Please don't damage your credibility any further with this line of "reasoning". It's quite evident to any reasonable person the whole risk you spoke of was nothing more than a wives tale.

The change comes from the fact the service interval changed from "lifetime" (I put that in quotes because the earlier manuals don't state it was lifetime...they're just silent on it) to 100K miles for the same transmission. Any reasonable person can see BMW's policy changed during the production. Or are you of the mindset BMW should have gone back and updated their warrant information booklet?

Please JCL...your desperation is making you look foolish. Just admit the position of transmission problems was nothing more than your personal opinion.

I do not know nor do I care what BMW Canada says for service intervals. My position has been that of BMW USA recommendations. However I do not see BMW Canada having different service intervals from BMW USA. Take the 15K mile oil change baseline. 24km is equivalent to 15K miles.

Or, to be precise, 14,616 miles, so rounded to two significant figures, 15k miles.

I think this topic is dead now.

The OP has either committed suicide after reading the tone of some of the posts, or moved on.

Somebody do us all a favor and lock this thread. :thumbup:

In summary the recommendation should be: If you own a 2002 or later model E53 then following the manufacturers recommendation (i.e. change it every 100K miles). If you own a 2000 or 2001 the manufacturer is silent on whether it should be changed (i.e. I didn't see anything in the service booklet which stated it was lifetime fluid) do what you feel is best for your situation. Since these model years use the same transmission as the 2002 - 2004 model years a change every 100K miles would be reasonable.

The point was not that it is 24,000 km or that it is 15,000 km. The point was that BMW does not recommend a fixed service interval, but rather uses a starting point that is dynamically adjusted based on the condition monitoring system. I thought that it was clear that BMW doesn't use fixed mileage intervals.

I think that the OP got the answer to his question some pages back.

I think this thread is dead, but in a year or so it will come back to life, as it always does. :thumbup:

This is all tangential. It's been shown BMW recommends a 100K mile transmission fluid change. They've been doing so for approximately 13 years. As you've previously stated you do not recommend not following the manufacturers recommendations (post 91):

"I have not recommended not following manufacturer's recommendations."

I can assume this is the last we'll hear about this wives tale from you.

The difference is this time the wives tale has been buried. Perhaps you'll resurect it in a years time. But we can always give the advice to follow the manufacturers recommendation (which you support). That means change it every 100K miles.

In your case I think the mechanic took the right approach since you were already having a problem. If the problem doesn't go away that should eliminate a dirty filter and low fluid.

I have changed the fluid every 50,000 mi. I think the key to changing fluid at any mileage is to do so before there are any symptoms of a problem. There aren't many things that go wrong with transmissions the a fluid change will fix. As far as flushing, I would never go that route.

Almost the entire discussion was tangential. The OP asked did anyone ever have a problem after changing transmission fluid. He was told yes, by people who had experienced it (ie not you). That was back in post #17. You said it can't happen, but didn't provide any evidence.

I certainly think following the manufacturer's recommendations for maintenance intervals is a good starting point, always have. And adjust the intervals based on experience, usage, condition, and inspection.

Been here since 2005. Not planning on going anywhere.