Have you changed your transmission oil?

[The Cleaner]

You are likely correct about the Emissions system getting the attention. Personally an O2 sensor is a drive till failure item, there are so many more important systems. Aircraft is a great place to see how to really do preventative maintenance. Many systems that are perfectly fine are replaced before failure.



Here is a Link to the ZF site, some interesting stuff there.
http://www.zf-group.com/am/pc/pt/ampcpt05.phtml

[Zulu95]

I spent a lot of time and effort trying to find a substitute for the "Lifetime Fill" fluid for the GM transmission. I even spoke with a large oil/fluids distributor's fluid engineer and because of BMW's secrecy he would not recommend any of the available fluids other than the OEM. Nobody seems to know just what is in the tranny fluid to make it so special. At least fluid for the the ZF transmissions can be outsourced.

[LI_BIMMER]

I just had my transmission replaced in my 00 323i and the transmission shop did open it up to find the fault of my failed reverse gear.

A couple a noteworthy comments upon opening the 49k ZF tranny. The oil did not look discolored or smell burnt at all. The sponge on the tranny filter was pretty hard and it did have some small metal shavings on it. Don't know if its supposed to be hard by design.

The drum in my transmission that holds the reverse gears is made of aluminum and was broken which lead to my reverse failure. Changing the tranny oil would not have prevented this.

It was my mechanics opinion that abuse on the car would lead to this type of failure but he also admitted that the aluminum drum is weak compared to the steel units in other transmissions he has serviced. He showed me a couple from trannies that he was in the process of rebuilding. He does quite a bit a work on Lincoln's and yellow cabs.

I ended up going with a rebuilt tranny that was purchased from BMW (2yr/unlimited miles) instead of fixing the reverse gear. The slip ring that holds the reverse gears in place was eventually found in a foward compartment and I didn't want to take the chance of having another failure with other gears by fixing the reverse gear.

Now being the third owner of my car, I thought that the previous two drivers could have beaten the car a bit. Beaten, I mean like not waiting for the car to completely stop to shift gears between forward & reverse while parking. I thought to myself that had I purchased the car new, this would have never happened (although the jury could still be out on this). I do drive spirited but careful in not abusing my cars (like all of you).

My conclusion:
I noticed that shifting into gear (D or R) takes a second or two to engage in my X and I am now more aware of this and willing to be a little bit more patient in changing gears. This is not to say that this will avoid a problem but maybe delay it. I will still have my dealer look at it but the key point was to be a little more frugal with the gears in parking my X since my e46 tranny is delicate from experience and costs.

I also think that changing the fliud is still a good idea at a reasonable mileage interval. My X just turned 40K yesterday and I figure now would be a good time since I will keep her for 3 to 4 more years. It may cost me $250 for the oil change but I am buying some piece of mind in extending my trannies life span.

If anything comes out of this, the next owner of my X will also benefit from this and be happy with this fine machine as I was too.

[boskone]

Hi,

Have a 2000 X5, 4.4 L with the auto. Just had the fluid and filter changed yesterday, it was black with plenty of sediment in the pan. I would strongly tell people that if you plan to drive the car long term, you should get the fluid/filter replaced starting at 30K/40K and every 30/40K thereafter.

Just my opinion after seeing what the inside of that thing looked like after only 61k miles.

-Derek

[The Cleaner]

Originally Posted by boskone

Hi,

Just had the fluid and filter changed yesterday, it was black with plenty of sediment in the pan.

-Derek

The sediment appears to be what causes the transmissions to fail after fluid change. That sediment is displaced all over the transmission in locations where the fluid flow is low and the sediment does no harm just sitting there, when you change the fluid you agitate the sediment and dislodge it and now it travels around till it finds a resting spot again, that can be a long time, if the resting spot happens to be the valves (most common failure point) you have a repair to do.

There are 2 distinct view points on this subject, both have merit. My personal opinion in to never change the fluid, do not touch your automatic transmission, BMW states lifetime and so does ZF. Lifetimes means the lifetime of the transmission not the lifetime of the car, that is where I think BMW got into trouble, that was not spelled out clearly and customers assumed transmission would last indefinitely. In fact they last about 100-160k on average and fail if you do nothing.

I guess the jury is out on if you change the fluid how long they will go, my local factory authorized ZF rebuilder states he rebuilds many more transmissions where the owner changed the fluid that transmissions that failed without a change.

[motordavid]

The Cleaner,
What's your opin on changing my manual trans oil, transfer case/diff?

I'm at 56K on our '01...and, am thinking of having a privateer do it.

Maybe, it's just a "feel good" change...your opins are valued and welcome.
BR,mD

[avo8686]

who knows how much does the stealer charges for replacing tranny fluid?

[boskone]

Not sure about the stealer, my independant BMW shop was $400 for fluid/filter/labor on the auto.

[The Cleaner]

Originally Posted by motordavid

The Cleaner,
What's your opin on changing my manual trans oil, transfer case/diff?

I'm at 56K on our '01...and, am thinking of having a privateer do it.

Maybe, it's just a "feel good" change...your opins are valued and welcome.
BR,mD

It feels good to keep the money in my pocket . Gear oil changes are something I do at about 80K. I have not seen the transfer case or looked into that it takes to change it either, I still have about 10k till I plan to do that.

[motordavid]

Thanks, Cleaner...

I think I will: keep the dough in my pocket.!
BR,mD