[Digidick]

My 2015 330d is on 137k and as far as I know it's never had its gearbox fluid changed (BMW history so prob not) has anyone on similar miles not bothered yet, I should leave it alone or have you had it done??

Running perfectly fine by the way and if I do it I'll do it myself.

Only looking for high mile answers please not you lucky 43k owners who have changed it 7 times already lol!!

[330XDave]

Leave it be. I wouldn't mess with something that's not broken at that mileage.

[flashollie]

Originally Posted by 330XDave

Leave it be. I wouldn't mess with something that's not broken at that mileage.

I changed the oil on my E61 530d after 180k.
It felt a bit smoother afterwards but I can't say for sure as it's tricky not to have a positive bias when you've spent 300 quid.
To my mind metal against metal causes wear, this stuff has to go somewhere. Oil degradation is happening so surely removing the the mucky stuff and adding clean reduces wear.
Changing oil is about stopping it breaking. If it's broken you've waited too long.
prevention better than cure?

[NISFAN]

It's quite simple on the ZF8 to determine whether you should.

If when pulling off, you experience a two stage acceleration, a bit of slip before there is a noticeable positive engagement, a slight thump, then your oil needs changing. I found mine was doing this at high miles. Changed oil and filter myself and all good again.

My car is on 159,000 miles although I changed maybe 15-20k ago. Definitely was needed.

[Hooded]

Originally Posted by NISFAN

It's quite simple on the ZF8 to determine whether you should.

If when pulling off, you experience a two stage acceleration, a bit of slip before there is a noticeable positive engagement, a slight thump, then your oil needs changing. I found mine was doing this at high miles. Changed oil and filter myself and all good again.

My car is on 159,000 miles although I changed maybe 15-20k ago. Definitely was needed.

Was that the first time it was changed since new?

[Digidick]

Originally Posted by NISFAN

It's quite simple on the ZF8 to determine whether you should.

If when pulling off, you experience a two stage acceleration, a bit of slip before there is a noticeable positive engagement, a slight thump, then your oil needs changing. I found mine was doing this at high miles. Changed oil and filter myself and all good again.

My car is on 159,000 miles although I changed maybe 15-20k ago. Definitely was needed.

Is that just normal acceleration or rapid acceleration? Can't say I've noticed anything like that but the fact you noticed a positive change when done still makes me think I should do it.

How much fluid did it take?

[flashollie]

Originally Posted by Digidick

How much fluid did it take?

When I had mine done at Quarry motors they were very keen to have the car overnight so the box was cold. Filling it up according to them, needs to be very accurate and that's why they wanted it cold.
So all the expansion of warm metal bits was at a minimum

[Busted]

Originally Posted by flashollie

When I had mine done at Quarry motors they were very keen to have the car overnight so the box was cold. Filling it up according to them, needs to be very accurate and that's why they wanted it cold.
So all the expansion of warm metal bits was at a minimum

The zf in my e60 was done like this as well

[NISFAN]

Originally Posted by flashollie

When I had mine done at Quarry motors they were very keen to have the car overnight so the box was cold. Filling it up according to them, needs to be very accurate and that's why they wanted it cold.
So all the expansion of warm metal bits was at a minimum

Wrong, the final fill level needs the gearbox to be warm. It's a specific instruction.

It does help to work on a cold car though as the exhaust pipe runs alongside the gearbox. But once you do the initial fill, you have to run the car to operate the gearbox. And then after the 2nd fill you need to run the engine until the gearbox oil reaches 35-40 degrees.

[NISFAN]

Originally Posted by Digidick

Is that just normal acceleration or rapid acceleration? Can't say I've noticed anything like that but the fact you noticed a positive change when done still makes me think I should do it.

How much fluid did it take?

Yes, normal pull offs, I was getting a two stage surge with a noticeable engagement of the clutch part of the torque converter. Not every time, but often enough to notice.

I bought an 8 litre kit, but only got around 5.5 litres out of it.

Here's a pic of the old and new pan/filter side by side. The magnets and filter were full of gunk.

[flashollie]

Originally Posted by NISFAN

Wrong, the final fill level needs the gearbox to be warm. It's a specific instruction.

It does help to work on a cold car though as the exhaust pipe runs alongside the gearbox. But once you do the initial fill, you have to run the car to operate the gearbox. And then after the 2nd fill you need to run the engine until the gearbox oil reaches 35-40 degrees.

Thanks. this makes sense.

[Watsey]

Digidick you may find this tutorial useful and, as NISFAN says, the 'box needs to be within the recommended temperature range to ensure that the fluid is filled to the correct level.

[Digidick]

Cheers mate. I found that earlier, it's one of the best and simple videos.

[Eddamoo]

Knowing the exact temperature of the gearbox is simply scaremongering. The difference in volume between trans fluid at 30 degrees different to that specified will be about 20ml, less than a shot glass. When you see these videos sealing the box with the fluid still running out shows it's far from an exact science!

To the OP id say go for it. The car is only 4 years old and mileage is only part of the story. The main thing that causes problems is the fluid can mix with atmospheric vapour which contaminates it. Mine is a 2015 and the fluid was changed at 86k and it was apparently still good. Yours shouldn't be much worse, and the main difference will be the amount of swarf in the filter.

The fluid change on mine made a great difference. Highly recommended

[Digidick]

Cheers fella

[ashenfie]

Ive change the Oil in a ZF gearbox and to be honest it not that hard if you follow the instructions.

The car does have to be level and at the right point temp. must be correct.

I would want the car cold to start with also. Simply that exhaust gets hot really quick lol

P.S. It's worth getting new bolts too

[Digidick]

Yeah all the kits tend to come with bolts. I've done changes before on my previous E39 and X5 but only because of repairs rather than preventative maintenance.