Let's talk Transmission Maintenance...

[Aquamania]

When I bought my X5, it had 74,000 miles on it. As a precaution that I do with ALL cars I buy used, I changed the oil and tranny fluids. I also put on a new tranny pan and filter. I am going in tomorrow to have the diff's done front and rear. I do NOT believe in "Lifetime Fluids". Good preventive maintenance will keep your vehicle on the road longer!!! I keep my cars for a long time and I planning on keeping this one until 300,000 miles. I hope...

[jdsilvaca]

I have a 2002 X5 3.0 with the "lovely" GM transmission, that was made in France. My X5 has just a bit over 200K miles. Reverse barely works, and top gear is gone. I changed my fluid every 50,000 miles. Factory oil and filter. I thought it might be the TCC solenoid, I bought a new one, and the plastic clip holding it in broke. The tab part that locks it into place broke. I put it in anyway, and upon start it up, it fully engaged into reverse, for a about 2 seconds. Thought I had the answer, and possibly did, if the clip hadn't broke. will never know for sure. I picked up a used transmission with about 75K miles on it. By the way, I couldn't find a new clip/plug. BMW had the entire transmission harness available for around $250.00. Not sure why BMW used a GM tranny in this vehicle. It's only in the X5's with the 3.0 and a few odd ball GM cars. I should have bought an X5 with the rare manual transmission. Other than that, the car has been great. Yeah, all the window regulators broke, the radio pixels strip is gone, but I was planning on putting in a new stereo. Has anyone found a good transmission shop in Southern California ?

[Davidf]

BMW has been using GM transmissions for awhile in many of the models. I had an E46 3 series with a GM trans.

[fast4d]

we owned a first gen 4.4 and now 4.8. both use ZF trans.

first one went 170k before we traded it in. I drain the transmission pan and refill every 2 to 3 oil changes.

E70. I waited till 99k miles cause I didn't think we'll keep much longer. 108k miles now. will keep for another year since we just did VC/timing cover/alternator bracket gaskets.

[1mGator]

Thanks David, I intent to get to it this week and I will look into what is involved with valve body, etc. car shifts great now!

Originally Posted by Davidf

Do it! Drain the fluid, replace the plug and start/run the engine for a few seconds. This will pump more fluid out of the clutch packs and torque converter...it wont hurt anything as there is plenty of residual oil to keep part lubricated. Use a suitable fluid such as Mercon SP, Pentosin ATF-1, or the OE ZF fluid. Personally, I choose the Mercon SP fluid as it was developed by Motorcraft/Ford specifically for the ZF6HP26 transmission as manufactured by Ford under license from ZF. Future change intervals should be 60k miles unless you use the OE fluid (then you can go longer). Don't let anyone scare you about crud being dislodged and blocking passages. Just do it. At 126k miles, I would be inclined to drop the valve body, replace the Mechatronic sleeve, install a Zip Kit, and replace the solenoids. Shift quality will be improved or future issue will be pushed way back.

[Lambeau]

I will relate personal experience and real-world results vs. expressing an opinion that our transmissions will be destroyed by a fluid/filter change.

I performed a filter & fluid change on my 2011 35d with 100,000 miles and I bought the pan/filter off of Ebay and the pentosin fluid at a local auto parts store. There is no evidence of any transmission service being performed previously based on the 1-owner maintenance records from his dealership. I bought it at 90,000 miles. After the fluid/filter change I also performed a DPF/EGR delete with ECU reflash done as per my other posts.

Within 1 month of all of this in June 2015 I pulled my 5000# utility trailer from Florida to Alaska and returned with no issues. I now have 133,000 miles on the X and have never had a transmission issue. I have also pulled my M6 from Mississippi to Wisconsin on a trailer dolly. I have definitely stressed the transmission in the last 33,000 miles and it's going as strong as ever after the fluid/filter change.

I will change the fluid again at 150,000 miles and the filter/fluid at 200,000.

[bawareca]

As I may have elaborated already, the new type transmissions(including 6 and 8 speed in E70) by design perform much different than the old generations. It is much closer to manual than to a classic auto tranny. By default the torque converter is locked-up and will be unlocked in some occasions only. This behavior helps to improve fuel economy, but also keeps the tranny temps low. The greatest source of heat in automatic transmission is unlocked TQ and eliminating this element almost completely really makes difference. Eliminating the excess heat in the transmission eliminates the main fluid wear factor, making the fluid to stay fresh for much longer.
Generally, the factory filled fluid will be of the highest quality available. I'd guess depending on the usage it would be good for 80-100k miles and this is when I plan to change mine-frequent towing and a lot of power.

[ripp222]

Originally Posted by bawareca

I'd guess depending on the usage it would be good for 80-100k miles and this is when I plan to change mine-frequent towing and a lot of power.

The manufacture (ZF) recommends "a transmission oil change every 80,000 to 120,000 km". This is of course assumes factory fluid. As 120,000 km is about 75k miles, I wouldn't take it past this point... BMW on the other hand likes to stretch this.

[1mGator]

Originally Posted by 1mGator

Thanks David, I intent to get to it this week and I will look into what is involved with valve body, etc. car shifts great now!

Ok, finally attacked this today. Pretty straight forward and since I don't have an infrared thermometer I measured and identified that I drained 5.8 quarts and that's what I put back in with fresh redline. Running smooth. Thank you to everyone who contributes on this forum!

[Ozer]

Mine has 114k on it now, all dealer serviced till 100k and i didn't see the service was done before. It should be ok for me to get this done around 116k right? It will have to wait till spring time. Better late than never i suppose?