[XuLeTZ]

Hi everyone,

My car (F31 2012 320d N47t) just had the gearbox oil changed by the book. Ordered the ZF kit with 7L of oils, drained all the oil, 45 degrees refill and done the procedures.
I bought the car from the company I was working for, it had 120k miles 2 years ago. Most miles were done by me and I know for sure the car before was driven only on motorways. They didn`t know to tell me if the car had gearbox oil replaced before so I replaced it and reset adaptations. For the first 100 miles or so the gearbox was giving some kicks/shocks which I guess is normal for the values to get in parameters.
BMW Specialist told me because it`s high mileage (186k) advised me to not reset them as if there is some use on the gearbox, the values might not get in parameters and the car will drive like crap.
The gearbox never had an issue before and in my opinion, is working perfectly fine. Not sure if the 8th gear is working as I always switch to sport and cruising on 70mph on 2.2k revs. Hate to drive it under rev'd

Is he right? Should I reset the adaptations?

Thank you,
Alex

[Seba77W]

Originally Posted by XuLeTZ

Hi everyone,

My car (F31 2012 320d N47t) just had the gearbox oil changed by the book. Ordered the ZF kit with 7L of oils, drained all the oil, 45 degrees refill and done the procedures.
I bought the car from the company I was working for, it had 120k miles 2 years ago. Most miles were done by me and I know for sure the car before was driven only on motorways. They didn`t know to tell me if the car had gearbox oil replaced before so I replaced it and reset adaptations. For the first 100 miles or so the gearbox was giving some kicks/shocks which I guess is normal for the values to get in parameters.
BMW Specialist told me because it`s high mileage (186k) advised me to not reset them as if there is some use on the gearbox, the values might not get in parameters and the car will drive like crap.
The gearbox never had an issue before and in my opinion, is working perfectly fine. Not sure if the 8th gear is working as I always switch to sport and cruising on 70mph on 2.2k revs. Hate to drive it under rev'd

Is he right? Should I reset the adaptations?

Thank you,
Alex

No do not reset adaptations. Especially after fluid change. Saw a post from xHP on this somewhere and they advised against it.

[eugene89us]

I reset mine just out of curiosity at about 45,000 miles. As car gets adapted, it will drive very rough. That is normal when you reset. Since then, the car changed adaptations on each of the clutches around 15 times and got to basically the same baseline characteristics. Resetting adaptations is unnecessary for oil changes. If you ended up changing mechatronic solenoids or clutch packs, then adaptations need to be reset. But I personally do not see an issue resetting them, doubt it will do any good and will make initial driving a little unbearable, and it is likely to return back to pre reset values once it re adapts. You can drive normally and the car will adapt again or you can follow ZF sequence by slowly accelerating to top gear, then letting the car coast down to basically the stop. Find an empty rural road and do that for a quicker re adaptation. None of your clutch values should be greater than 350 in both directions (positive and negatives). My 8HP is tuned, but my highest clutch value is around 160 mbar. Most others are double digits in both directions. If yours are above 350 or below negative 350, you have a problem and a rebuild may be necessary.

[eugene89us]

Here are my adaptation values. Bimmerpost will most certainly have it 90 degrees off, my apologies for that.

[eugene89us]

@XuLeTZ I am curious if you were able to get about 4.5 Liters out or close to 7 liters? I think just dropping the pan gets you about 4 liters and change. If you drop mechatronic, you will also drain oil held back by the check valves. My understanding their purpose is to maintain oil in clutches and torque converter to ensure immediate starting performance. After about 120-150k miles, especially if the car is shifting rough, you can consider getting a mechatronic rebuild kit which will include all new solenoids as well as the plate that separates mechatronic halves. Also, the small rubber caps wear out and flatten which lose their ability to absorb shock, and are also found in mechatronic. While there, ZF also recommends checking pressure leakage from clutch packs with a special plate while you're there to ensure that seals within mechanical side are not leaking. Don't ask me where I got all this, just linger with ZF trainers a lot. Haha. But I have 10K miles before 60K, and plan to do my basic oil change this time without dropping mechatronic. At 120k, I plan to drop and service mechatronic unit and get more oil out in the process.

[XuLeTZ]

Originally Posted by eugene89us

@XuLeTZ I am curious if you were able to get about 4.5 Liters out or close to 7 liters? I think just dropping the pan gets you about 4 liters and change. If you drop mechatronic, you will also drain oil held back by the check valves. My understanding their purpose is to maintain oil in clutches and torque converter to ensure immediate starting performance. After about 120-150k miles, especially if the car is shifting rough, you can consider getting a mechatronic rebuild kit which will include all new solenoids as well as the plate that separates mechatronic halves. Also, the small rubber caps wear out and flatten which lose their ability to absorb shock, and are also found in mechatronic. While there, ZF also recommends checking pressure leakage from clutch packs with a special plate while you're there to ensure that seals within mechanical side are not leaking. Don't ask me where I got all this, just linger with ZF trainers a lot. Haha. But I have 10K miles before 60K, and plan to do my basic oil change this time without dropping mechatronic. At 120k, I plan to drop and service mechatronic unit and get more oil out in the process.

Thank you for the answer.
It was close to 5L. We left the car to get as cold as possible before draining the oil from gearbox.
We changed all the filters, engine oil and waited another 2 hours and drained it. I think it was somewhere around 4.7L - 4.8L.
The car is shifting perfectly fine and it`s on 180k+ miles. Only in Sport+ and shifter in sport as well is a bit rough, but I think is the torque only.
I will check my values tomorrow and will post them here.

Thank you all for your answers.

[SteveInfante]

Originally Posted by XuLeTZ

Thank you for the answer.
It was close to 5L. We left the car to get as cold as possible before draining the oil from gearbox.
We changed all the filters, engine oil and waited another 2 hours and drained it. I think it was somewhere around 4.7L - 4.8L.
The car is shifting perfectly fine and it`s on 180k+ miles. Only in Sport+ and shifter in sport as well is a bit rough, but I think is the torque only.
I will check my values tomorrow and will post them here.

Thank you all for your answers.

In Sport+ you will get harder shifts. When you are in Sport or Sport+ it will stay in 7th great unless shifted to M8 with the paddles in manual. In case you also didn't know, in Eco it will shift to Neutral and coast when off throttle and go back to the correct gear when accelerating again.

[XuLeTZ]

Originally Posted by SteveInfante

In Sport+ you will get harder shifts. When you are in Sport or Sport+ it will stay in 7th great unless shifted to M8 with the paddles in manual. In case you also didn't know, in Eco it will shift to Neutral and coast when off throttle and go back to the correct gear when accelerating again.

I think that ECO thing is for LCI ones. Mine it doesn`t go to neutral.
I drove a LCI in eco and saw that, mine was not the same.
I knew it was normal for sport+ to act like that.
I only drove once in ECO as low gas, but usually comfort for 15-20 minutes until oil gets to 100 degrees CELSIUS and shifter to sport. I have adaptive suspension and in sport the car is stiff. Only time I drive in sport is when not on motorway and I want the car to be stiff On motorway/freeway I want comfort riding and no low revs around 2.2k rev is perfect for me
Cheers for reply

[otay]

I reset transmission adaptation values plenty of times on my 2014 when I was trying to troubleshoot a delayed shifting problem a few years ago. No issues, it relearned on its own with normal driving.

(The dealer eventually replaced the mechatronics, then the complete transmission when that didn't fix it)

[SteveInfante]

Originally Posted by XuLeTZ

I think that ECO thing is for LCI ones. Mine it doesn`t go to neutral.
I drove a LCI in eco and saw that, mine was not the same.
I knew it was normal for sport+ to act like that.
I only drove once in ECO as low gas, but usually comfort for 15-20 minutes until oil gets to 100 degrees CELSIUS and shifter to sport. I have adaptive suspension and in sport the car is stiff. Only time I drive in sport is when not on motorway and I want the car to be stiff On motorway/freeway I want comfort riding and no low revs around 2.2k rev is perfect for me
Cheers for reply

You can change the Sport setting to be just throttle or throttle and suspension in the iDrive. My F31 is an April 2015 build. Not sure if that's before the LCI or not.

[XuLeTZ]

Originally Posted by SteveInfante

You can change the Sport setting to be just throttle or throttle and suspension in the iDrive. My F31 is an April 2015 build. Not sure if that's before the LCI or not.

I have adaptive suspension so I can change even the chassis
I knew this. For me is just easier to move the shifter to sport and keep the car in comfort. In Sport I drive only on narrow roads when I want the suspension to be stiff when cornering. On motorway just shifter to sport and I still have the comfy ride

EDIT: Saw you said suspension which is the same thing with chassis from my post
Thank you, I did know this

[opinion914]

Pre-LCI will coast in Eco.

[Wires]

Originally Posted by otay

I reset transmission adaptation values plenty of times on my 2014 when I was trying to troubleshoot a delayed shifting problem a few years ago. No issues, it relearned on its own with normal driving.

(The dealer eventually replaced the mechatronics, then the complete transmission when that didn't fix it)

What he said. You can do it to go back to OEM defaults, and the car learns from your driving habits. There is no harm doing this anytime.

If I reset, and drive like a dork with a lot of higher RPM downshifts, mine will develop a shift flare going into 4th. I can either fix that by driving like a grandma for a bit, or do the reset.

[XuLeTZ]

Originally Posted by opinion914

Pre-LCI will coast in Eco.

Mine is not, probably because mine is one of the very first models ...
11/2012. I drove a LCi ED and I could see that one coasting, mine is not and I have the 2018 iLevel on the car.
I don`t drive it in ECO anyway, so I don`t mind if is coasting or not

[XuLeTZ]

Originally Posted by Wires

What he said. You can do it to go back to OEM defaults, and the car learns from your driving habits. There is no harm doing this anytime.

If I reset, and drive like a dork with a lot of higher RPM downshifts, mine will develop a shift flare going into 4th. I can either fix that by driving like a grandma for a bit, or do the reset.

So basically no reason to reset them at all after oil change.
The car drives absolutely perfect, so I will leave it as it is and drive the same as before.

Thank you,
Alex

[Wires]

Originally Posted by XuLeTZ

So basically no reason to reset them at all after oil change.
The car drives absolutely perfect, so I will leave it as it is and drive the same as before.

Thank you,
Alex

Exactly. The car perpetually adjusts those based on your driving habits. No different than the fuel trim values for the EFI.

[BWbimmer]

Originally Posted by XuLeTZ

Mine is not, probably because mine is one of the very first models ...
11/2012. I drove a LCi ED and I could see that one coasting, mine is not and I have the 2018 iLevel on the car.
I don`t drive it in ECO anyway, so I don`t mind if is coasting or not

If I am right this can be coded.