How do I find a junkyard i3?

[Joff]

I have a 2014 i3 with damaged wiring - the two low voltage multi pin connectors that go in the top of the KLE. I bought it as a project with a broken left motor mount and motor mount bracket. I replaced the plastic bracket with the new aluminum one easily, but i'm having trouble sourcing these two connectors. It seems they are part of the main harness, rather than one of the small harnesses. I want to just get the connectors with a few inches of wire pigtail to slice onto.

 

[eNate]

Try car-parts.com. It's a pretty decent salvage yard listing repository that I've had good luck with.

 

[Anonymous]

You could also do a search for any 'Pick and Pull' auto salvage yards in your area - then just phone any to see if they have an i3. With pick and pull yards, you go out and remove the part you need from the car yourself.

 

[Joff]

I can find whole yugos at junkyards with car-part.com listings but no luck with the i3 so far. More to check. I did look at the local u- pullits no i3s, I think they tend to stock older cars whose parts tend to cost less. I had someone on face book recommend I buy a whole wrecked i3 on copart to source these connectors which probably cost bmw a euro to make!

 

[EvanstonI3]

You might have to research how to buy vehicles from Insurance Auctions.

When you total your car, the insurance company takes possession and then auctions it with all the other totaled cars they don't want to hold onto.
These get bought up by any number of salvage places but it is also possible that there is a specific market for i3 parts, much like there is a very thriving market for totaled Teslas with EV enthusiasts buying them up to use for their projects or to resell to other EV enthusiasts.

There may be some EV enthusiasts buying these up at the Insurance Auctions before they ever hit the usual Salvage places.

 

[Anonymous]

Check ebay - I found almost a dozen or so different i3 wiring harness subsets by doing a search for 'BMW i3 wiring harness'.

If none listed fit the bill, you could message some of the listers with what you are looking for, as they may be parting out an i3 and have what you need.

Seems to be one outfit in Latvia that buys salvage i3's from all over Europe, rebuilds the rebuildable i3's, cannibalizing parts from non-rebuildable wrecks for their rebuilds, and then selling their excess i3 parts on ebay.

 

[jadnashuanh]

Be very careful buying any harness for any BMW. Unlike cars of old that might use one harness with lots of maybe unused plugs or sockets on them, BMW tends to not do that, and only include what is specifically needed for that vehicle as specified during the build. It can make finding a suitable replacement harder.

 

[Valleeboi02]

Copart auctions have plenty of junkyard i3s.
It seems that i3s are 99% totalled/unfixable once the car is in an accident even if it was just minor. That being said, you will run into slightly damaged i3s selling at a high price.

I encourage i3 owners to grab a totalled i3 up and strip it for parts in case you will need the parts some day.

 

[eNate]

I encourage i3 owners to grab a totalled i3 up and strip it for parts in case you will need the parts some day.

Lol!

A co-worker owned four non operable Honda CRXs which he stored in his yard, just to keep one running. I never saw his place in person, but from the Google Earth image it looked like a mini Pick 'n Pull!

 

[EvanstonI3]

Copart auctions have plenty of junkyard i3s.
It seems that i3s are 99% totalled/unfixable once the car is in an accident even if it was just minor. That being said, you will run into slightly damaged i3s selling at a high price.

I encourage i3 owners to grab a totalled i3 up and strip it for parts in case you will need the parts some day.

https://www.copart.com/vehicleFinde...false,"searchName":"","freeFormSearch":false}
Just looked and found 19 i3s. Bids on some are up to $8300 with "Reserve not met" yet. Buy It Now for several is $13,500!
Interesting to see the estimated "Retail Value" posted. I am guessing that is the Retail value of the parts if sold separately?

 

[Joff]

Thanks for all the replies. I am a copart member, and I keep track of the going prices near Baltimore. I believe they are overpriced when you add it all up. I am not going to spend 7k to source a $5 connector for a $4k project! When I say junk yard, I mean a place where you can get a part off a junk car, not a salvage auction yard. Apparently the excessive movement of the motor damaged the insulation of all those low voltage wires on those connectors and blew two fuses. I just got ISTA , it helped me figure out what is wrong, but I still have much to learn on it. I replaced the fuses, tried to clear the error codes, and now it charges, runs, and drives. I still have drivetrain error. but I am making progress. The wires all seem to work, so I will try "brush on" insulation.

 

[JohnWasser]

Do you see the wire you need in this diagram?
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=1Z83-USA-10-2016-I01-BMW_i-i3_94Ah_Rex&diagId=12_1843

 

[DonDakin]

May seem obvious but have you just tried to get the harness new ? Do know the part number ?

I agree you can't buy a wrecked car for just one harness it's better just to try to find the part new unless it's completely unreasonable from BMW.

Also if you can maybe you can find the source of the connector and find in on aliexpress or something link that.

Don.....

 

[Joff]

I have the car fixed, inspected and on the road now. Never did replace the those connectors. The connectors themselves were ok, it was the insulation on the wires that feed into the connectors that was striped and damaged by being whacked by the loose motor. I used a few coats of brush on liquid insulation. The drivetrain error message went away a day after I replaced the fuses. I wonder if I could have removed and replaced individual female pin receptacles within these connectors. It can be done on some connectors.

 

[3pete]

Glad to hear you got it up and on the road! Not sure if you have more info/pictures on your "project", but I have a bit of a soft-spot for "project vehicles" and the EV + Carbon-Fiber of it all makes the i3 potentially more interesting if you'd care to share and/or have already posted somewhere.

 

[Joff]

I do have some pictures! I am not well versed in posting them on this forum. I'll see what I can do.

 

[Joff]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/d3XBhuC2ktffxQXM6 Some of you may have seen this car before. The previous owner had his second broken motor mount bracket, this time out of warranty. They quoted him $16k to fix the mount, and 1000 to fix the wiring. Being a 2014 bev, that's a lot more than it is worth. I was able to offer him double what the dealer offered to buy it for.