[Snow King]

So the "retail" cost of the parts is about $450 (Sub 300 for the transmission pan kit and another ~150 for 6 quarts of ZF Lifeguard 6 from Bavauto).

I was recently quoted about $1200 total parts and labor to replace my auto transmission fluid from a local indy shop. About $750 just for labor seems a bit high to me. How many labor hours does it normally take to replace the transmission pan (which includes the filter) and fluid? Does this seem like a normal total price?

For those of you have have gotten this service done how much did you pay?

[michaelalex17]

i think it should be like 500ish maybe a little more. i dont think you need to change the pan unless your car has a lot of miles but i could be wrong.

[GmoBmw]

1200? Dude thats seriously high.

[Bavarian13]

What's the recommended mileage on this change?

[Blubaron79]

Originally Posted by Bavarian13

What's the recommended mileage on this change?

Fluid is lifetime.

[AddictedToBavarian]

Originally Posted by Blubaron79

Fluid is lifetime.

Lifetime for BMW. Though it might be I will change mine and suggest you to do the same before 60,000.

[Bavarian13]

Originally Posted by Blubaron79

Fluid is lifetime.

That's what I thought. I really don't know whether or not to believe BMW but I'm certain the transmission will last 120,000+ and more if you don't beat on it.

Both my old E46 and a few others have been fine. Thankfully my car only has 44,000 miles so I'm not too worried.

[axis]

http://www.thectsc.com/index.php?p=p...=187&parent=43

Much cheaper place to get the pan and fluid. Not sure why it has contact them for pricing now, but when I got my kit back in October of last year it was 238 for the kit I linked to and then I got the mechatronic sleeve as well for 15 bucks. Shipped the total was 277.01 for everything.

[Bavarian Tech]

60K VS New

The Bentley states the fluid should has a "Condition based service interval of approximately 100,000 miles"

Lifetime-No
Long life-Yes

[Chriztofor]

Actually BMW states 100,000 miles. Take a look at your warranty & service booklet. BMW needs to remove that lifetime sticker from the tranny pan

[Slow_335i]

Maybe BMW expects the cars to last only 100,000 miles? So if that's correct then it's the cars lifetime!

[Bavarian13]

Originally Posted by msbc721

60K VS New

The Bentley states the fluid should has a "Condition based service interval of approximately 100,000 miles"

Lifetime-No
Long life-Yes

This is exactly what I wanted to see. Thanks so much for posting evidence!

[hurricane56]

My indy mechanic charged about $325 to just change the fluid by pumping it out of the fill hole. You should be able to extract about 4-5 liters using a hand pump.

[Olde Irish]

I recently purchased the kit fro CTSC and it was $238. The pan is a ZF part, not aftermarket and ZF fluid. Good deal considering the stealership wanted $47 per half liter for the fluid(about $600) and another $350 for the pan. Local BMW indy would use Castrol fluid. Indy seemed to inflate his labor cost when I asked about providing my own parts and fluid. Providing my own stuff it would still be ~ $900 - ridiculous. Going to do it myself, hardest part looks to be raising the car safely.
AFA lifetime fluid, no such thing in my book. I don't think BMW is too concerned about what happens to you car after 50k.

[sdblue]

I'll have to find the invoice for mine; I had my pan replaced under warranty at 35k after a slow leak developed. The fluid coming out looked pretty clean so I didn't kick down the extra cash to change out all the fluid.

[ECSTuning]

We suggest flushing the transmission more often than most (every 30,000 miles) to promote longevity of the transmission.

Originally Posted by Slow_335i

Maybe BMW expects the cars to last only 100,000 miles? So if that's correct then it's the cars lifetime!

I sure hope not!

ECS Tuning

[Blubaron79]

My old mechanic also has a pump that pumps out the old, and then puts in fresh fluid. That is a cheap option. I did it with my old eclipse.

[Snow King]

Thanks all for the feedback. Yea, there are plenty other threads that discuss lifetime vs 100k & if, when, and how replacement should be done.

My main focus was to confirm the pricing was very high. Luckily I got another quote from a different indy to have everything done for under $800. Still more than I would like to pay, but much more reasonable.

i think it should be like 500ish maybe a little more. i dont think you need to change the pan unless your car has a lot of miles but i could be wrong.

If I didn't want the pan/filter replaced, it would be significantly less probably around 400. But I would rather just do it right and replace it all. Miles are only at about 50k but I intend to keep this for the long haul.

[axis]

Originally Posted by Snow King

Thanks all for the feedback. Yea, there are plenty other threads that discuss lifetime vs 100k & if, when, and how replacement should be done.

My main focus was to confirm the pricing was very high. Luckily I got another quote from a different indy to have everything done for under $800. Still more than I would like to pay, but much more reasonable.



If I didn't want the pan/filter replaced, it would be significantly less probably around 400. But I would rather just do it right and replace it all. Miles are only at about 50k but I intend to keep this for the long haul.

Me and another poster both showed you where you can get the pan / filter and the fluid for under 300. If you feel comfortable paying someone 500 dollars to do the work, which isn't hard, then more power to you I suppose.

[chromisdesigns]

Originally Posted by Blubaron79

Fluid is lifetime.

not anymore, BMW recommends change at 100K. But if you are planning on keeping the car long-term, better do it every 60K or so.

[fun2drive]

Actually ZF recommends 80K kms and 50K mi so the choice is yours. I am not replacing my pan until I get well past 100K miles. There is no need nor point to doing that.
What is this stuff of pumping it out? You don't pump it out you pump it in. The drain plug will drain 5 to 5.5L and you fill to weaping out then plug the fill plug, start the engine and run it until it weaps out again assuming the temp is within spec 80F to 130F.

I just purchased 6L of Mercon SP which from many claims by one poster is supposed to be the same as LG6. I plan to send both samples to Blackstone and see what they say. By the way SP is 4.99 a qt at O'Reilly's. I opened the SP 1 qt jug and smelled it. Why? Well if you ever smell LG5 and LG6 they have a distinctive bad smell to them and the used LG6 I drained out was not as black as the post above but was black surely full of metal and abrasive material from the clutch packs and plates. The SP smelled exactly as bad as the LG6 so the poster might be right.

Transmissions cost too much to not change the fluid in the pan every 30-40K miles. I changed mine at around 38K miles and happy I did.

I cannot see how the indy or BMW can charge what they charge. It simply is not that hard to replace the pan. An inch pound torque wrench is the only tool needed unless yours is accurate to 7-8 ft pounds. I changed the filter and gasket on an X3 and my ZF tranmission looks similiar which makes sense since ZF build the 2006 X3 as well. I think there were 20 bolts to remove and new bolts were provided.

$400 to $450 seems like a fair price for a good indy shop assuming they get the pan and fluid referenced above.

[tsa1]

My car has 65k on its transmission, I do not expect it to fail before dec of 2013 when my CPO ends. But over 1k to change the fluid is too much, I think $500 for labor would be fair to the indy.