Transmission Fluid Change - £1,000

[X5Sport]

As my X6 is now 8 years old but still well below the 60k mark, I enquired of a ZF Service Partner about having the fluids changed.

The quote has come back at almost £1,000. Now I know the fluids are expensive, but that sounds like a lot of money to me for a (relatively) straightforward process.

So either the charge is actually correct and there are expensive parts too, excessive because they think I’ll pay coz it’s a BMW, or they don’t want the job and have inflated the price accordingly.

Has anyone else had a transmission fluids change done on an E71 (or E70) and was it that costly?

[Pat Mustard]

Did mine (E70) this afternoon.
£62 for genuine ZF sump kit
£60 for the Oil.
1 .5 hours from start to finish.
At £1000 someone's taking the Mick.

[X5Sport]

6 speed or 8 speed? I can’t find a full (8sp) sump kit for less than £190 plus all 13 aluminium bolts must be replaced and correctly torqued. Fluid is £20 to £40 litre for ZF Lifeguard equivalents with 8 litres needed.

It looks like they’re trying to charge over £200/hr for labour, so yes taking the mickey indeed.

The TIS does suggest that the sump can only be removed if the support structure is removed and gearbox held on a special jack. The images imply it can be done without taking anything other than shields off. The refill steps are it included as they are part of the ‘Rolls-Royce measurement system’ that is to be used. Ooh er!

[Pat Mustard]

Mine is 6 speed. There's no need to remove the support bracket to get at those last 4 bolts. I just got a spare torx bit and cut it in half with a grinder. With the short bit and a spanner its easy enough to get them out and when I was finished I replaced the 4 awkward bolts with hex heads for easy access in the future. Surprised some of the ebay sellers don't have your sump kit.

[Pat Mustard]

If you decide on doing it yourself you will need a second pair of hands to sit in the car with the engine running and going through the gears as you are filling. I have an infrared thermometer I use for my bread oven and I point this at the sump while filling. Temp needs to be around 30-35 deg doing this, no hotter. Messy job to say the least but the e70 is one car that was sent to test us out .

[Pat Mustard]

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 3147737157

[Leslie]

I think you need to price around ,outrageous cost for what amounts to an oil and filter change !

[X5Sport]

I’m absolutely going to be shopping around! It was a shot in the dark to the nearest ZF Service Centre, but I’m not going near them at that price! There’s a very good BMW Indy close to work so
I’ll see what they can do. I can’t easily get the car high enough off the ground and the wheels able to rotate and work safely underneath at the same time - plus I’m getting past wanting to lie under cars on cold tarmac!

eBay sellers are offering sump kits for between £190 and £250 depending upon whether or not the bolts and/or fluids are also included. Sourcing from the US is cheaper than EU sellers.

Thanks to all for your input.

[StuBeeDoo]

FWIW I had the transmission, diffs and transfer box on my F25 done in July. The fluids and process can't be that different to your E71. The place I chose is a ZF authorised service & repair centre, about 15 miles from me. They took about 3.5hr to do the job, and charged me £529.08 all in. IIRC just to do the transmission they quoted £450.

While I was researching before I decided to go with them they told me that, irrespective of what BMW say, ZF's recommendation for fluid changes on the 8HP is 100000km (ie. 62000 miles) or 5 years, whichever comes first. Always being wary of "sales patter" I checked for myself on ZF's website, and that is correct.

[X5Sport]

Having spoken to another centre this morning, the price is indeed around £500. When I checked the ZF site it stated 8 years or 60,000 miles. That was specific to the X6 - though it may have been recently revised, or be model dependant I have no idea which. It’s going to be done.

The service kit is £354+vat including all bolts (there is a cheaper kit without but both ZF and BMW state that being Alu bolts they’re single use and MUST be replaced), and that includes the fluid too. Two hours to do the job. I can’t imagine diff oils being super expensive either.

I’m going to assume that the first ‘specialist’ didn’t want the job so talked it up. If not then they are rip off merchants, or want to do more than is truly needed and are hoping that as it’s a BMW it’s to be expected it will cost more

[Sundowner]

I had my e70 done last summer at ZF in Germany and paid = 900 GBP incl.transfer case and rear diff fluid change ,
work was very professional icl.test drive before and adaption after ,found price was okay for nearly whole day at workshop ,
parts were ca 500 alone