brianstash

So if my car has 110k miles with no transmission service done, what should I do?

Rizbel

I had my first Transmission fluid change, with pan and filter change, at 121 K miles. Get it done soon .

Wolrab

No. I changed the pads and rotors together.

mubeenkhan

If you are planning on keeping the car for some time, everybody would recommend that you should do it now. Gone are the days when you could keep a car running for 300k mi without ever having to do a transmission fluid change. I have seen people recommend the following:

1. Do a simple drain and fill on the transmission fluid
2. Recommendation: install super-magnet drain plug instead of the regular one, to catch any metal fillings dislodged by the fresh fluid.
3. 1-2 weeks after drain and fill, drop the transmission oil pan (filter is integrated with the pan). Install new pan and do a fresh transmission oil fill. OEM part costs around ~$350.
4. The above procedure will ensure that you replace 80-90% of the transmission fluid in your car. Apparently on the e60 there is no way to drain the transmission fluid completely. For some reason people do not recommend the fluid exchange procedure (via the transmission oil cooler) on these cars.

The outcome and success (i.e. no transmission failure within a few thousand miles after the oil change) of the procedure i guess would depend on how the car has been driven in the past. An abusive driving style would in theory increase the probability of accumulated debris within the transmission.

There are several useful transmission fluid change DIYs on this forum. Search for the following:

"E60 Transmission oil flush"
"DIY ZF 6HP19Z Transmission Drain & Refill"

Hope this helps.

mubeenkhan

Since the theme of this thread seems to center on the longevity of the e60, I would like to add that the 15k mi oil change interval that BMW recommends is absolutely crap.

Even with good quality synthetic oil, changes should be done every 7.5k mi and preferably twice a year. In my opinion this frequent oil change regimen can potentially help to avoid(or at least delay) a lot issues(premature seal degradation and failure) that are common with the 8-cyl engine variant of the e60.

Valve cover gaskets should not fail before 150k mi.
Timing cover gaskets should not fail before 250k mi. (the driver side UTCG is a real PIA on the 8-cyl car)
There is another gasket under the alternator bracket that has a tendency to fail around the 60k mi mark as well. This one is a real PIA. A lot has to come off before you can change a $5 gasket.

The above is my opinion based on history with other cars that I have owned. Cost of ownership goes hand in hand with how long a car is able to last.

Wolrab

I would like to echo that. I just changed mine at 8k miles (as usual), and for the first time I sent off a sample to Blackstone Labs for analysis. The report came back with a TBN of 1.3, showing there were still some remaining additives, but not a whole lot. They hinted that I might go to 9k miles. I can't imagine having much left at 15k. The oil is Red Line 10W/40, and this car does a lot of highway miles. 8k miles is about 200 hours. My second round of N62 seals is holding up well at 173k, and I want to keep it that way.

mubeenkhan

173k is an impressive number for this car ... Would you mind sharing some of the things (outside of the regular maintenance items) that you have had to do over the ownership period?

advancedlogic

They grow up so fast, don't they *sniff* *sniff* - hit 180,000k miles on the ole N62B44

Wolrab

There was the Famous Coolant Pipe at about 120k, and the telescoping aftermarket pipes hadn't shown up yet at the time, so it was an expensive repair. But as a "fringe benefit", the upper and lower timing covers had their gaskets replaced, valve covers, front mainshaft seal, and every other seal and gasket we saw on the way in and back out. The alternator bracket seal failed about the same time. And all the cooling system potential failure parts were all replaced at that time. But other than the well-known N62 problems, the only major failures have been a bearing in the A/C compressor, and the SMG pump. The SMG pump cost me about $1100. That was before I got into DIY. Part is about $400. One ignition coil failed. E-box cooling fan. The steering wheel no longer tilts up out of the way when I turn the ignition off, but I can live with that. The tabs holding the headlight covers on all broke without my realizing what was going on, and water ingress destroyed the circuitry for one adaptive headlight. One leaky PS hose. That's about it, other than PM. Valvetronic hasn't croaked yet. It's a long list, but then it's gone a long way down the road. I'm disappointed about some of the N62 "design features", but overall I'm not unhappy. It's such a great car to drive.

phlfly

After reading this it's remind me Italian car. May be, the 545 is made by Italians