Gearbox and diff oil

C

cexton26

Member
As I mentioned in my previous post I’m new here and picked up my z4 last week.

As it’s quite an old car I thought it would be good idea to get the diff and gearbox oil changed on my 2004 2.5 z4. I called my local bmw specialist and they said they won’t change the oil as it’s not part of BMW’s maintenance.

I have read on the forum they are sealed for life but I’ve also read that’s lots of people get it done.

I find it strange the garage won’t do it, perhaps I need to call round some other garages, anyone else had this?
 
Definitely worth doing.
For a garage with ramps the access is so easy it's probably a one hour job to do the lot.
It's a pretty basic mechanical job which shouldn't need a 'specialist' garage to do.
Can't remember where you said you are (always worth adding your general location under your username), but maybe ask on here for local recommendations?
 
enuff_zed said:
Definitely worth doing.
For a garage with ramps the access is so easy it's probably a one hour job to do the lot.
It's a pretty basic mechanical job which shouldn't need a 'specialist' garage to do.
Can't remember where you said you are (always worth adding your general location under your username), but maybe ask on here for local recommendations?
Click to expand...
Good point I’m in Sheffield
 
No reason not to do it, but it's amazing how clean the original oils come out. For the non-fussy owner (and excluding autoboxes) lifetime fill works.
 
It sounds like your BMW Indy is following the BMW "filled for life" dogma.

I've used two different places, both run by ex-Sytner guys, who have changed it on my BMWs. It certainly can't do any harm after nearly 100K miles!
 
Lifetime fill is a total myth. Fluids absolutely breakdown and become less effective with time/use/heat.
I bought my '05 last summer with 20K miles on it. The first thing I did was change EVERY fluid front to back.
Any garage using "lifetime fill" as an excuse to not provide service, is a garage to walk away from.
 
smorris_12 said:
No reason not to do it, but it's amazing how clean the original oils come out. For the non-fussy owner (and excluding autoboxes) lifetime fill works.
Click to expand...
Hmmm, I've not done many as it's a PITA on ramps on my gravel drive, but every one I have done, both manual gearbox and diff, have been black and stinking, compared to the new stuff I've put in.
Hard to notice any difference in the diff, but gearchanges have been noticeably smoother every time.
 
My small sample is the E46 at 160k (at 7 or 8 years old) and the Z at 90-odd (maybe 16/17 years) weren't bad bad. Aromatic and darker but not burnt or water contaminated. I suppose it's a question of how the effectiveness of the lubricity has degraded. People do many YouTube videos about engine oil but I've never seen them do diffs and boxes. Pity.

Trying to think if I've ever done the E53 diffs (don't think so. Did the autobox tho.) 22 years, 200k and still plodding along. I must admit that, while I'm all for doing things like diffs, empirically there's a lot of cars on the road ticking along happily at 20+ years old that won't have had more than the bare minimum done to them. It's amazing how good everything got in the 90s to make 2000s cars so long lasting.

One thing I've noticed since doing the Z a year or two ago is that it's getting more prone to baulking going into first. Used to read of people swearing by weird American concoctions years ago to improve the E46 boxes. Must stop blithering now.
 
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