Originally Posted by willgabriel

Primetime and X5dawg, thanks for your helpful replies. The transmission seems to be somewhat of a crapshoot. I am fortunate to be good friends with a Master BMW mechanic who owns his own shop. He hasn't seen anything unusual in my X5 as far as the transmission is concerned, but he suggested I consider a fluid drain and refill. Of course, this does not guarantee anything, and in fact, some think the fluid drain/swap actually increasing the likelihood of a failure. As such, I opted against doing that, and would just save the money for a transmission swap/rebuild if I ever need one - if I keep the X.

Otherwise, the NADA value of my X5 is higher now than it was 4 months ago (24.8k retail, and 20k trade-in). After having the hoses changed tomorrow there should be no more drips according to my friend, and the X is in very good shape all around otherwise. It may be a good time to trade and either upgrade to a newer, under warranty X (can't beat their handling), or go for the Land Cruiser (I've had two in the past).