heavy fan noise while charging

[tobiassej]

Our i3 REX started running the big fan while charging today. Our neighbor dropped by to ask if there is something wrong with the car, it's that loud.
It's been running for 6 hours while the car is charging.

I took the car for a drive - it drives normal, from time to time the "noisy fan" goes on. After 2 km drive I went back and started charging again and then the fan went on again. It's from the front end of the car.

Has anyone tried this before?

By the way it's close to freezing outside (0-4 celcious = approx. 35 Fahrenheit)

 

[Jonny427]

Could it be the pre conditioning / heat pump? My car does the same when I set the cabin heater to pre warm the car, it also is part of the battery conditioning.

 

[jadnashuanh]

FWIW, the REx does not have a heat pump, so there'd be no fan for that running. It's unlikely that the batteries are too warm and require cooling at that ambient temperature and certainly not for 6-hours in a row. It sounds like the thermostat for the REx engine coolant is turning the fan on. I don't have a REx, so don't have a good perspective on that, but if that's the case, it sounds like that sensor may be bad. You might be able to isolate that by trying to pull its fuse to see if it stops. It's a bit awkward getting to the fuse box, but you don't need any tools to drop it down from the top of the passenger's footwell. There's a diagram and a fuse removal tool in the fuse panel tray once you've opened it.

 

[nitramluap]

**EDIT** See bottom

It's probably just the AC compressor running.

Even though the ambient temperature is low, it's possible that the onboard rectifiers still require cooling, particularly if you've been charging for a while and/or at maximum AC input (7.4kW single phase).

We have two 2017 BEV i3 vehicles and have noticed that the AC compressor fires up with high charging rates and also when preconditioning (particularly when cooling the cabin). Once the cabin temperature has cooled down, but before we leave, the compressor quietens considerably.

If we don't precondition the vehicle and it's a hot day when we set off, we can actually hear the compressor from inside the cabin when driving. Cleverly, BMW appears to have programmed it to run quieter at slower speeds and then stop entirely when at walking speed - presumably to minimise outside noise at these speeds (it looks silly if you nice BEV is as noisy as an ICE due to the AC compressor!)


**EDIT**
I just went back to read David Bricknell's excellent ebook "Electric Vehicles and the BMW i3" and I think this explains the noise (and I think it *is* to cool the charging electronics):

“The BMW i3 uses a 17litres/min liquid-glycol cooling circuit for the motor and inverter (EME) cooling and also includes the convenience charging electronics (KLE) in the same loop.  The cooling system consists of a conventional radiator and 400W electric fan mounted in the nose of the car. ”

Excerpt From: David Bricknell. “Electric Vehicles and the i3 (60Ah and 94Ah).” Brycheins Ltd, 2016. iBooks. https://itun.es/au/Bqjfdb.l

 

[jadnashuanh]

Unless you've got a really small EVSE, you won't be charging for 6+ hours (and a slower rates, things won't heat up as much, either), so there should not be any electronics that need to be cooled. Certainly, the cooling circuits can come on during charging, and obviously, some things can get hot while in use, so then, too, but not after the car has been sitting for a longer period of time with no programmed functions in process.

Depending on ambient conditions and what mode and internal cabin temperatures you've selected, certainly, the compressor could turn on, even if just to defrost things (by drying the air), but that's only when the car is on or during the time it is preconditioning the cabin for you.

 

[tobiassej]

The condenser was broken and lost cool fluid. That was the reason why the car was trying to cool all the time while charging. BMW replaced it on the warranty. This is not a sound you should accept for hours!

Was charging approx 3 kW. And i close to freezing outside, no need for cooling the battery I suppose. I know it's not the fastest (3kW), but always enough since the car is at home over night.

We have two I3s (1 BEV & 1 REX). once the Warranty is due on both cars I'll make a overview on the repairs

 

[Jeremy]

I have had exactly the same symptoms on our 2014 REx.

Noticed, on a cold night (for UK: about -2C) ,two weeks ago fan noise while charging - loud enough to alarm the neighbours and be heard outside the garage 30m away.

At first I though it was just conditioning the battery for a cold charge. Now it's doing it on every charge, even in mild weather, and cycling repeatedly while driving.

It's never done it in 3 years - so clearly a fault and presumably the same as yours.

Since my warranty also expires in March - I'm getting rather nervous about keeping the car.

 

[jadnashuanh]

FWIW, while not definitive, on defective parts, BMW has been fairly good about repairing things out of warranty. It's one thing for a part that is expected to wear out, it's another to just fail, especially if it becomes a trend. Now, if this part starts to fail regularly, and it hasn't been noted as a problem, sometimes it takes awhile before they react. Then, they need some time to examine the part to determine exactly how it failed to engineer a fix.

 

[RobertM]

MY 2016 BEV had a loud rattling noise when charging under some conditions. The dealer had to attempt and diagnose the issue twice since it did not occur all the time. I had recorded a video with my phone to let them understand the noise they were to look for. They determined the fan that is part of the thermal management system needed replacing. The car has been very quiet when charging now that they replaced it.

 

[Jeremy]

BMW technician just visited and confirmed several faults relating to the air conditioning system so it's going back to the service workshop.

Apparently one fault showed high coolant pressure of 127bar - which seems extraordinarily high to me.

I didn't realise that the cabin aircon & battery conditioning systems are combined with the same compressor circuit.

This car has only done 7,500 miles in 3 years - so the number of faults is a bit worrying.

When I was a high mileage business driver - that would have been only seven weeks driving and would have made me very unhappy.

I now have to decide whether to change it for another higher-range i3 with a new warranty - or a more reliable conventional car, before the warranty expires in March.

 

[jadnashuanh]

The way I look at it (and I hope it doesn't come back to bite me!) is that with most of my previous cars, if they had problems, it was often in the first 10K miles or so. If it was my only car, that would generally have occurred within the first year, so both for mileage and time, it would have been in warranty. That's no longer the case since I've retired...I just don't drive as much. Most of my local driving is entirely done in the i3, but in approaching 3-years, the car still hasn't broken 8K miles, but I should break that 10K mark before the warranty expires. I tend to keep my cars until they either start having more problems than I care to deal with, or they bore me, or there's something new that really tweaks my interest. I'm not sure any of those will happen with the i3.

FWIW, compared to many cars, the i3 is fairly simple these days. I'm planning on keeping mine for quite awhile yet, and I do not believe the major costs will make me regret it. When the current factory warranty expires, I'll have to consider what BMW wants to extend it...I may or may not want to bite that bullet for the insurance. Given the car was an entirely new design, I would hope that a new one will have worked out some of the bugs. I'm expecting probably for the 2018MY, we'll see some other changes, with a larger battery which will require some changes, and lessons learned along the way. But, by then, there may be some other contenders.

 

[janner]

The same compressor runs the cabin air conditioning, the battery cooling (not the heating) and, if fitted, the heat pump. Max compressor pressure should be 30 bar.

 

[bwilson4web]

Hi Jim,

Until Dec 9, 2016 when the motor mount bolt broke, I was with you:

. . . I'm planning on keeping mine for quite awhile yet, and I do not believe the major costs will make me regret it. When the current factory warranty expires, I'll have to consider what BMW wants to extend it...I may or may not want to bite that bullet for the insurance. Given the car was an entirely new design, I would hope that a new one will have worked out some of the bugs. I'm expecting probably for the 2018MY, we'll see some other changes, with a larger battery which will require some changes, and lessons learned along the way. But, by then, there may be some other contenders.

What I realized is my used BMW i3-REx had 6,440 miles and year of service. I cracked the windshield when the wiper came off the arm. The backup camera, OK things happen. But the broken motor mount bolt was a wake-up.

The repair part was obviously a stronger part both the bolt, ~1/2" to ~3/4", and the fixture on the transmission/ motor/ REx assembly. Now it could have been that the broken bolt was not torqued enough allowing the rocking motion that led to the fracture. I also remain concerned about a single source for the tires. The effect was I realized my backup car, a 2010 Prius, was no longer acceptable as a backup car for the BMW i3-REx and what the dealer loaned was totally unacceptable.

My hard requirement is: (1) dynamic cruise control, and (2) accident avoidance. By lucky coincidence, I fell into a good deal and replaced the 2010 Prius with car that could have been bought instead of the BWW i3-REx. So I have a lot of sympathy.

GOOD LUCK!
Bob Wilson

 

[vmSeattle]

2014 BEV i3. Had an issue where the fan would come on all the time. This is a fan in the front of the car and was extremely noisy when driving. Would not ramp up immediately, but maybe after 10-15min of driving and spun down when speed < 30mph. Turned out the EKK was bad. That's the electronic compressor. It wasn't running properly, so the fan was trying to compensate by running 100%. The dealer found errors pointing to a coolant valve, but that wasn't it. It was the EKK. Interestingly, while the valve was not in stock at the dealer, the EKK was. Dealer remarked that for them to have it in stock, it must be a common failure.

 

[steffi3]

We had the same problem as described in the first post and 7th by Jeremy. It’s a 2014-08 REX. The dealer told me first that this is a regenerating cycle of the electric motor and should let it end. It would stop automatically after a while. It did not! Checked several forums like this also in German language and the reason was several times a defective condenser of the A/C with loss of refrigerant. My workshop found the same and told me that there are more than one very small leakages. They said this comes certainly from stone-chipping hitting the condenser. Repair cost estimated 1’600 CHF which is roughly the same in USD. Fortunately there are existing these forums to get information. I could convince the workshop that it comes not from stones and to ask BMW for goodwill because the warranty expired 5 month ago. Finally they took over the part (condenser) 700-800 CHF and we have to pay the labor costs. Estimating the factor for parts to 10 it costs BMW not more than 100 CHF (=$).

 

[tobiassej]

I don't have good experiences with BMW replacing things out of warranty.

I have two i3 and the cuffs are warn out on all front shock absorbers on both cars. Never tried than on other cars after 65-75.000 km

BMW said that the shock absorbers will wear down earlier that expected but they would not replace two months after warranty ran out.

Instead they suggested that I pay 200 $/car to have them replace the cuffs.

 

[Samlic]

Just to say my i3 just started to have the exact symptoms: the radiator fan maxed out when charging or driving. And I remebered 2 weeks before the start of this symptoms, there was some "water pipe" sound coming out through the cabin air vent. Not sure if these 2 symptoms are related tho.

 

[Star63]

Me too.

The leaking condenser was diagnosed last summer. My car only had 14.334 km at the time but it was out of warranty (late 2014 model). There was no indication of any external damage (stone chip etc.) on the condenser but BMW AG in München did not accept my goodwill request.

I exchanged quite a few emails with the Corporate Quality, Warranty and Goodwill Manager without success. I asked for an official BMW AG statement if the leaking condenser in a very low mileage BMW is a “built in feature” or a “manufacturing fault”. She finally stated that due to the age of this car the leakage on a 14.334 km driven BMW is considered normal. A premium car? :roll:

 

[Samlic]

An update: I had my i3 fixed, there's a leak from the condenser. Charged £540 (incl. VAT) with parts, gas recharge and labour.
Spoke to the repair technician, he explained there is a stone chip at the bottom right corner, and also collecting leafs there. He went on saying that it's rather a common issue on the BMWs.

My opinion: all cars have condenser in front of the radiator and the bumper opening is all roughly same size and same clearance from the ground. The i3 also has a shutter grill that is normally closed during high speed driving, the chances that you get a stone chip damage on your condenser is very very low. however, Leafs accumulating at the corner could stop part of your condenser from cooling effectively, eventually the expanding hot part dislocate from other cold parts, causing the leak. I believe it's a design issue, since the i3 runs the AC circuit pretty much all the time (even at ambient 6 degreeC): charging, idling, running, a conventional condenser layout shouldn't be used.They just don't admit it.

From now on I wash the condensor weekly.

one thing do makes me wonder, the "normal" goat noise (i.e. during pre-condition) from the condenser is also gone after the fix, does that mean it's been leaking slighly since day one?

 

[Mito]

I don't have good experiences with BMW replacing things out of warranty.

I have two i3 and the cuffs are warn out on all front shock absorbers on both cars. Never tried than on other cars after 65-75.000 km

BMW said that the shock absorbers will wear down earlier that expected but they would not replace two months after warranty ran out.

Instead they suggested that I pay 200 $/car to have them replace the cuffs.

Have exactly the same problem, totally unacceptable must be rubbish rubber