[tranck]

BMW says that the gearbox oil is good for the life of the car - meaning 100,000 miles.

I just had mine changed at 99,000 and it came out "pure black" according to the tech.

The tech's name is Nathan and he has been working on my car since the beginning and I very much trust his opinion as well as Leith BMW in Raleigh, NC.

The best tech not by me but, by others working in the service dept.

He stated that he has never seen gearbox oil come out pure black like that.

My advice to you guys is this - change the gearbox oil now.

If I had to do it over again, I would have changed it at 50,000 just to make sure.

I put in the Royal Purple just because I had heard good things about it on the board but, OEM, RP - just change it - VERY cheap insurance.

BTW, of the 99,000 miles on my car, more than 60,000 have been highway miles - no dusty conditions, etc.

He also changed the differential grease as well and said that it was not bad at all - I of course changed it at the 1200 mile mark as recommended.

Just wanted to let you guys know - this coming from an "experienced" car

 

[mottati]

i think that's good advice. I had my trans and diff oils changed around 50k with oe fluids. SA said wasn't needed, and couldn't be done (i have a new SA now though!), shop foreman said it could and was a good idea...
Mike

 

[khiroshima]

tranck,

Thanks for the heads up. I just rolled 55k and was thinking that this might be a decent preventative measure, certainly can't hurt . . .

Kevin

 

[Murph]

I just crossed 70k this week & have been wondering when some of these things should be done. Anything else you're recommend? I guess I'm not sure what all they do at the inspections / standard service intervals?

 

[Ronin M5]

Thanks for the heads up. I also noticed in this April's Roundel "Tech Talk" that it mentions BMW V8's have a high water pump failure rate, and a preventative replacement is recommended at 60,000 miles.

Can anyone speak to this? Or other common recommendations for maintenance at this interval?

 

[chunpng]

I changed mine DYI style at 50k miles. It looked decent then.

CP

 

[hudson]

BMW says that the gearbox oil is good for the life of the car - meaning 100,000 miles.

I just had mine changed at 99,000 and it came out "pure black" according to the tech.

The tech's name is Nathan and he has been working on my car since the beginning and I very much trust his opinion as well as Leith BMW in Raleigh, NC.

The best tech not by me but, by others working in the service dept.

He stated that he has never seen gearbox oil come out pure black like that.

Trank I checked my tranny fluid a couple weeks ago on my 2000 with 56K and noticed the fluid was black and I thought it was strange too. Maybe the factory MLF-LT-1 fluid is dark in color to start with. I haven't seen the fluid yet so I don't know what color it is, I'll let you know. I'll be changing the tranny fluid soon.

Joe

 

[Beamer_usa]

Thanks for the heads up:M5thumbs:

 

[tranck]

Trank I checked my tranny fluid a couple weeks ago on my 2000 with 56K and noticed the fluid was black and I thought it was strange too. Maybe the factory MLF-LT-1 fluid is dark in color to start with. I haven't seen the fluid yet so I don't know what color it is, I'll let you know. I'll be changing the tranny fluid soon.

Joe

Joe,

I asked my tech that question and he said that new fluid is a medium brown in color.

 

[kwalls]

BMW says that the gearbox oil is good for the life of the car - meaning 100,000 miles.

Why do you think the life of a BMW is only 100,000 miles?

While the jury may still be out for the M5, there are a hell of a lot of BMWs on the road here in Germany with over 100,000 miles.

I bought a 92 525 24V car last year to drive during the bad months and save the M5.
Initialy I was concerned about the fact that it had over 163,000 kms on it when I bought it. It now has over 189,000 kms (115,320 miles) and still gets 8.9 to 9 lts/100 kms or about 23 to 24 mpg on the commute.

My neighbor just traded his 92 5 series for a 99, it had 325,000 kms and ran great. He just wanted a 'new' car.

Both cars had regular oil changes for the engine, however both have automatics that can only be checked and serviced by the dealer.
Now that I bragged about it, probably will have catastrophic failure on the way home tonight.
Ken

 

[DavidS]

For what it is worth: I had both gearbox and diff fluids changed two years ago at about 30000 miles. M specialist mechanic in Hannover, Germany did the gearbox oil, and replaced differential. I subsequently changed the run-in diff fluid myself.

Gearbox oil was pitch black. Mechanic with lots of M5 work, said not too worry. It is how the MTF fluid looks after a few months. He smelled it carefully, and said it was fine for several more years but changing oil is never a bad thing so the oil was changed.

After the oil change, the gearbox was much easier to operate for a few weeks, then gradually it went back to normal. It has been suggested by knowledgable people on this board that this was due to the syncros getting cleaned from residue by the fresh oil, and thus working much better for a while.

The differential fluid was unbelievably stinky even after just a few weeks of running-in. That is normal and due to the clutch-liners in the limited-slip-differential giving off burnt particles.

David

 

[x703jko]

I had mine changed at 25K and again at 50K (last week). Diff fluid also at 25K and 50K. And, at 50K I did a coolant change.

Interestingly, my tech said that when he did the tranny fluid replacement (each time) he thought the older fluid looked "good".

In case you are wondering, did a brake fluid replacement at 40K when I did my BBK install.

Anyone have an opinion regarding Power Steering fluid replacement?

Jeff cherrsagai

 

[Guest]

Good information. Thanks for the heads-up.

Cheers, Daniel.

 

[tranck]

Why do you think the life of a BMW is only 100,000 miles?

While the jury may still be out for the M5, there are a hell of a lot of BMWs on the road here in Germany with over 100,000 miles.

I bought a 92 525 24V car last year to drive during the bad months and save the M5.
Initialy I was concerned about the fact that it had over 163,000 kms on it when I bought it. It now has over 189,000 kms (115,320 miles) and still gets 8.9 to 9 lts/100 kms or about 23 to 24 mpg on the commute.

My neighbor just traded his 92 5 series for a 99, it had 325,000 kms and ran great. He just wanted a 'new' car.

Both cars had regular oil changes for the engine, however both have automatics that can only be checked and serviced by the dealer.
Now that I bragged about it, probably will have catastrophic failure on the way home tonight.
Ken

Ken,

The 100,000 mile reference does not come from me.

The pat response from my SA has always been "for the life of the car or 100,000 miles"

I think they must be taught that response at BMW school because I've also heard that reference on this board.

I fully expect to have another 100,000 miles on my car easily.

Tom

 

[chrisj]

Thanks for the heads up. I also noticed in this April's Roundel "Tech Talk" that it mentions BMW V8's have a high water pump failure rate, and a preventative replacement is recommended at 60,000 miles.

Can anyone speak to this? Or other common recommendations for maintenance at this interval?

This is interesting. I have a '95 E36 that had a water pump failure at around 100K. The rise in temp was so slight that I asked my SA if there was an auxillary fan or something that failed, and he then told me of the water pump problems.

Anyway, that inevitably leads to radiator failures, as the slight increase in temp on higher mileage cars tends to crack the upper hose flange (mine came off in my hand). I don't know if the same thing is prone to occur on the V8s when the water pump fails, but they repair would have been 1/2 as much if I had caught it before the radiator was damaged.

Amazingly, at least on the E36, the water pump impeller is a plastic squirrel cage. It eventually breaks off of the shaft and becomes ineffective. On my old '79 Trans Am, the pumps were designed to leak before they failed to give a warning. No such indicator on the BMW.

Still wouldn't trade the TA for my '00 M5!

 

[mikhail]

Can you please share your thoughts on RP? Do you notice any difference in shifting as compared to OEM? Like it/Dislike it?

I'm planning to change to RP myself so I want to hear a few opinions from real people who actually had some experience with the product. Thanks:M5thumbs:

BMW says that the gearbox oil is good for the life of the car - meaning 100,000 miles.

I just had mine changed at 99,000 and it came out "pure black" according to the tech.

The tech's name is Nathan and he has been working on my car since the beginning and I very much trust his opinion as well as Leith BMW in Raleigh, NC.

The best tech not by me but, by others working in the service dept.

He stated that he has never seen gearbox oil come out pure black like that.

My advice to you guys is this - change the gearbox oil now.

If I had to do it over again, I would have changed it at 50,000 just to make sure.

I put in the Royal Purple just because I had heard good things about it on the board but, OEM, RP - just change it - VERY cheap insurance.

BTW, of the 99,000 miles on my car, more than 60,000 have been highway miles - no dusty conditions, etc.

He also changed the differential grease as well and said that it was not bad at all - I of course changed it at the 1200 mile mark as recommended.

Just wanted to let you guys know - this coming from an "experienced" car

 

[jhowton]

Can you please share your thoughts on RP? Do you notice any difference in shifting as compared to OEM? Like it/Dislike it?

I'm planning to change to RP myself so I want to hear a few opinions from real people who actually had some experience with the product. Thanks:M5thumbs:

I have it in my 95 M3 tranny, it seemed to make the shifting much less notchy in feel.

DavidS - FWIW differential oil (90W geal oil) is pretty nasty smelling when it is brand new, it doesn't get better with use.

 

[Philip]

Why do you think the life of a BMW is only 100,000 miles?
I bought a 92 525 24V car last year to drive during the bad months and save the M5.
Initialy I was concerned about the fact that it had over 163,000 kms on it when I bought it. It now has over 189,000 kms (115,320 miles) and still gets 8.9 to 9 lts/100 kms or about 23 to 24 mpg on the commute.

My neighbor just traded his 92 5 series for a 99, it had 325,000 kms and ran great. He just wanted a 'new' car.

Ken

My 1992 525 (e34 inline 6) has 210K and runs great. Those cars are very reliable, nothing like my newer BMWs have been. Look at how well the interior is put together. That's how BMW use to build cars.

 

[m5dinanSS]

Royal Purple sounds like a great product.

 

[Murph]

Just curious as to what to expect for costs to get the diff fluid changed? I imagine the fluid itself is 40x the price for the fluid mere mortal cars require?