back in place we move on to our next item on the list given the car is going to a place where i3 specific servicing and repairs would be complicated we advise something which we are generally against replacing the 12-volt battery before it starts showing the excessive battery discharge when stationary warnings if you are not familiar yes evs still have a 12-volt battery it is kept topped up using a dc dc-dc converter from the main high voltage traction battery and runs all the low power accessories like the control units audio and infotainment system lights seed heaters and so on hence for safety reasons the high voltage system is ensured to be disconnected again to gain access to the battery itself we remove the front storage compartment it lives behind the cabin heater coolant reservoir so it's a bit tricky to get to but arthur starts by removing the negative or ground lead that enables us to undo the two bolts holding the bracket in place and subsequently remove the positive lead as well with the battery vent also disconnected it can be carefully slid out like most cars the terminals used a 10 millimeter socket and it's handy that the bracket bolts do as well if we assess the battery properly we can now see it was manufactured in week 16 of year 2014 so it is definitely the original unit with the circumstances mentioned before it's good it's being done at the same time hopefully it puts any internet forum claims that these smaller batteries need to be replaced every couple of years to rest though the little metal terminal adapters need to be moved onto the new battery they are simple to remove but keep in mind the shape is different from the positive and negative terminals in case you ever forget which one goes where there is a small negative sign on the one which goes on top of the ground while we are working on the car the fresh 12v battery has been connected to a trickle charger to prevent any potential issues with under voltage once it's installed for installation the entire process is repeated just in reverse before proceeding we need to take note of the reference numbers as these will be needed later to initialize the battery in the bmw diagnostic software plugging in the vent attaching both terminals and the brackets finally we can reactivate the high voltage system but we will handle the battery software registration later on in this video as expected at this age the suspension damper gators are completely destroyed to help with taking the assembly apart we cut and remove the torn ones followed by soaking the top mount bolts in wd-40 having had a few of this shear on removal in the past particularly on older examples we let the penetration fluid do its thing for as long as possible before gently loosening the bolts luckily none of them give us issues so we can proceed by removing the drop link and slacking the sensor cables which then enables us to pivot the entire assembly outwards being careful about not coming into contact with the front wing which could damage the paint we have mentioned this in previous videos it seems the powdery substance on the top surface of the top mounts is not dirt but a form of corrosion as a result of some chemical reaction over a long period of time between the neighboring parts so it's carefully brushed off and hovered while we are here it's a good opportunity to inspect and replace the top mounts themselves if needed but they are absolutely fine on this car we use a professional coil compressor which has dedicated yoke protectors to ensure the paint on the coast does not get damaged time and time again we see corrosion obviously caused by cheaper style compressors which do exactly that keep in mind it's not only cosmetic as corrosion on the springs can lead to premature snapping using a special socket range which allows a second ratchet to pass through it dan removes the nut holding the top mount in place this protects the piston in the dumper from damage by not spinning it around by the way dan has only joined us recently but you can see here he's already up to speed with the entire gate replacement procedure the last remains of the old gator are removed and so is the bump stop which given free of signs of any damage will be reused the new gator is placed in taking care to get the positioning correct as there is a small rubber tab which rests against the end of the spring to prevent it from spinning round everything can be reassembled now following the same steps as before just in reverse note the official bmw method would involve removing the entire strut and carrying out the subsequent steps on a workbench but doing it this way is how we are able to save labour time with no compromises which is how we get to the price point as it is by far our most common repair once complete everything is wiped down with silicon spray and we can move right onto the next item on the list while the wheels are still off we will leave a full breakdown of the servicing for a separate video but in summary the vehicle gets a health check covering the same things as a main dealer feel free to pause here on the sheet with the full list next replace the cabin air filter located under the dashboard accessed from the driver footwell lastly the brake fluid gets flushed brake fluid absorbs moisture over time hence the two year service interval regardless of mileage just out of curiosity we touch the fluid and the device indicates that only less than one percent is actually water so we could say there is still considerable life left in it makes you think whether an automatic flush every two years is really necessary where a simple test should be sufficient with the tasks completed we need to update the digital service record but we will do this with the rest of the diagnostics we double check the 175 teras are on the 5 and a half j refurbished wheels and the 155 on the front on 5j wheels being an early example the wheels are handed so we put them on in the correct orientation ramp down torques checked and time to go for a test drive for a final check the brakes and suspension behave just as expected so we can pull the car back in to tackle the last repair on our list swapping the seat base on the driver's seat we have one spare driver seat which we use for customers who are having their heated seats repaired under our wisely covered warranty but want to keep on driving their cars the entire seat of concern is removed from the car which involves unbolting it from the floor and unclipping the wiring harness even if you have the car quote unquote off but the 12v electronics still on it throws a driver restraint error which is persistent meaning even with the seat back in you need diagnostics equipment to clear it considering the tear is on the base of the seat it's only the base cushion with the top skin which needs to be moved over to get started the adjustment handles need to be unclipped followed by removing a couple of screws releasing the side plastic trim and untucking the edge of the cushion it is not yet free to slide out though as the wires from the seat heater and the sensors need to be unclipped and removed through the fabric loop which keeps them in place same process is followed on the other seat to get the undamaged cushion out and reversed on both again with the bases swapped getting the cushions back on requires a bit of patience but it is not complicated overall if your seat is damaged and are thinking about calling us to get the same thing done don't even bother because we do not have an unlimited stream of undamaged spare seats we agreed to do this as a one-off to help break the cost down as a brand new skin from bmw is 210 pounds plus watt for the base gray interior and it only goes up from there for the other versions seat back in and to make sure the interior looks all nice the passenger seat is wet vacuumed the dash and the door cards wipes down with two people on the job a quick clean takes no time but keep in mind this is far from our full retail preparation standard the washer fluid is stopped up tires inflated to the correct pressures all stickers removed from the windscreen and with the bodywork washed as well we try our best to improve the paint using a machine polisher the black bonnet definitely looks less hazy and so does the boot clip at least for the age of the car we also tackle the smaller scratches and what we assume to be a vinyl wrap glue residue from the wing mirrors and the rear passenger door paint chips are touched in which will not make them disappear entirely but it's a fantastic way of taking the eye off the problematic areas without re-spraying the entire panels for hundreds of pounds and disturbing original paint the last step is to complete the diagnostics the service can be written to the bmw servers without having the car physically plugged in as it should download the information through its cellular modem this can occasionally take a while as there is no manual way of triggering a pull request from the server given other tasks need to be done we plug the car into the official bmw ista system access costs 9 euros an hour and when started it fetches data from all the different subsystems in the car so let's go through the fault list window regulator makes sense given it was actually faulty before removed the high voltage open circuit faults are related to the fact that we had the isolator open while we were working on the motor mounts and the 12 volts exterior mirror falls from where we had to disassemble it to replace the repeater and driver's airbag and seat belt faults because the seat was taken out while the car was still awake as mentioned considering we are already in the system we can ride the service history to the car manually through the wired connection next component is the registration of the 12-volt battery but before doing so we checked the information of the old battery and it was indeed there from the factory is deduced earlier based on the manufacturing dates the new one simply is registered using the reference number on the label given there was a period of time during which the car was without any power it was not aware of the current time and date but it pulls that from the laptop as part of the registration procedure lastly as we went through the fold codes all of those can be cleared and that's are quite a decent list complete so as always let's start the music to show you the finished article [Music] and that's the end of the authorized repairs the total bill came out to just about 3 000 pounds for that price the customer gets a car which is mechanically safe to drive on the road and also has some of the most significant visual issues addressed as well if we were retailing this car we would definitely go quite a bit further we would properly address the cosmetic issues like the chipped passenger side door skin the scratches in the front bumper and so on on the mechanical side the front brake discs are not bmw nor bmw equivalent parts as you can see by the fact that they feature a ventilated design meaning they are drilled through we would revert this back to how the car came out of the factory likewise we would definitely also fix the heated front seats and the whole car would get a much deeper clean and they polish overall to be fair i think that's about it we hopefully covered all the points if you are looking for an i3 or already have one we have a series of videos coming out regarding the servicing in more detail so make sure to subscribe for that otherwise as always thank you very much for watching and see you in the next one you

Channel: Wisely Automotive

Views: 56,557

Keywords: BMW, BMW i3, used, second-hand, faults, problems, issues, old, dealer, used car, buying guide, i3, motor mounts, motor brackets, redesign, new parts, preparation, Wisely Automotive, EV specialist, EV garage, HEVRA

Id: YnjO9DmqV6w

Length: 28min 35sec (1715 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 15 2022