[psp888]

I've done 52k miles, coming up to 8 years old, mainly motorway miles. Car feels fine, no lag in gear changes etc, is it still recommended to get the gearbox serviced and oil changed. Are there any dangers in not getting it done?

Thanks

[dusan1080]

You should do the service. ZF advise to do in 60k to 90k kilometers.
You will extend life of gearbox

[danb1979]

Originally Posted by psp888

I've done 52k miles, coming up to 8 years old, mainly motorway miles. Car feels fine, no lag in gear changes etc, is it still recommended to get the gearbox serviced and oil changed. Are there any dangers in not getting it done?

Thanks

It's not urgent but worth considering sometime in the near'ish future IMO

60-80k is what ZF recommend, you're not quite there yet but keep it in mind

[Raven335X]

I have a 2017 Xdrive car with 100k miles on it, will be getting the ZF Gearbox, Front and Rear diffs and Transfer box oils changed .

BMW told me sealed for life when i checked. Just checking reputable garage to do the work.

[danb1979]

Originally Posted by Raven335X

I have a 2017 Xdrive car with 100k miles on it, will be getting the ZF Gearbox, Front and Rear diffs and Transfer box oils changed .

BMW told me sealed for life when i checked. Just checking reputable garage to do the work.

BMW always state sealed for life; in their talk that means c100k miles... So you're well due to get them all done

There are plenty of businesses that do the genuine ZF servicing, use ZFs website to find one or state your location on here and see if folk can offer recommendations

[Raven335X]

Originally Posted by danb1979

BMW always state sealed for life; in their talk that means c100k miles... So you're well due to get them all done

There are plenty of businesses that do the genuine ZF servicing, use ZFs website to find one or state your location on here and see if folk can offer recommendations

Thanks, Im in the South East was looking at BMconnected in Braintree or STA in Aylesbury.

[TiredGeek]

Just had both diffs, transfer box and gearbox done with genuine parts and oil. Bram Racing in Castleford, just shy of £800.
Pricey I know but I don't have the facility or time to do it myself, and at 55k miles and 6 years it's going to be another 6 yrs before it needs doing again.
Mine is 50/50 town and motorway, there was nothing wrong that I could feel, but both the missus and I think it's shifting smoother so I think it has had a benefit.
If nothing else it'll help prolong it's life, and having seen the new cars out there they'll have to prise the keys of my 335d F31 out of my cold dead fingers

[Watsey]

Originally Posted by Raven335X

Thanks, Im in the South East was looking at BMconnected in Braintree or STA in Aylesbury.

STA have a good rep, and I've been there to diagnose a problem which turned out to be the rear diff oil (from my process of elimination).

Very helpful and knowledgable guys.

[RobUK]

Having seen previous threads on having the transmission oil changed, I enquired at my local dealer. I know the service manager quite well and he said BMW won't do this service. He followed that up by agreeing it's wise to change it and recommended a very good independant BMW specialist who were happy to oblige.

BMW are missing a trick here because ZF themselves recommend it, so BMW are doing themselves out of a potential earner. Wonder why?

[gac]

Originally Posted by RobUK

Having seen previous threads on having the transmission oil changed, I enquired at my local dealer. I know the service manager quite well and he said BMW won't do this service. He followed that up by agreeing it's wise to change it and recommended a very good independant BMW specialist who were happy to oblige.

BMW are missing a trick here because ZF themselves recommend it, so BMW are doing themselves out of a potential earner. Wonder why?

The cynic in me says....

- we on forums like this are the minority, who actually KNOW that "sealed for life" is by the crappiest definition of "life" you could make it
- most people probably just think "life" is LIFE
- and don't go outside the dealer network for whatever reason they have, because they have an expensive car and want "the best"
- thus they will never do this service, they will never know about it, and when the gearbox starts playing up they'll probably just go back to the dealer
- at which point they'll trade-in their "broken" car for a pittance against a nice new car

And I would put my last quid on the fact if they took in a trade where they thought the gearbox oil was the only problem stopping a quick flip, BMW would be more than happy to perform a gearbox service and get that trade-in back out on the forecourt or sold on to another garage to fetch more money than the auctions.

[GOF_430d]

I too asked the dealer [Group 1 Watford] for a ZF gearbox oil change and a service receptionist two years ago quoted me £800 but when my car was in for a service back in July a new service receptionist said that they don't offer the service and said if I wasn't having problems with the gear change that they wouldn't change the oil.

I explained that the gear changes weren't as smooth as they once were so they reset the gearbox adaptations which made no difference.

I will get round to getting the oil changed soon as the car is on 106k miles.

[Raven335X]

My Gearbox on my F31 335D seems to be generally fine , little bit slow to react sometimes ( comfort mode and roundabouts) previous owners put some budget brand tyres which now been sorted with full set up PS4s and laser alignment.

More worried about the X-drive and diffs with a car with 100k miles so needed someone that has experience with that side as well.

[Ennoch]

Originally Posted by Raven335X

My Gearbox on my F31 335D seems to be generally fine , little bit slow to react sometimes ( comfort mode and roundabouts) previous owners put some budget brand tyres which now been sorted with full set up PS4s and laser alignment.

More worried about the X-drive and diffs with a car with 100k miles so needed someone that has experience with that side as well.

The diff and transfer case is pretty simple to sort, or at least they are compared to the box. I need to do them on mine (and the box, I've had the kit there for three years) as at 85k it's overdue. I might try to do it on the 2 poster when I'm at my mate's sorting out the Impreza in the next few months because it'll be a lot easier than messing around with axle stands. The first 30k were pretty chilled for my car before I got it as the rear tyres were still original up to 38k. Since then I've not had more than 12k out a set of rears, so I suspect the fluid is cooked given there's a little jerking occasionally at steady speed which feels almost misfire like but is definitely box related. I'll try a fluid change but if that doesn't work I'll persevere until it's dead and call up BMW. For that reason I went with the genuine ZF fluid rather than the Smith and Allen stuff Watsey did on his thread a while back.

Going back to the diffs on yours; diffs aren't the issue on the XD setup generally, it's the transfer case.

I find it interesting that BMW say everything is sealed for life, as do most manufacturers, while Land Rover actually say that all the driveline fluids should be changed out at 100k/10yrs. Obviously still longer than ZF recommend but better than nothing! Interestingly on my dad's Evoque it's sorted the grumbling/shagged bearing noise from the rear diff when going over 60 (being in north west rural Scotland this is a surprisingly infrequent occurrence) and the suspect shifting from the box. Yes the roads are hilly there, and yes there's more shifting, but it was at the point where things felt broken. The ZF9 is a good box for economy but definitely not the best from a driving/shifting perspective and I think the old oil just made these feelings worse (like abrupt unexpected downshifts under medium load and hunting occasionally at certain steady speeds). Modern cars are heavy and high performance so even cooking models are pushing their drivelines relatively hard compared to cars from twenty years ago.

[tjlees]

Thanks for the reminder.

Just be quoted £380+vat for gearbox including filter pan, £80 for rear diff and £120 for xfer box.

BTW bmw will do this service - but you will walk funny and have to change name to Roger Me Moore - £1153.40 later - though that did include front diff

[bishbosh]

Rear diff is very easy to diy. The front is a bit more awkward.

[seenthelight!]

Transmission done at 60k miles. End of !

[gac]

Originally Posted by Ennoch

Since then I've not had more than 12k out a set of rears, so I suspect the fluid is cooked given there's a little jerking occasionally at steady speed which feels almost misfire like but is definitely box related. I'll try a fluid change but if that doesn't work I'll persevere until it's dead and call up BMW.

Interesting, I'm getting a little of this too - perhap I'll get booked in for the same. I've had the box done per the specific procedure, but I figured the diffs were fine for any numpty with a ramp to do so I didn't get it all done at the same time.

[dholdi]

I changed my front diff oil around about the same time as I did my first interim engine oil change.
Moving quickly on we will say no more about that
I've since done both diffs, transfer box and gearbox myself on the drive.
The info is all out there and its pretty easy to diy.
I found that the box became a lot more lively after, changing gear a lot more, if I was to compare before and after I would say it had got quite lazy.

[gac]

Originally Posted by dholdi2

I changed my front diff oil around about the same time as I did my first interim engine oil change.
Moving quickly on we will say no more about that
I've since done both diffs, transfer box and gearbox myself on the drive.
The info is all out there and its pretty easy to diy.
I found that the box became a lot more lively after, changing gear a lot more, if I was to compare before and after I would say it had got quite lazy.

As someone who's done both diffs and transfer case, what kind of fluid did you use? I'm about to email a couple of places for quotes, one is a BMW "specialist" so I'm sure they'll know the right spec if I mention "OE spec" but the other is just a general mechanic so I'd rather be explicit. I looked on RealOEM but I can't find any diff/transfer fluid, only gearbox fluid.

edit - for the diffs, "axle oil" appears to be what I needed to search for, "G1" for the rear, "G2" for the front. For the transfer case this appears to be down as "DTF1".

this seems to be the right DTF-1 spec for the transfer case - link
this seems the right GL-5 spec for the rear diff and is listed as an equivalent part number - link
I can't see anything on Opie for the front diff though - they do have a 75w90 Motul oil which is also GL-5 spec but it's not listed as an equivalent part number.

[bishbosh]

I went for RedLine 75w85 for the front and rear diff.

[danb1979]

Originally Posted by gac

As someone who's done both diffs and transfer case, what kind of fluid did you use? I'm about to email a couple of places for quotes, one is a BMW "specialist" so I'm sure they'll know the right spec if I mention "OE spec" but the other is just a general mechanic so I'd rather be explicit. I looked on RealOEM but I can't find any diff/transfer fluid, only gearbox fluid.

edit - for the diffs, "axle oil" appears to be what I needed to search for, "G1" for the rear, "G2" for the front. For the transfer case this appears to be down as "DTF1".

this seems to be the right DTF-1 spec for the transfer case - link
this seems the right GL-5 spec for the rear diff and is listed as an equivalent part number - link
I can't see anything on Opie for the front diff though - they do have a 75w90 Motul oil which is also GL-5 spec but it's not listed as an equivalent part number.

BMWs diff oil is 75W85 as per the above post

Go with that

[dholdi]

Originally Posted by gac

As someone who's done both diffs and transfer case, what kind of fluid did you use?

I used genuine DTF1 for the transfer box and LiquiMoly diff oils for the front and rear diffs, on the xdrive the front is different spec to the rear.
I will take a look tommorrow as I'm sure I have a little of each left.