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Old 01-22-2010, 11:48 AM
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E53 Maintenance Schedule Questions..

Okay,

I’m a newbie to BMW, so cut me some slack if you can. I’ve searched around and read a few things, but still have a few questions. I’ve been a car guy all my life, but this is our first BMW (’06 X5). We bought it with 46K miles last year, and it is now up to 62K miles. It is under CPO warranty, not that this matters for maintenance per say.



I thought it would be due for the ‘Inspection II’ service at 60K miles, but my dealer service advisor says that it is not due until the service reminder expires, and I will get a message in the instrument cluster that it is due for service.

When reviewing the Inspection II service guidelines, it seems like an oil & filter change and a lot of nothing else other than visual inspections. To me it is time for a lot of items to be serviced. Coolant system flush and refill, power steering flush and refill, brake fluid flush and refill, transmission flush, filter change and refill, front/rear diff and transfer case fluid change, engine oil & filter change, accessory drive belt replacement, fuel filter change, etc..

When I ask my service advisor, he claims most for these systems are not serviceable and are lifetime fills. This seems hard to swallow for me, and seems like the mindset of the ‘lease vehicle’ owner who turns them in for a new one every couple of years.

Am I way off base? My wife thinks I’m nuts for wanting to do a lot of work that BMW says is unnecessary, and maybe I am, but it just doesn’t seem reasonable that the fluids BMW uses don’t get dirty, absorb moisture or breakdown with time and mileage like every other fluid I’ve come across in 25+ years of being a car nut..

Thoughts and comments appreciated.
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Old 01-22-2010, 12:36 PM
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My thoughts! If you plan to keep it for awile then do the maintenance! I mean its the same with any car/truck not just cause its a BMW. When it comes down to it "It is a piece of Metal" 4 rubber tires, your gas, driveline fluids, engine oil, air filter, spark plugs, brake fluids, etc. you get the point, and the rest of the metal parts that wear in time and their condition, not much you or I can do there.

I plan to do my maintenance as well, to a degree where my mind is at ease, I dont care what BMW says. Just note what you have changed and the date and every X amount of years (as required) replace. By the way I dont plan to touch tranny.

I am sure you will get different views, but like i said. It is just metal in the end.

Cheers!
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Old 01-22-2010, 12:39 PM
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The dealer is right, the car will tell you when the service is due.

As for other fluids:
> brake fluid every two years, there is no reminder for this, you just have to remember to do it although the garage should remind you!
> coolant every four years, you will see a clock symbol on the dash when this is due
It does seem odd that you get a reminder for coolant change and not brake fluid change!

As for everything else there is no set interval (as far as I know) for changing diff fluids etc. Change it when you see fit I guess.
As for transmission fluid have a look at other posts here, its been covered to death! BMW say sealed for life. Some change the fluid (and filter) and some don't. Some transmissions have failed after a fluid change, some don't. Some transmissions fail without fluid being changed, some don't!
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Last edited by Laurence; 01-22-2010 at 02:05 PM.
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Old 01-22-2010, 01:16 PM
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Brake fluid

Hi
''It does seem odd that you get a reminder for coolant change and not brake fluid change!''

There is a clock symbol that comes up next to service indicator on my 2005 3.0d to advise brake fluid needs replacing ( every 2 years as you said ) goes out with service lights a few seconds after starting car.

Phil.
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Old 01-22-2010, 02:05 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by philip600 View Post
Hi
''It does seem odd that you get a reminder for coolant change and not brake fluid change!''

There is a clock symbol that comes up next to service indicator on my 2005 3.0d to advise brake fluid needs replacing ( every 2 years as you said ) goes out with service lights a few seconds after starting car.

Phil.
Your quite right, I got them the wrong way round!
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Old 01-22-2010, 02:08 PM
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On the left side of your driver's dash, when you first start the X, there should be from 0 to 5 green bars that light up, which gives an approximation of how close you are to your next recommended service interval. When it counts down to zero and there's no green bars left, you are due. However, if you're already at 62K and there is only 1 green bar left, the dealer "should" allow it to be serviced 1 bar ahead of schedule. If he does not want to take it in with 1 bar and is waiting for zero bars, he's basically being "hard up", and you need to apply more pressure to him/her.

My 2 cents: Some of the items you mention are not technically "lifetime" as BMW advertises, but should still be ok at 60K on an E53. You should not need to do transmission fluid or differentials until 100K at the earliest, unless there is a specific serious problem that calls for it. On the other hand, I do engine oil and filter religiously, at double the "recommended" frequency. BMW calls for oil changes when the bars are at zero, which happens roughly every 15,000 miles. I have done it every 7,500. You'll see a bunch of varied opinions on this. Some folks get away with the 15,000 mile intervals and never have a problem. To me, that's tempting fate. And yes, you should ask them to throw in a brake fluid flush at the Inspection II. Spark plugs: your call. I waited until 2 weeks ago (87,000 miles). Fuel filter is not a bad idea (had mine changed twice so far), but the $tealer will in all likelihood make you swallow the cost on that one since it's not part of Inspection II.
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Old 01-22-2010, 04:48 PM
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To the OP:
All good posts above, imo, and the posters nailed the items to service, too...
I would rec'd finding a good BMW experienced Indie for that work and a
cursory Insp II, imo. That would have zero impact on your CPO.

Good Indies are around, and some have really gotten pricey as the good
ones are full 6 days a week, but all those kinds of services are easily done
(some are DIY, if you choose), by a good Indie for considerably less than
your "friendly" local dlr, imo.
GL,mD
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