400$ for transmission fluid any alternatives?

[Reeeeeeee]

Just paid 400$ just for 6qt of BMW ATF-3+ Fluid my honda 6qt is 120$ the parts guy said "heres your liquid gold"



I can't afford the service at the dealer its $1k hence me trying to do it myself.

Anyone have insight of any OEM match ATF fluid? That they can say they used and are fine? I saw liquid molly online for 80$ for 6 is that 1 to 1 BMW atf?

[Reeeeeeee]

Update i called another dealer and they said its lifetime fluid so i shouldn't even service it ?

2015 BMW x1 sDrive 2.0 30k miles

[bosstones]

Have you check ZF Lifeguard or Pentosin as alternatives?

[Shock96]

Don't believe that it is "Lifetime". Anything like a transmission needs to have the fluid changed.

[Reeeeeeee]

Originally Posted by bosstones

Have you check ZF Lifeguard or Pentosin as alternatives?

erm not a fan of mixing brands since the OEM stuff will be still inside the torque converter wish

but why is it like 66$ a qt wtf trying to find a website with cheaper prices than dealer

[bosstones]

Originally Posted by Reeeeeeee

erm not a fan of mixing brands since the OEM stuff will be still inside the torque converter wish

but why is it like 66$ a qt wtf trying to find a website with cheaper prices than dealer

I guess I misinterpreted what you meant by "OEM match" and mention of Liqui-Moly.

I'd still suggest you read up on ZF as an alternative. Otherwise, not much to say other than to buy OEM, you pay for OEM. Some OEM parts are significantly cheaper online and some aren't.

[SharpAndCunning]

Lifetime fluids are lifetime of the unit they are in. The caveat to this, us engineers pre-determine what we decide a life of the unit will be. Sometimes it's 60k miles, sometimes 100k.

Either way, your definition of lifetime is not the engineering definition, and they need to be replaced.

How are you going to be changing your fluid?

[Gamb1t]

Noticed your profile indicates an sDrive. Is it using the ZF8HP45 or the older 6-speed found in the 35i? The latter would be cheaper cost wise.

Based on ZF's maintenance reference, they recommend fluid and filter changes at around 100k km.

I replaced mine with Liqui Moly ATF1800 with ZF filter last summer. No problem at all. Shifts great. I have also accumulated about 7 bottles of BNIB ZF Lifeguard 8 for future change.

Labour is probably half of the cost itself. I suggest DIY. It's not hard. Many videos abound.

[05X3lover]

Originally Posted by Shock96

Don't believe that it is "Lifetime". Anything like a transmission needs to have the fluid changed.

I agree. No such thing as lifetime unless you want the vehicle to have a short 'lifetime'. We have ours changed around every 60K miles. It's expensive but is important, imo. I've confirmed this with several BMW master mechanics so this isn't just my opinion. BMW calls it lifetime to make it sound like their vehicles need less maintenance than competitor vehicles, as well as it frees them from servicing leased vehicles. It's a great disservice to owners of BMWs.