Sealed transmissions

[matt36415]

I sold my Aurion and bought a diesel bmw. It has theZF 8 speed automatic that is has lifetime fluid like the Aurions. I dropped the pan to replace the filter and fluid. The filter is built into the pan so both get replaced. The pan has a rubber seal made into it so no gasket needed. It had 4 magnets and at 135,000 km they has a thin coating of metallic sludge - less than my aurion had when i first dropped its pan - at 195,000km though.  New fluid is honey colour and the old fluid was dark but on a tissue it wasn’t very black. The trans was very smooth before the change but it’s different to others. Eg in neutral it barely rolls forward. 
 

I thought 8 gears was silly but its a great match for the 2.0 turbo diesel. It also got 900km on the first tank, i think the trans was a big part of that. 
 

A painful aspect of the job was the underbody covers  which add aero efficiency but are an extra step in the job. 

[KAA]

Hi Matt, Yes mate these so called lifetime never open to change fluids or filters transmissions are a sales pitch only, what is a lifetime? 5 years? 7 years? Glad you managed to get some new fluids and filter into it, but I bet the cost of the replacement pan and filter combination wasn't fun.

Stay Safe

KAA

[campbeam]

12 hours ago, matt36415 said:

I sold my Aurion and bought a diesel bmw. It has theZF 8 speed automatic that is has lifetime fluid like the Aurions. I dropped the pan to replace the filter and fluid. The filter is built into the pan so both get replaced. The pan has a rubber seal made into it so no gasket needed. It had 4 magnets and at 135,000 km they has a thin coating of metallic sludge - less than my aurion had when i first dropped its pan - at 195,000km though.  New fluid is honey colour and the old fluid was dark but on a tissue it wasn’t very black. The trans was very smooth before the change but it’s different to others. Eg in neutral it barely rolls forward. 
 

I thought 8 gears was silly but its a great match for the 2.0 turbo diesel. It also got 900km on the first tank, i think the trans was a big part of that. 
 

A painful aspect of the job was the underbody covers  which add aero efficiency but are an extra step in the job. 

I have viewed quite a few YouTube videos about the ZF automatic transmission. Very much a winner and is used by a number of auto manufacturers for their various models. Looks like it is robust and going to last. Good idea to do the transmission servicing.

Appreciate your comparative post between your now past petrol Aurion and your diesel BMW.

Interesting that there are 4 magnets in the ZF transmission in contrast to only 2 magnets in the U660E transmission.

[Tony Prodigy]

This "lifetime fluid" malarkey is total non-sense. If you have oil or any other fluid in a working mechanical object, it will need replacing at some stage in its working life.

There is no way I would NOT change the transmission fluid despite keeping the car for life. Absolute garbage and I wished the manufacturers stop pedalling this crap.