XSeries-forum

Just been reading up on here and it seems that my new to me 2005 4.8 with 59k would benefit from a Gearbox oil change.

Anyone got and recomendations of where to get this done in the North East (I Live in Durham)

How much should I expect to pay?

Rich...

Why would it benefit from an oil change?

There has been much debate on here, and widely on the interwebs, about changing the oil. There seems to be no clear consensus either way.

Some have found it makes things better, others have had the gearbox fail very quickly thereafter. Linking the two together is tricky, but it has happened enough times to put a 'caution' flag up. Yet other Owners have said it makes no difference.

Officially the gearbox is 'Sealed for Life' but from what I have come across, the definition of 'life' is open to interpretation. I've had a Dealer tell me it means the manufacturers view of what they regard as the 'useful life' of the vehicle - about 6 years. I've also heard that it means you never change it at all. I have also had a discussion with a box repairer who suggested that 60,000 miles was the right point and that BMW themselves know this. But getting proof of it was not possible, at least not from my Dealer anyway.

What is clear though is that it absolutely MUST be done in accordance with the transmission manufacturers instructions and you ought to change the filter as well.

My indie has told me that he would change the oil after 100,000 miles, but if a customer required it changed before that then of course he would oblige.
I have a family member who actually specialises in auto boxes, and he says that you never replace all the oil on a normal oil change anyway, as you never drain the oil in the TC.
It's one of those debates that will just carry on and on, a bit like the timing chain debate on the E30 M3

But if you still really want to do it, then here is the procedure. Copied from Xoutpost (cheers folks).

ZF 6HP26 Fluid Procedure. You need a lot of fluid.

another version here if you want to flush the entire transmission through.

I never got to 60K, never mind 100K as mine went pop before 42K.

[quote=""X5Sport""]There has been much debate on here, and widely on the interwebs, about changing the oil. There seems to be no clear consensus either way.

Some have found it makes things better, others have had the gearbox fail very quickly thereafter. Linking the two together is tricky, but it has happened enough times to put a 'caution' flag up. Yet other Owners have said it makes no difference.

Officially the gearbox is 'Sealed for Life' but from what I have come across, the definition of 'life' is open to interpretation. I've had a Dealer tell me it means the manufacturers view of what they regard as the 'useful life' of the vehicle - about 6 years. I've also heard that it means you never change it at all. I have also had a discussion with a box repairer who suggested that 60,000 miles was the right point and that BMW themselves know this. But getting proof of it was not possible, at least not from my Dealer anyway.

What is clear though is that it absolutely MUST be done in accordance with the transmission manufacturers instructions and you ought to change the filter as well.[/quote]

iwas scratchin my head thinkin where to start, well summarised

[quote=""Cannondale""]Just been reading up on here and it seems that my new to me 2005 4.8 with 59k would benefit from a Gearbox oil change.

Anyone got and recomendations of where to get this done in the North East (I Live in Durham)

How much should I expect to pay?

Rich...[/quote]

Try the Indies in Haswell Plough

defo change it at 100k use dexron 3 spec oil u need about 9 litres
also change the filter in the gearbox (£40 oem)and there is 2 magnets to clean up when u drop the oil pan other than this its straightforward i also add a lucas auto box treatmeant at the same time (american product) also get a good indy to update your transmission software to the latest spec and ur car will drive like new no more harsh downchanges
hope this helps

Thanks all

I am hopefully planning on keeping the car for 3 to 4 years and was hoping a Gearbox oil change would give me some reasurance that hopefully the gearbox will last.

Saying that the car will only have about 85,000 on it by then so maybe I will be wasting my money?

What type of money should I expect to pay?

Rich...

should be no more than £200 inc the parts

Ive been reading loads about this and spoke to my indy who I trust a lot and he agreed its a difficult one, its done 116k and the box changes fine apart from the odd time it has a wobbly going from 1st to 2nd and jumps forward but I can kind of stop it from doing it by accelerating harder which is not an option sometimes but will smooth out the change if I do. Any thoughts guys?

About the only thing I might add is to see what the oil looks like as it comes out. If it's still reasonably pink then your box is probably at the better end of the condition range. If it's brown and smells burnt then you need to pay closer attention to it.

In any event, get the fault codes read out before doing anything. That way you have a status baseline of what the box systems had logged before you did/changed anything. My software was updated by the Bosch Auto Specialist that the rebuilder uses so it had bang up to date code.

[quote=""X5Driver""]Ive been reading loads about this and spoke to my indy who I trust a lot and he agreed its a difficult one, its done 116k and the box changes fine apart from the odd time it has a wobbly going from 1st to 2nd and jumps forward but I can kind of stop it from doing it by accelerating harder which is not an option sometimes but will smooth out the change if I do. Any thoughts guys?[/quote]

When my transmission had been rebuilt it showed signs of this between 2nd & 3rd (the 30d 6sp starts in 2nd) and it what eventually put down to a clutch overlap timing issue. The 2nd gear clutch would disengage but the 3rd gear clutch was slow at picking up the drive and the engine revs rose for a moment because there was no gearbox load to hold them back. Normally as one clutch releases the next one picks up the slack so the drive is connected at all times. The only fix was (in my case) another box. As it was under warranty that is what they did. The replacement had no issues at all.