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We’ve tried everything to try and fix the engine in my BMW i8 but it won’t stop overheating! Quite a few of you have mentioned that we’ve made one big mistake while working on it, so today, we’re going to try your suggestions and see if it can finally solve our problems before I just dump it over at the scrap auction!
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I had exactly the same problem. One solution change/flush the ZF transmission box oil with fresh new oil. Will work if you believe this brother.
Love the look of that car! Wish you could just motor swap it and take out the batteries.
Cooling system obstructions, possibly from missing pieces of the thermostat that was broken during installation. (Bent metal end won't happen from coolant flow or heat)
Pieces could be anywhere in the head, rad, plumbing.
Running straight water without coolant with a system that certainly involves head temps over 100°C is likely to create issues with localized steam pockets obstructing flow as well.
Beautiful car
most cars on average temps or about 210 its showing hot at 110 maybe the computer needs to be bumped up to 210 see what happens?
BMW made a mistake making that car
No thermostat trick for lower temps works!…..only for boats that get a constant new flow from the water from there pickup cause most fresh water boats don’t have coolant they suck in water, but running no thermostat in a car will cool fantastic going down the road at 80+….. but see when your not getting stupid air flow through the radiator, the waterpump is circulating the coolant way to fast and the water doesn’t get to get cooled by the radiator and fans, thermostats are temperature regulators, when it’s closed the water in the block heats up and at the regulator open temperature the hot water goes to live in the radiator and gets cooled down by airflow. The then cooled water goes back into the engine, It’s just a big circle. I don’t care what anyone says if you take a thermostat out of a vehicle with a constant driven waterpump and you let it idle the coolant will circulate so fast the radiator doesn’t get to do its job.
Cut your fingers nails dude lol
I think I've said it before: check the coolant flow at the radiator. Not at the rear exit from the pump/thermostat. Pinching the hoses I don't think is a good enough test.
instead of diagnosing this car for weeks, maybe you should have removed the head and send it for rectification , throw a new gasket on it and you'd have had peace of mind for some time with this car.
I haven't watched the first video of this, and I'm no mechanic, but did you ever verify the radiator? My ultra limited knowledge of basic car things tells me that if the engine isn't the problem, the thermostat is no longer a problem, then the only major aspect left of the coolant system is the radiator.
I also saw someone else mention checking the coolant temp directly to see if it matches what the sensors are saying; decent thought I'd say.
Flow test the radiator. Quit being so obstinate about it.
OK! You got me watching! I am now invested in you fixing that car. If you dump it and leave me wondering, it is over! No more watching your videos!
LS Swap
@samcrac I looked up BMW X8 secondary coolant pump… It has a extra coolant pump. Did you check or look at that?
The water channels inside the block may be blocked due to the faulty thermostat throwing material inside the cooling system during previous ownership. Remember that this specific car was known for getting hot even before you purchased it. So a much complex problem must be present. Just think fresh, avoid biases from previous i8 experiences. Keep going, there are no problems, but challenges which make us stronger at the end. Greetz from Romania.
I've ran many of my beaters with no thermostat and its been fine, but I've ran some cars I've taken the thermostat out of, my 92 Silverado it did fine for the most part, inf act I drove it 2100 miles without one, but if sitting in traffic and if I floored it, it would get hot, never to the point where I had to shut it off but it would reach 220 225F where it should be below 200. I threw in a 160f t-stat and I could floor it, I could sit in traffic all day and the hottest it ever gotten was 180f.
I had similar situation with a Dodge Neon, I bought it for scrap, it needed work, they though the engine was locked up, and here the ignition switch was busted, I fixed that and noticed it would overheat after driving a bit, thought head gasket, no, it was just no thermostat, threw a cheap one in and it been fine, fixed the other stuff and sold it.
Some cars need it, some cars don't care, I couldn't really tell you why some need it, fast flowing water shouldn't make that much of a difference, but I think it has more to do with water rushing past different ports or areas in the block and head so fast that it can't cool everything as it ultimately stops flowing at some parts being blocked by its own flow.
Drive this to the nearest junkyard. Leave the keys in it. Take the plate. Run don't walk away.
Swap turbo standalone done.
replace the radiator regardless of if you think its fine
The block tests are not always conclusive. Look in the spark plug holes with a borescope.
The issue is likely more that you cant reject enough heat edit: samcrac just said the same thing. Im an hvac guy so its all about absorbing and rejecting heat in my head 🤷â€â™‚ï¸
Can't you change the dam engine? :))
Is it possible to push coolant through the engine BACKWARDS from the normal flow to see if any thermostat parts come out?
Bad temp senzor?
Did you check to make sure that the last person who worked on this thing filled the cooling system with pure antifreeze? That's a newb error that has tripped up more than one person over the years. I've lost count of how many times I've run across it in a "somebody else's project" car.
How do you manage to find super cars like these for cheap?
Hybrid system electronics (with i8) – since the i8 has two separate cooling circuits (for the engine and for the batteries/electronics), a problem with one circuit can cause the other to overheat.
Has anyone confirmed if the active shutter grill is opening so air can flow across the radiator?
bad temp sensor
There is a blockage check and replace all cooling lines
One thing I havent seen you do is use one of those thermal cameras to see exactly where all the heat is and follow all the water pipes along to see if any blockage exists and then repair it.
$1,000 is my final offer take itvor leave it.
Don't think them pipes to the radiator should be that hard to squeeze sure you haven't got a blocked radiator.
Hey Sam. 2015 BMW I8 here in North Florida. Let me know if you need my car for anything.
That first cylinder looked like it was steam cleaned in comparison to the other two.
RADIATOR CLOGGED
change the front radiator…
I would mount a thermistor on top and on bottom of the radiator and see what the difference in temperature it is. This will verify flow and radiator efficiency.
After watching Samcrac for years, if there's 2 cars I'd never buy old and beat up (or at all) it's a BMW I8 or a Bentley Continental GT…
Good lord … this has been going on forever! Lots of content, but 😢. You had better keep this car if you ever get it fixed.
BMW= Bring Money With U
Do you think the previous owners modded the ECU? Can you reset it to factory with the tool? its a weird cooling system.
This become BMW "Suck" Right to Repair Saga
Clippy would not do that