A Must Read For All DIY X5 Owners

[thunderaudio]

Recently 2 friends of my friends had a lot of drivetrain problems with their BMW's and both were related to the "Lifetime Fluids" One the transmission needed a rebuild at low miles and the other needed a new rear differential as the ring and pinion gears were totally shot. In both cases routine fluid changes would have saved them serious green. 4k for the trans and 2k for the diff is a lot of money.

So to protect my 75k 2001 x5 4.4L I just had the local dealer preform a transmission fluid change and filter replacement. I also wanted them to do the front, rear differentials and transaxle fluid changes also. My service advisor said It's easy service but expensive $395.00 at the dealership. I have done them in other BMW's so no problem. I asked for the differential and transaxle fluids so I could do them. He looked them up and said he cant sell it to me as it's sold with service out of 55 gallon drums both the gear lube and synthetic Dexron III ATF. So he went into the service bay and gave me a gallon of the differential oil free... sweet!! I can get the ATF anywhere as the transaxle on the 01's is just gears. No clutches or anything.


Later in the week I did the front, rear, and transaxle fluids. In all cases the fluids were LOADED with metal. The transaxle ATF was a nasty dark red too. No shards indicating damage but the very fine stuff that slowly wears away the gears. I used a fluid xfer pump and it was no sweat. I just wish the Germans cut a hole in the skid plate for the front differential drain too

The fluid charges are vital to the long file of these expensive BMW parts. It's just oil and the labor was really not that bad. If you can't get the BMW gear lubes, Amsoil or Redline are just as good. The only thing I would always have done at the dealer is the trans. The correct BMW fluid is very hard to get and you need lots of it. Most dealers don't charge over 1.5 hours of labor anyway. It's well worth the piece of mind.

I have some pic's on my .Mac here http://homepage.mac.com/thunderaudio/PhotoAlbum12.html

Later.