Quote:
Originally Posted by ard
1. When I have problems with a car and the dealership gives me a "clean bill of health", that doesnt make *me* glad...it pisses me off.
I guess I used the wrong wording, wasn't exactly glad, but what am I supposed to do when I can't replicate the problem and it happens so sporadically - I have the CPO active until July 2019 and the car is paid off as of January so if something happens after the CPO then so be it. For all I know, it could be a tank of bad diesel, the transfer case is approaching 70k on factory fluid, I know its probably needing to be changed anyway. Could be a multitude of factors.
2. I would strongly urge you NOT to use anything that doesnt have a BMW part number, until the warranty is done. Fluids, filter, etc, etc. Id be OK with a ZF OEM pan and ZF6, but thats all. no redline fluids
If I was worried about BMW or the horror stories, I would also follow their 11-12k oil change regimen, as well as the 35-36k fuel filter change regimen for the diesel which is the bare minimum. I've been changing my oil more frequently since the factory warranty and maintenance expired, air filter as well (dry filter by AFE), and my fuel filter is done every 22.5k (I do 7500 mile OCI's), and I even changed my tires to non-run flats.
I've found in my own experience with 2 dealers thus far since owning this car, if I am up front about the fact that I maintain my own vehicles and know my way around them, they are less likely to pull stupid games when it comes to warranty items etc. Plus the CPO is really a powertrain extension it is not a factory warranty extension. Would I expect to go to the dealer with deletes and a tune and get my turbo replaced under CPO? Absolutely not. Just because I do my own maintenance doesn't negate my CPO, within reason.
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Now, that all being said, if I decided to go with my own aftermarket fluid in the Xdrive transfer case, where we know emperically its the only fluid we should be using, and it failed, of course I can understand its on me.
Since differential failure is not prevalent on the E70's or E53 for that matter, along with the notion that these are simple non-LSD diffs, I am not concerned with a fluid change with an equivalent fluid like Redline, much less worried that if my Xdrive transfer case fails, they are going to ask for my receipts on the fluid I used in the differentials. It's like asking what oil are you using when the coolant expansion tank burst. One has nothing to do with the other.
Regarding my views on Automatic vs. Manual Trans fluids -
Automatic - Yes I absolutely don't buy into the people saying "Oh just use Mercon its $6 a quart and is the same thing" - There is a reason LG6 is the only specified fluid by ZF (similar to BMW Xdrive case fluid), because of the additive package etc.
Manual Trans? We are talking a simpler system, in my E53 for example when I did the fluid change on it I used the Redline MTL (MT-90 also a good choice), as long as it meets the specs of what was removed. I believe Redline's D4 ATF is also recommended for a manual transmission, although I did not choose to use that in my gearbox. But if my E53 was automatic I would follow the manufacturer's recommendation just because its a more complex gearbox.
My theory on the transfer case is that yes it takes wear and abuse and historically on BMW's has been weak, however, there doesn't seem to be much factory troubleshooting on it besides remove and replace. My thoughts are that if the transfer case fluid was changed at a regimen of say 25k miles and done as part of factory maintenance, as these cars age I think the Xdrive system would be happier overall.
I know in a million years that would never happen, but considering that the wet clutch packs in the case, similar to a motorcycle, need fresh lubrication, I think a more frequent interval on the transfer case oil especially, would help avoid many of the "failures" we read about.