Gearbox trans oil change

[Karl X5]

I had a look underneath the X today and noticed a sticker on the gearbox that sald something like life long oil no service required it was a bmw sticker, can this be right, do you guys change your gearbox oil or do you just leave it.

[mrbmwx5]

125k still didn't change it yet .

[Aimster]

stealerships said do not change it. lifetime.

[lo_jack]

Manual or auto?

Sidebar - Aimster, explain why you would tell this guy not to change his trans fluid when you yourself claim your transmission is about to die (presumably following your own advice of not changing the fluid)? I don't get it.

[Sudesh]

I would change the trans oil every 30k. Although the oil is supposed to be "lifetime" I had one BMW dealer tell me that it should be changed. It cost around £125 in the UK to have the trans oil and filter replaced and as soon as my X is in the 25/30k region I'll be having it done.

[Aimster]

Originally Posted by lo_jack

Manual or auto?

Sidebar - Aimster, explain why you would tell this guy not to change his trans fluid when you yourself claim your transmission is about to die (presumably following your own advice of not changing the fluid)? I don't get it.

Good question:

From what I've read on here people who do change their transmission fluids still have transmission failures. The problem is internal and the change of the fluid would have made no difference to the failure of the transmission.

I called all the BMW dealerships within 30 miles of me and they all said that the fluid is lifetime. Lexus is doing lifetime fluids now too.

To be honest the only reason I have not changed it is because I have a third party warranty and I do not want them saying that because I went against the lifetime procedure that my warranty is now void.

However, at one point I did want to change it. The problem is finding what fluid BMW actually put into the transmission. When you do a change, you will want to make sure it is the same kind of fluid. That I found to be a hard task to figure out. BMW dealers said they had no idea and would use their own fluid if I wished to dod it, but it was not part of any schedule and they were against it.

[BimmerDude]

Lexus started doing it 2 years ago. The funny part is, that they don't even give you a drain plug to flush it out. Its a sealed case, so even if you wanted to do it, they don't give you that option. BMW should do that also. Whats the point of the drain plug if you are not to touch it. The only way to do it for Lexus is to drop the pan. Something to think about. I'm leaven mine. There are a few people on here that have told me not to put any additives in the engine and to do what BMW recommends, so when BMW recommends no service on the tranny. I'd follow this advise...Just my 2 cents... Good Luck

[dkl]

Originally Posted by BimmerDude

Lexus started doing it 2 years ago. The funny part is, that they don't even give you a drain plug to flush it out. Its a sealed case, so even if you wanted to do it, they don't give you that option. BMW should do that also. Whats the point of the drain plug if you are not to touch it. The only way to do it for Lexus is to drop the pan. Something to think about. I'm leaven mine. There are a few people on here that have told me not to put any additives in the engine and to do what BMW recommends, so when BMW recommends no service on the tranny. I'd follow this advise...Just my 2 cents... Good Luck

BMW has changed it mind on the lifetime fluid, at least that's what is indicated in my service manual for my '04. The tranny fluid is now supposed to be changed every 100k miles (assuming it will last that long).

[JCL]

Originally Posted by dkl

BMW has changed it mind on the lifetime fluid, at least that's what is indicated in my service manual for my '04. The tranny fluid is now supposed to be changed every 100k miles (assuming it will last that long).

They didn't change their mind, they changed the transmission. Your '04 has a 6 speed. I suspect that they backed off on the lifetime recommendation because of that change.

[pedrobmw]

Ok, all that talk about lifetime transmission oil etc. i am going mad, i have 278000km/173000miles (no i am not making this up, i drive it) on my 2001 X5 3.0! What is a lifetime? I had it changed at my request, because i want my X5 to have more then one life!

Hope this helps