Cheap BMW i3 Oil Cooler

The BMW i3 is a fully electric vehicle (in its standard form) or a range-extender with a very small two-cylinder petrol engine (the i3 REx), and neither drivetrain uses a conventional engine oil cooler of the type found on petrol or diesel cars. The standard i3 has no combustion engine whatsoever, so there is no engine oil cooler fitted. If you are searching for a cooling-related component on your i3, you are most likely looking for the electric motor thermal management parts, the high-voltage battery cooling system components, or — on the REx model — parts specific to the tiny range-extender unit; a breaker familiar with the i3 will be able to point you in the right direction.

It is very unlikely your i3 needs an engine oil cooler, as the standard battery-electric i3 has no combustion engine and therefore no engine oil cooling circuit. If you have the rare i3 REx (range-extender) variant, the small two-cylinder petrol generator does use oil, but any cooling or lubrication components for that unit are highly specific and not the same as a conventional oil cooler — confirm exactly which component has been identified with your mechanic and then describe it to a breaker quoting your full registration, as they will be able to match against the correct part.

The BMW i3 uses a liquid-cooled thermal management system for the high-voltage battery pack and the electric drive motor, so the components you might be looking for include the battery coolant heat exchanger, the chiller unit, coolant pumps, or associated pipework rather than an oil cooler. On the i3 REx, there are also lubrication and thermal components specific to the range-extender generator, which are quite different from a standard engine oil cooler. When contacting a breaker, give them your full registration number so they can confirm exactly which variant you have and identify the correct part from a matching donor vehicle.

The BMW i3 ran from 2013 through to 2022 in the UK, with a facelift introduced in 2017 that brought changes including a revised battery pack and some updated components, so thermal management parts from a pre-2017 car and a post-2017 car may not be directly interchangeable. Even within the same generation, battery capacity upgrades (for example the move to higher-kWh packs) mean cooling system components can differ between build dates. Always give the breaker your full registration or VIN so they can match the part to the correct battery and drivetrain specification rather than relying on year alone.

Yes, in a meaningful way: the standard battery-electric i3 and the i3 REx (Range Extender) have different drivetrains, and the REx adds a small petrol generator with its own lubrication and thermal requirements, so parts cannot be assumed to cross over between the two variants. For the electric motor and battery cooling system, trim or specification labels matter less than the battery capacity fitted to your specific car, which changed over the production run. Confirm your exact variant — electric or REx — and your build date with the breaker using your registration, as this will determine which donor vehicle they need to source from.