Motor defect

[brin]

Cars older then 5 years have no goodwill repairs...

[nbairro]

Same problem here.

Etransmission bla bla ...motor has coolent inside wtf how is it possible for a eletric motor failed so hard.

I work in a factory where exists electric motors running 24h day for years ...

Out off warranty ...trying to ask bmw for goodwil ...or else iam going to sell it for parts and bmw never again.

[jveugelers]

Dear Community,

I have encountered the same problem. My i3 Rex is from 2015 and has 90.000 km. Suddenly the engine made increasingly a noice which, after investigation by the dealer, turns out to be a baering failure inside the electric motor. They have seen this 1-2 a year according to the dealer.

A refurbished motor can be fitted at € 5600,-. I'm unsure if it's worth it considering the age and km of the vehicle. And, whats next? The Rex?.

Question: in the old days you could contnue driving with a broken bearing until the noice simply became too loud. What are the risks in doing so with the electric motor?

[ronbot]

Cars older then 5 years have no goodwill repairs...

Your source?
Is that 5 model years, or 5 years since put in service?
What about one that had 2 years of CPO?

[ronbot]

Anybody have any updates on this issue?
Mine just got all noisy...
https://youtu.be/yl8CELCGf_M

[ronbot]

Motor failing or bearings and motor replacement being the easiest solution ?

Design flaw - they used the wrong bearing type in pre-2018 model years... so replacing the bearing isn't going to be a long-term "fix", but a band-aid.

[ronbot]

I have the same problem, Motor Bearing failure, requires a replacement Motor! 4100GBP.

39000 miles and 6 months out of warranty.

I am waiting a reply from BMW to see if they will pay for this on goodwill.

What became of your situation? Did BMW help? These days I read of an increasing number of this failure, and many are able to get a free motor from BMW Corporate, customer pays for installation.

[Hasij2]

Has anyone looked to see if it is possible to put the 2018 bearings into a pre 2018 i3? For those of us who plan to keep the car rolling, new batteries and etc.

[ronbot]

Has anyone looked to see if it is possible to put the 2018 bearings into a pre 2018 i3? For those of us who plan to keep the car rolling, new batteries and etc.

Disassembling a large PM motor like this is a near impossibility - without very specialized equipment. The highly-magnetic rotor will grab onto the stator, and pulling them apart without damage would take a hydraulic machine with extremely strong "centering".

Re-assembling would be even worse... as the rear-mounted position sensor must be re-aligned with the rotor exactly as it was removed, or else the Inverter won't know when to send what phase in what order to get proper operation.

One guy that tried it ended up with a motor that ran backwards... and I don't think he ever got it resolved.

And then there's the question of whether-or-not the bearings are interchangeable. BMW said they switched to taper roller bearings, which most likely would NOT fit the old housings.