verruckt wrote

Cost me ~$850 on our 2019 to change the fluid.

Car has 40k miles on it and the transfer case was shuddering pretty bad when doing slow speed turns.

Dealer recommended fluid change and if that didn't fix it would need a new transfer case.

Contacted BMW NA about a goodwill case since it only has 40k. They said nope since it was out of warranty. Claimed they were surprised but haven't heard of early tcase failures on the X5 . So if it fails that's going to cost me 6k+ out of pocket.

This is on top of the other issues we've had with the car and it's easily the worst BMW I've ever owned (I've owned double digits of them, with 3 new in the past 5 years). I was shopping for a new X5M when this happened as well, but BMW NA's response with this issue and other issues with this car left a sour taste in my mouth. Probably the last BMW I will ever buy.

I used to work for them as a tech as well.. they're not what / who they used to be as a company. Far, far from it.

verruckt wrote

Cost me ~$850 on our 2019 to change the fluid.

Car has 40k miles on it and the transfer case was shuddering pretty bad when doing slow speed turns.

Dealer recommended fluid change and if that didn't fix it would need a new transfer case.

Contacted BMW NA about a goodwill case since it only has 40k. They said nope since it was out of warranty. Claimed they were surprised but haven't heard of early tcase failures on the X5 . So if it fails that's going to cost me 6k+ out of pocket.

This is on top of the other issues we've had with the car and it's easily the worst BMW I've ever owned (I've owned double digits of them, with 3 new in the past 5 years). I was shopping for a new X5M when this happened as well, but BMW NA's response with this issue and other issues with this car left a sour taste in my mouth. Probably the last BMW I will ever buy.

I used to work for them as a tech as well.. they're not what / who they used to be as a company. Far, far from it.

Marty in NY wrote

Looks like its as your handle name suggests! If you used to work for them, was it in Service cause if so, you could have changed the oil yourself.

aerof16 wrote

Did mine last weekend in my garage. $50 worth of fluid and a $5 transfer pump did the job in about 45 minutes.

Marty in NY wrote

Why did you change it, were you having symptoms? How high off the ground did you need to lift the car?

aerof16 wrote

For example, BMW says the transmission fluid is lifetime, however ZF (the transmission manufacturer) suggest the fluid change every 50k miles.

TurtleBoy wrote

That is not correct, ZF recommends changing it at about 93k miles.

aerof16 wrote

Do you have a source for that?
I have some ZF literature at home, maybe it isn’t quite 50k miles but either way it’s not lifetime.

TurtleBoy wrote

Sounds like you have very old literature, they changed their recommendation years ago.

"ZF automatic transmissions are generally filled with lifetime oil. However, due to the many fac- tors influencing the service life of transmissions in individual operation, ZF recommends an oil change after 150,000 km for its transmissions."

https://aftermarket.zf.com/remotemedia/master-content/zf-services-portal/oils-data-sheets/pc-1/lifeguardfluid-8/pds-zf-lifeguardfluid-8-it.pdf

aerof16 wrote

Just preventative maintenance. I did the front and rear differentials as well.

Back in the day you’d service this stuff every 3 years/30k miles or so. I’m sure fluids are getting better but lifetime fluid seems extreme.

For example, BMW says the transmission fluid is lifetime, however ZF (the transmission manufacturer) suggest the fluid change every 50k miles.

So my technique is going to be doing the trans/transfer case/differentials every 50k. Not sure how high the car was lifted, I use a Quickjack at home.

https://www.quickjack.com/

Marty in NY wrote

I never felt safe lying under those lifts. You get about 2 feet of height, right? I recall reading somewhere, back in the mid 2000's, that BMW marketed the trannys for lifetime oil due to the green movement. I wanted my local BMW dealer to change the tranny fluid on a 1994 I had and they refused, stating the oil was lifetime. I tried to get them to quantify that but they just repeated it over and over so I started looking into it. Now, lifetime is an obscure meaning in this case. Whose lifetime? What's lifetime? What factors come into play to determine the lifetime? So, in the end, when I found the green movement as a possible reason, I stopped looking and changed the oil/filter myself.

verruckt wrote

I used to work for them as a tech as well.. they're not what / who they used to be as a company. Far, far from it.

Aimster82 wrote

That would piss me off $850. Did it fix the problem?

Marty in NY wrote

Looks like its as your handle name suggests! If you used to work for them, was it in Service cause if so, you could have changed the oil yourself.

verruckt wrote

Not 100%. Still some crunch but about 70% better.

Fully expect it to fail prematurely.

X5MGuy wrote

If I'm not mistaken transfer case and rear diff service are recommended maintenance at 50k miles, at least on the M anyway. Only cost me about $400.

TurtleBoy wrote

Sounds like you have very old literature, they changed their recommendation years ago.

"ZF automatic transmissions are generally filled with lifetime oil. However, due to the many fac- tors influencing the service life of transmissions in individual operation, ZF recommends an oil change after 150,000 km for its transmissions."

https://aftermarket.zf.com/remotemedia/master-content/zf-services-portal/oils-data-sheets/pc-1/lifeguardfluid-8/pds-zf-lifeguardfluid-8-it.pdf

Marty in NY wrote

From what I've read on these forums, it can take 100+ miles before you will know if the oil change did the trick. I recall reading one post where the owner said he changed it, drove a few hundred and changed it again and it worked. I supposed like changing tranny oil, it does take a while to get it "all" changed.

bangle butter wrote

Is the G05 xdrive different than prior models? Is there anything unique to G05 xdrive causing transfer case issues? I own an E70 xdrive w/ no transfer case issues and currently shopping for a G05 and debating if sdrive is the better route to take.