Engine mount broken

[uktechie]

Is the fault obvious when happens?

I think it may have happened to mine, I have sort of squeaking noise from rear when cornering :?:

 

[smyszko]

On mine the only symptom was a creaking noise on slow right hand turns. From what I've seen from posts on the facebook group, if the problem develops you end up with a grinding noise when starting the car, a drivetrain malfunction light and a car that won't start.

I have my car back now after a total of 16 days at the dealer for the repair (mainly just them waiting for parts to arrive from Germany).

I noticed two new reports of the problem on the facebook group this week btw.

 

[dorowe]

Ugh, broken again for 3rd time after just 1,500 miles. So failure at 4,000, 8,500 & 10,000 miles. Is there a fix?

 

[Sparky]

Your car's drive train has something out of spec or alignment. I have 4000 miles on mine with no problems, and there aren't many reports of broken bolts.

 

[uktechie]

My car creaks not related to bolts, some bushings lubricants applied during my KLE upgrade.

 

[dorowe]

I gather the issue is recognised by BMW. When a rear wheel leaves the road it spins up very quickly. When the tyre returns to earth there is a shock load to the drive train and the weakest link breaks, i.e. the engine mounting bolt.

Strengthening the bolt will just relocate the problem so not an option. How to stop the wheel in the air speeding up is the engineering challenge.

 

[spinball]

Wheel hop is a fact of life no matter the drivetrain. Does being an EV really have THAT much of an effect on this issue?

 

[dorowe]

It the high torque from the electric motor that is the cause. So yes EV is the reason along with design of a drive train that did not take this into account.

 

[alohart]

I gather the issue is recognised by BMW. When a rear wheel leaves the road it spins up very quickly.

Shouldn't traction control prevent a drive wheel from spinning significantly faster than the other drive wheel? Even if both drive wheels left the road and spun up together, I would think that traction control could be programmed to prevent a sudden increase in rotational speed.

 

[dorowe]

I believe that using traction control is what BMW is working on. The issue is how quickly the wheel speeds up even with a slight lift off the ground. Currently traction control can not respond in time. Faster computer required?

 

[alohart]

The issue is how quickly the wheel speeds up even with a slight lift off the ground. Currently traction control can not respond in time. Faster computer required?

If traction control communicates over the same CAN bus as the horn, there might not be a simple solution.

 

[stuartatlingfield]

In have my i3 Rex since February and expeirenced the first engine mount failure in early May. After 2 weeks in the garage, due to a shortage of reaplcement mounts from Germany, the car was returned. The second engine mount failure occured in the first week of July, which took a further 2 weeks to resolve. This morning, am saddened to report that this has now happened for the 3rd time !! Total mileage - 11,500 miles. My drive to work involves A Roads Motorways and thus no significant challenges in terms of road conditions Last nights failure occured at going around a car accident scene, which the Police had cornered off. With something slippery (presume oil) on the road, the wheels spun and hey presto....

Now on the phone to get it collected again.....

 

[dorowe]

11,500 miles matches the failure rate (number of times & mileage) with my I3.

This is clearly a difficult problem to fix without detuning the car in which case the advertised 0-60 times would not be achievable.

That being said I am now using Eco Plus routinely which significantly moderates the throttle reponse although no real difference in journey times but a real boost in range.

I am about to follow up with BMW if a preventative bolt change is justified!

 

[S3RDP]

This is clearly a difficult problem to fix without detuning the car in which case the advertised 0-60 times would not be achievable.

That being said I am now using Eco Plus routinely which significantly moderates the throttle reponse although no real difference in journey times but a real boost in range.

Surely this is another argument to be able to set Eco Plus as the default driving mode?

 

[alohart]

This is clearly a difficult problem to fix without detuning the car in which case the advertised 0-60 times would not be achievable.

Traction control should prevent a wheel from suddenly spinning faster than the other wheels. I've never understood why the i3's traction control apparently doesn't prevent this problem unless there's a bug in the i3's traction control firmware (would not be surprising considering the quality of the i3's firmware in other areas). If traction control prevented a wheel from spinning out of control, then there would be no need to reduce the motor's power and thus decrease the maximum rate of acceleration.

BMW has been incredibly slow fixing this broken motor mount bolt problem. The fact that it's happening repeatedly to some i3 owners suggests that the replacement parts are no better than (and maybe no different from) the original parts. The threat of being stranded due to a broken motor mount bolt makes me feel that I can't trust my i3 to reach my destination.

 

[WoodlandHills]

BMW have been incredibly slow in fixing most every problem with the i3. Witness the whooping tire issue...... They just ignored everyone and let the dealers handle the situation by authorizing that nothing be done to correct the situation.

BMW is NOT a premium company like Mercedes, if you just lower your expectations to a Toyota or Chevy level, you will not be disappointed with your service. It is customers that think their issues will be dealt with in a timely and professional manner that are setting themselves up for a fall! I had not expected this when we leased our first BMW and it took a while for BMWNA to convince me that my expectations of Mercedes-like customer service were unreasonable.


Once I learned to expect the very least in service from my dealer and the absolute bare minimum in response to any issue from BMWNA I no longer felt disappointed.

 

[CCJ]

BMW have been incredibly slow in fixing most every problem with the i3. Witness the whooping tire issue...... They just ignored everyone and let the dealers handle the situation by authorizing that nothing be done to correct the situation.

BMW is NOT a premium company like Mercedes, if you just lower your expectations to a Toyota or Chevy level, you will not be disappointed with your service. It is customers that think their issues will be dealt with in a timely and professional manner that are setting themselves up for a fall! I had not expected this when we leased our first BMW and it took a while for BMWNA to convince me that my expectations of Mercedes-like customer service were unreasonable.


Once I learned to expect the very least in service from my dealer and the absolute bare minimum in response to any issue from BMWNA I no longer felt disappointed.

What is the whooping tire issue? I am new to i3

 

[jadnashuanh]

Some of the earliest tires once they wore down a little made some strange noises when you went around a corner.

 

[dorowe]

I am pleased to report that the engine mount problem appears to have been sorted by BMW some time ago. I had three breakages at some 3,000 mile intervals but the last fix involved I believe both a part & engine control software update. I have now done 40,000 miles with no further problems.

I am now into the 4th year of ownership and the only paid for service item has been tyres. The front brake pads are 50% worn, rear less, no sign of any significant disc wear.

Now the car is being charged via solar panels running costs are really low, even in the UK :<)

Pity about low resale value!