If you scroll that PDF it specifically targets all manufacturers including BMW using these transmissions.

Of course it does. Bigger market to sell parts to.

Look in the top corner of the PDF. ZF Parts is a group set up to promote aftermarket parts sales. It is part of ZF. ZF has an installed base of transmissions. It is perfectly reasonable for them to go after that market and try and sell OE parts to it.

My point above was that the lifetime fluid recommendation from BMW was labelled "a marketing decision" by those who don't trust it. Fine. But don't quote a marketing document from a parts seller to prove the point.

There is no such thing as lifetime anything. Things degrade. How anyone can say any consumable is lifetime is outside my perspective.

All fluids, especially ones in a sealed hostile environment lubricating, providing hydraulic pressure to the system and flowing is bound to break down eventually. This is not rocket science, it is just common sense.

In discussing the "lifetime" fluid topic with a FL BMW service manager, I discovered BMW defines the term "lifetime" as exceeding 100k miles. Guess BMW defines 200k+ as eternity.

Lol.

Another happy CTSC customer here! Recommended. :thumbup:

The gm tranny is used on Cadillacs. I looked it up briefly and it also recommends a lifetime fill. I'm sold now.

"Team Drain/Refill ATF - with AT Filter kit" versus "Team Lifetime ATF Fluid".

Both have proof that their X5 or Bimmers in general reached 200,000+ miles.

It's personal preference, one can always ask what others have done (e.g. forum members, dealers, indy shop and other sources). But it will always come down to your 'final' decision what route to take.

Good luck! I hope everything goes well with your Tranny (with or without changing fluid)....

Never claimed it didn't degrade. Just that it degrades so slowly that something else unrelated to fluid quality will fail before it becomes a problem. That is why the transmission was designed to adapt to changing fluid viscosity over time.

It isn't rocket science at all. It is reliability engineering. If changing the fluid early was shown to extend the life of the transmission then it could be considered a PM activity. If it hasn't, then it isn't preventative maintenance, it is just service work.

Conversely, if it required changing at any specific interval, 100 k or whatever, then exceeding that spec would result in transmissions grenading for reasons traceable to fluid breakdown. We wouldn't be seeing 200k and 300k examples running fine on the original fluid.

Sold on a Cadillac? Blasphemy!

;)

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