Hi guys. I need some advice as I am now getting more confused by the day. It regards auto gearbox servicing.
On my 325, after much reading on international sites it seemed that it was a good thing to do. So, I went off to ZF Services, ( after all they are the manufacturers) They also discussed and debated and then decided that it was a good thing to do. Which was done. G/Box flushed, new pickup sieve, sump cleaned and refilled with ZF longlife 5 synthetic fluid. And I must say, the box has and is performing beauts.
Now comes the X5 and off I go to ZF again. They take a sample of the g/box oil and tell me that it's very black but does not appear to be burnt or have any heavy contaminants in it however, as the car has done 130,000K's and has never had the g/box serviced that they don't think it's a good idea and that if they do service it, the box may pack up in the near future. So we left it all alone.
The other day I went to Bruce's in Kennilworth, here in Cape Town as I have a small leak from a pipe at the front of the engine area. Looks like a power steering pipe that is leaking and they're going to sort it out on Monday. Now comes my conundrum. They had a look at the power steering fluid and reckon that it's quite dirty but that they will clean out the system and refill with clean oil when they do the oil leak repair but also asked if I'd ever had the gearbox serviced. I then told them about the ZF servicing story and the response was that I definitely should get the box serviced. They will flush it and refill with new synthetic fluid on Monday and have never heard of a box failing due to an oil change.
Now, changing oils makes good sense to me but, I keep hearing the ZF guy's voice in my head and the words "gearbox failure". Now I don't know which way to jump.
Come guys, what do you all think. What would you do?
The box right now works fine but I did look at the latest oil sample as well and boy it's black. It doesn't smell bad but surely dirty oil is not good?
On my 325, after much reading on international sites it seemed that it was a good thing to do. So, I went off to ZF Services, ( after all they are the manufacturers) They also discussed and debated and then decided that it was a good thing to do. Which was done. G/Box flushed, new pickup sieve, sump cleaned and refilled with ZF longlife 5 synthetic fluid. And I must say, the box has and is performing beauts.
Now comes the X5 and off I go to ZF again. They take a sample of the g/box oil and tell me that it's very black but does not appear to be burnt or have any heavy contaminants in it however, as the car has done 130,000K's and has never had the g/box serviced that they don't think it's a good idea and that if they do service it, the box may pack up in the near future. So we left it all alone.
The other day I went to Bruce's in Kennilworth, here in Cape Town as I have a small leak from a pipe at the front of the engine area. Looks like a power steering pipe that is leaking and they're going to sort it out on Monday. Now comes my conundrum. They had a look at the power steering fluid and reckon that it's quite dirty but that they will clean out the system and refill with clean oil when they do the oil leak repair but also asked if I'd ever had the gearbox serviced. I then told them about the ZF servicing story and the response was that I definitely should get the box serviced. They will flush it and refill with new synthetic fluid on Monday and have never heard of a box failing due to an oil change.
Now, changing oils makes good sense to me but, I keep hearing the ZF guy's voice in my head and the words "gearbox failure". Now I don't know which way to jump.
Come guys, what do you all think. What would you do?
The box right now works fine but I did look at the latest oil sample as well and boy it's black. It doesn't smell bad but surely dirty oil is not good?
