Well picked it up from mechanic and it sounds dire, he showed me very quickly a screenshot of 2 faults, one referenced I think clutch 1,2,3 or gear 1 2 3, the next was reference to solenoid.

He said we can get the service kit or oil change kit (my head was trying to digest bad news at this point) , put new oil in and 30% chance will be ok, all at my own risk, will be 500euros worse off if doesn't fix issue. If it doesn't fix then its rebuild and we are looking to 3000.

I asked him if its leaking and if he said yes, dirty black fluid, but couldn't he have just ordered the zf fluid on its own and supplemented it or even replaced it? which is what i wanted ? .. he told me the leak was slow over time. Am tempted to seek a second opinion one where they will actually check the level and/or even take a gamble and just drain and pump new fluid in and take it from there, which is what I wanted this mechanic to do but didnt....

At the moment he reset the error and its driving normal but i am going easy.

Plus real sorry I didn't get the codes but the one referencing solenoid not too sure has anything to do with the level of fluid which remains a mystery cos mechanic didnt bother to check....

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E53 X5 3.0d SUV prod.date 11/2004 eng.variant M57N Europe Right hand drive N