Afternoon all
My 05 525d is shortly to come out of it's 3 year BMW warranty and I would like to explore having it serviced outside of the BMW dealer network.
Its an automatic and having completed 60k I am particularly interested in having the gearbox oil (?)changed. I understand that BMW consider the auto boxes to be sealed for life with the end result they tend to fail at about 120k.
"General Warning about Automatic Transmissions: Many BMWs have "sealed for life" automatic transmissions. Regardless of whether you have a full BMW service history, the dealer will never change the auto fluid. Many of these boxes are failing around the 120-150k mark - often well outside of warranty and to a cost of £3.5k plus VAT. A good independent or automatic transmission specialist can and will change the fluid for you (and any good BMW independents will recommend this anyway). This is commonplace in the US and means the 'box should last the life of the car rather than being the cause of it being written off. General advice is ensure the fluid is flushed out every 60k or more preferably at each Inspection II. "
From >
Cheers
Alan