Auction i8 Cooling Issues Act of Sabotage?
YouTube Samcrac’s i8 purchased at auction shuts down after a few minutes. Finding out why easier said than done, even with the right tools.
The i8 was BMW’s sexier hybrid of the i Series family. It looked like the spiritual successor the famed M1, had butterfly doors, and earned the title of “top-selling plug-in EV sports car” with nearly 20,500 total units built between 2014 and 2020. The turbocharged inline-three and electric motor brought a combined 357 to 369 horses to the road, plus 420 lb-ft of torque (nice).
Alas, some i8s have seen better days. One such i8 purchased at auction by YouTuber Samcrac is suffering from an unknown cooling issue. Is it an act of sabotage, perhaps?
“This BMW i8 was flipped back at auction three times over,” said Samcrac. “I’m the last man on that totem pole, but at over 70% off, well, how could I lose?”
According to Samcrac, a local BMW dealer suggested the i8 receive a new engine. A lot of money, for sure. However, Samcrac says the engine appears to run fine for a few minutes. Then, it overheats, and shuts down. And he doesn’t know why, but he might have an idea.
“The idea that someone is getting their baby repossessed, and they don’t want anybody else to enjoy it, but they don’t have any choice but to give it back to the financers, so they go and break something so nobody can ever enjoy it again, well, it’s kind of a good fantasy,” said Samcrac. “It’s not generally something that happens a lot. But where sabotage can happen is at the auction.”
That said, the saboteur would do something to the car that would be easy to fix, while still getting their nice price. This i8, though, has bounced around through a handful of dealerships in its life, per the Carfax. Thus, a trip to a BMW specialist is in order.
“Now, the coolant temperature’s just continued to rise and rise the first time we did it,” said Samcrac, “all the way up to 117 degrees Celsius. That’s the magic number where the diagnostic computer will actually shut off the BMW i8, so that no major harm is done.”
The initial testing ruled out the coolant temp sensor. Next up was the thermometer, a part which can only be replaced with the water pump, despite the two easily coming apart. However, it turned out the part wasn’t to blame, especially when coolant started bubbling out of the reservoir up front. A pressure test followed. Instead of finding a leak, though, it caused one by blowing out the radiator.
“Over a few days’ time, we’ve got probably over 24 hours’ worth of diagnosis into our i8,” said Samcrac. “While it doesn’t seem like the picture is any clearer, there are a few little changes […] that tells me we still have an air pocket somewhere in the system. It’s the only thing that’s really logical to me at this point.”
Samcrac also believes there might be a blockage in the cooling system, based on the ruptured radiator, which may be an act of sabotage of some sort. We hope the mystery is solved soon.
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