I wanted to close the loop for anyone referring to this thread down the road... we had another trip in the Alberta foothills in moderate weather (25-30C) last week, and on climbs I was having trouble maintaining a reasonable speed in sixth gear in manual mode, so decided to give it another try in ...

Another update after a trip without the trailer. Not as many hills on this one, but some high temps on the return (up to 34C, 93F). In lower temps, regular automatic mode, transmission temp was around 90-95C or 194-203F (showed as mid-90's to around 103C on my ATF gauge), with engine oil temp just ...

We got out again last weekend with flatter terrain, but I gave it a try with the transmission in automatic sport mode. Fuel efficiency may be a bit better: I had it in Sport Automatic for the first half of the trip to our campsite and got 17l/100km for the trip there (13.mpg). The temp, though, was ...

Thanks for the detailed update. Petrol X5s are pretty rare in the UK with the vast majority sold being diesel until it got flagged as ‘demon fuel’ a few years back (think VW Dieselgate time). The torque of the diesel IL6 engines is so useful. I know the diehard V8 fans will stay with their engine sy ...

I had another interesting discovery. On the way home from work (stop and go city traffic, not towing), I decided to try the Bimmerlink app again to check the transmission temperature, just to see if I got the same result as with Car Scanner Pro. Turns out that the "Transmission Temperature" reading ...

UPDATE: We were able to take the trailer out this past weekend after doing: - coolant change (without flushing or draining the engine block)... the coolant was nasty and I'm sure was not very effective - transmission oil change and replacement of the pan and filter, going with the standard ZF ...

I have an interim update: the car goes in for the transmission oil change in a couple of days, but I did my own coolant change this past weekend. The coolant that came out was dirty and not blue... looks like it may have been yellow at one time? In any case, it was a pain getting in and getting the ...

The other thing you can do to check is run your full VIN against a tool such as mdecoder on line. It will give you your ‘as built’ spec from the factory. That might give you some clues as to what the car left the factory with. Actually have it open in another browser tab! I have the factory pre-wir ...

Hello and welcome. ZF recommend that all transmission fluids are replaced every 8 years or 50,000 Miles - so yours need doing. The oil change kit for the gearbox should include a new pan and filter assembly (comes as part of the ZF kit). What is the weight of your trailer with load? The E70 for ...

We took our 2012 35ix (ZF 8HP45 transmission) out with the trailer (about 3500lbs loaded) this weekend for the first time. My previous tow vehicle was a 2009 MB ML320, which was a diesel with a 7-speed transmission. Between the lower torque with the X5's gas engine (about 100 less) and the 8-speed ...