Transmission Fluid change 3.0
 

I just bought an X5 3.0 with 133,000 miles. Should I change the transmission fluid? It shifts perfectly with no problems.

-Stuart

Yes. I bought mine with 143k miles on it. I took it to a shop asap. $110 for fluid, filter, and transfer case oil change. Saved me time and a big mess. Shifts are nice and good. I did wish they were shorter and faster. Sport mode definitely holds RPMs higher between shifts.

Unless the gasket is leaking, I may use drain and fill and leave the filter alone. Quite often that "filter" is a metal screen. They don't get clogged up, just catch the large particles.

If the screen is full of debris, you got a major transmission problem anyways.

-Stuart

You can do simple drain/refill.
I wrote some tips in X3 forum (fill by gravity).

It's a General Motors transmission. It should use a standard brown media to clean the oil. I've done plenty of GM auto trans filters. After finding the shop I recommend, I tell people to take it there. If I do it, I'll end up charging more than the shop due to mess and time. My old '83 and '00 Ram were only $50 each. Worth every penny to save time and avoid the big oil mess removing the pan.

My 2002 E53 with the GM 5L40-e went 389,000 miles on the original fluid and filter. At that point, the reverse solenoid failed and I sold the vehicle to someone willing to change it out. But he planned on following my recommendation of only changing the filter and returning the original fluid back into the trans. I know that Overboost did a fluid change around 180,000 miles in his 5L40-e and found no evidence of burning fluid with only a slight honey coloration.

FWIW, my friend bought a 3.0 at 145k miles, did a pan and filter and refilled with fresh fluid. Trans has 203k on it now and seems the same as it ever was. (We actually bought that car and gave it to the in-laws.)

Whatever you do, don't flush it.

Unless the pan is leaking, I believe there's no reason to change the filter. It's a metal screen designed to catch chunks of your transmission from wrecking the rest of the transmission. If you have metal pieces in the screen, its time for a rebuild anyway!

-Stuart

It's not a metal screen. It is the "brown" filter media that was mentioned earlier.

Anyway, you can buy a filter kit for a pretty reasonable price at rockauto. There are a couple different types of oil pan gaskets. One is the simple rubber while there seems to be another that is rubberized metal.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...ic,filter,8600

I misspoke earlier. Other transmissions I've serviced have metal screen that was pretty much a lifetime part. Is the BMW trans filter similar to an oil filter material?

-Stuart