transmission fluid flush question

[hliu42]

Has anyone got major problem because of changed or flushed the gearbox fluid?

my car has 176000kms on it, but I never changed the fluid. I know this noob question has been asked million times. but I did research, all answers like 50:50.

I get information from Gear-Matics in Melbourne. the boss explain to me the "life time" means the period of warrenty, after warrenty, it is no more life time.

and he told me few days ago they rebuilt a e53 gearbox for $5000.

so what I m thinking is i m not too sure if they know what they are doing and what they have to do for my car. i want to avoid problems before I spend hips of money to fix.

so please, if anyone has experience of transmission flush, please let me know how it goes?

thanks
Hong

[jdd]

I think this boils down to whether you want to take a risk for the sake of peace of mind.
There are numerous documented cases of transmission failures shortly after they had the fluid changed on higher mileage vehicles.
You also need to understand that it is impossible to completely change all the fluid in the transmission by simply replacing what’s in the pan as there is a fair bit retained in the torque converter that cannot be drained.
There are also numerous documented cases of vehicles with many hundreds of thousands of miles, some towing heavy loads; that have never had the fluid changed without any issues.

Ultimately, the decision is yours but I certainly wouldn’t let a transmission “specialist” coerce you into something you’re not 100% comfortable with.
When you think about it, the transmission place that provided this advice has everything to gain and nothing to lose. I would have thought a reputable place would explain the risks in changing the fluid on a high mileage vehicle. As I said above, the risks are well documented and are not just BMW specific.

[hliu42]

Good point jdd , I might keep searching some good place who can explain to me what they gona to do. also I will ask BMW to see what they gona suggest to me. thanks!~

[mobilejo]

Originally Posted by hliu42

Good point jdd , I might keep searching some good place who can explain to me what they gona to do. also I will ask BMW to see what they gona suggest to me. thanks!~

Do you want to hear that changing fluid is a good idea on a high mile car? No one is going to say 'its a good idea', the best they can say is that they did it and it didn't kill their transmission.

But like you have discovered, the cases of woe are like 50:50. That in itself telss you something - it tells you there is risk in doing the change and so you need to weigh up what you would gain from doing it.

If it were me, if I was having problems that indicated my transmission was on the way out anyhow, then I would think what do I have to lose.

If my transmission was fine then I wouldn't mess with it.

[hliu42]

thanks mobilejo, i will keep your words in mind.

another question is, If my transmission has problem and i have to rebuilt it, lets say cost $5000. normally, does insurance will cover that?

thanks

[hliu42]

the reason I considered to change the transmission fluidis I just want to keep the fluid clean and keep the gearbox health. like the engine oil, we change it every 10000kms to maintain the engine, but for this gearbox, I have no idea how to maintain it. even I dont know if the fluid inside is dirty or not, and the fluid has been used such long time, then fluid chemical properties is becomeing bad. so is there anyway we can maintain this transmission to a health condition?

thanks

[mobilejo]

Originally Posted by hliu42

thanks mobilejo, i will keep your words in mind.

another question is, If my transmission has problem and i have to rebuilt it, lets say cost $5000. normally, does insurance will cover that?

thanks

Insurance won't cover it, you would need a warranty.

[mobilejo]

Originally Posted by hliu42

the reason I considered to change the transmission fluidis I just want to keep the fluid clean and keep the gearbox health. like the engine oil, we change it every 10000kms to maintain the engine, but for this gearbox, I have no idea how to maintain it. even I dont know if the fluid inside is dirty or not, and the fluid has been used such long time, then fluid chemical properties is becomeing bad. so is there anyway we can maintain this transmission to a health condition?

thanks

I know what you are saying, but if the oil is over 100k miles old, then to flush it will disturb all the crud it has collected and this is the cause of problems for many. It is too late now to start flushing that oil. If it's going to be done it needs to be started early in the cars life.

[X5Sport]

The 'Lifetime' fluids are 60,000miles, which is the same as the warranty, so they're right on that score.

At the distance yours has done a fluid change has a greater possibility of accelerating a failure because cleaning the crud out changes the tolerances and you could get a failure. We're talking 'probability scales' here on the statistical approach.

A warranty or mechanical breakdown is the only kind of insurance that covers this.

BMW don't touch transmissions, they replace failed units with remanufactured ones - for a lot more money. Approx $16,000AUS (£10,000GBP), to change a complete ZF 6sp and Mechatronics Unit. $5,000 for a rebuild sounds a little high, but then Melbourne is expensive.

A stripdown and check can be a proactive piece of preventative maintenance and cheaper than a complete rebuild, but could also be seen as OTT.

There really is no hard and fast rule set covering this, it has to be done based on the balance of probabilities and what you can (a) afford and (b) be comfortable with doing.

[Quicksilver]

Changing the transmission fluid has been discussed around these parts over and over again. The experts have had their say about the issue and the not so expert have
expressed their point of view as well.

Do a search and you'll see the dog chasing his tail discussions. No matter what evidence is given on either side people are gonna do what they want. Even more interesting is that people have decided that regardless of what BMW says about servicing their vehicles BMW can't be right or there must be a conspiracy of some sort.

The threads are fun to read though.........http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...intenance.html