Automatics

[Huskoda]

Everything is always someone else's responsibility, eh?

 

A small knock that just causes the bumper to flex could do damage to the gearbox without you initially noticing. Why would you put it in P at the lights and risk it? What are the benefits over N?

[CWARD]

As the car is fitted with start stop when you come to a halt it stops the engine, knocking it into N restarts the engine and deactivates the start stop. If you put it into P then the engine remains off until you put it into D. Something the OP will be able to confirm when he tries it.

Enough reason for you?

[Ootohere]

You see when people are doing it. 

Their foot needs to be on the brake, their reversing lights flashes as they go to P and then again as they go back to D through reverse.

 

Thank goodness for Auto's / DSG's with Stop / start & 'Auto Hold' these days.

Edited 6 March, 2017 by Awayoffski

[Aspman]

'P' is a separate button on the F30 ZF box.

 

TBH now I know how a torque converter work I'll sit in D unless it looks like it'll be a while.

 

The F30 also has what I've called the "Brian Harvey feature" on the gearbox. If you're in D and open the drivers door it automatically puts the car in P. So you can't run over your own head whilst eating potatoes or other carb rich foods.

[Ryeman]

Think of all the advantages.....they don't need servicing these days.........hmmmm

[CWARD]

Quite how you found that feature out makes me wonder.

[Ootohere]

Who East 17 ?

[Aspman]

 

58 minutes ago, CWARD said:

Quite how you found that feature out makes me wonder.

 

I was parking in the snow and I was trying to spot the lines when I reversed in, I used to quite often reverse into a space with my head out the door.

 

No, I'm lying. I was eating potatoes and I fell out the car.

 

58 minutes ago, Awayoffski said:

Who East 17 ?

 

That's the bunny.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1495761/Harvey-blames-potato-feast-for-freak-accident.html

 

Quote

Harvey, who celebrates his birthday today, told GMTV: "I had just been stuffing my face with a load of jacket potatoes and I felt sick, so I opened my car door to be sick.

"Instead of putting my foot on the brake, I put it on the accelerator and it flew back, I must have hit four or five parked cars. It must have thrown me out of the car."

 

Can't do that in an F30 with the ZF box

[Ootohere]

Re East 17,  

that was me asking Ryeman if he meant they did not need servicing these days.  Sorry just slow and confused....

[Ryeman]

4 minutes ago, Awayoffski said:

Re East 17,  

that was me asking Ryeman if he meant they did not need servicing these days.  Sorry just slow and confused....

Oh!

Sealed for life .....which seems to mean the life of a car is 10 years these days 

 

consumption keeps the wheels of industry churning......and burning 

Edited 6 March, 2017 by Ryeman
Add

[Aspman]

32 minutes ago, Ryeman said:

Oh!

Sealed for life .....which seems to mean the life of a car is 10 years these days 

 

consumption keeps the wheels of industry churning......and burning 

 

That's been the way for quite a while now, means the box is trash at 100k.

Specialist can change but dealer won't

[Phil-E]

It's the same with manual gearboxes though too. They always say they are "sealed for life" but I have always changed the oil even on manual gearboxes. My Felicia had black gearbox oil at 60k miles, my Seat Cordoba PD130 had horrible dark brown oil after 80k miles and my motorhome had clearly never been done after 200,000 kms and the oil was disgusting.

 

All have had a noticeable improvement in the feel of the gearbox afterwards.

 

Even the Saab was getting a little jumpy at 70k miles. Following the gear oil change it's buttery smooth.

 

I notice that the ZF8HP gearbox has a massive fluid capacity. 9 litres!

[Aspman]

23 minutes ago, Phil-E said:

.

 

I notice that the ZF8HP gearbox has a massive fluid capacity. 9 litres!

 

No wonder the car is so bleedin heavy, it's practically an oil tanker

[CWARD]

18 minutes ago, Phil-E said:

I notice that the ZF8HP gearbox has a massive fluid capacity. 9 litres!

 

Already looked into the servicing of the gearbox not only 9 litres of very expensive oil but new sump pan which houses the filter, bolts that supposed to be replaced and your looking at €300 just for the parts. BMW will charge you double and load more for labour. Luckily the actually oil change isn't too complicated as everything is laid out with servicing in mind once you've removed the 1000's of bolts to remove the covers to get to the under trays off 

[Phil-E]

2 minutes ago, Aspman said:

 

No wonder the car is so bleedin heavy, it's practically an oil tanker

 

It's still 100kg lighter than my car! And yours has a big 6 cylinder diesel and 4x4!

[Phil-E]

2 minutes ago, CWARD said:

 

Already looked into the servicing of the gearbox not only 9 litres of very expensive oil but new sump pan which houses the filter, bolts that supposed to be replaced and your looking at €300 just for the parts. BMW will charge you double and load more for labour. Luckily the actually oil change isn't too complicated as everything is laid out with servicing in mind once you've removed the 1000's of bolts to remove the covers to get to the under trays off 

 

Oh dear! So the filter is integral to the sump pan?

 

That seems like a bit of a con to me!

[Aspman]

Just now, Phil-E said:

 

It's still 100kg lighter than my car! And yours has a big 6 cylinder diesel and 4x4!

 

I'd guess your drop top will have some serious iron under the surface to keep it from wobbling.

[Aspman]

1 minute ago, Phil-E said:

 

Oh dear! So the filter is integral to the sump pan?

 

That seems like a bit of a con to me!

 

If they have decided it's a non-serviceable part then why build it with servicing in mind? I assume there is some saving in costs by having it this way.

[Phil-E]

3 minutes ago, Aspman said:

 

I'd guess your drop top will have some serious iron under the surface to keep it from wobbling.

This is just the convertible specific body reinforcements diagram:

 

2 minutes ago, Aspman said:

 

If they have decided it's a non-serviceable part then why build it with servicing in mind? I assume there is some saving in costs by having it this way.

 

Thing is that ZF and BMW both have a recommended oil service schedule for the box so they knew it would need servicing. So Why not do either like a DSG with a separate filter in a housing or like a traditional auto with a removable filter inside the sump.

 

It's either a cost saving at the manufacturing/building side or the cynic in me wonders if it's to get more cash in parts later on.

[CWARD]

4 minutes ago, Phil-E said:

Oh dear! So the filter is integral to the sump pan?

 

That seems like a bit of a con to me!

 

It's actually plastic and costs around €75 so not too bad. It's the oil that really bumps up the price, using non-ZF oil and you slash the price in half but really worth it. I've got quite a few thousand miles to go before worrying about changing the gearbox oil.

Funny thing is when you the pictures of the sump filter it states sealed for life then quotes the oil to be used!

[Aspman]

1 minute ago, Phil-E said:

Thing is that ZF and BMW both have a recommended oil service schedule for the box so they knew it would need servicing. So Why not do either like a DSG with a separate filter in a housing or like a traditional auto with a removable filter inside the sump.

 

It's either a cost saving at the manufacturing/building side or the cynic in me wonders if it's to get more cash in parts later on.

 

I honestly don't think manufacturers really consider it. As long as the problem is unlikely to affect anyone in the first 3 yr.

 

The old VAG 2.5V6 diesels used to need the front end of the car removed to get to the cam belts. The famous wheel off to change a bulb in the megane. There will be plenty of other stupid design choices. 

[Ootohere]

When does the BMW's get to that Main Dealership 'Major Service' with all Fluids & Filters changed and all Bulbs replaced, or is that no longer done?

[CWARD]

5 minutes ago, Awayoffski said:

When does the BMW's get to that Main Dealership 'Major Service' with all Fluids & Filters changed and all Bulbs replaced, or is that no longer done?

 

No longer done. 

 

Major service is like any other make now with just oil and all filters expect the gearbox. They are competing on cost of ownership now. Long term and preventive maintenance are no longer a concern to the new car buyer as they are mainly fleet and disposed of after 3 years. 

Edited 7 March, 2017 by CWARD

[Aspman]

4 minutes ago, Awayoffski said:

When does the BMW's get to that Main Dealership 'Major Service' with all Fluids & Filters changed and all Bulbs replaced, or is that no longer done?

 

Don't know about that one but at about 4yr they start 'suggesting' extra maintenance. Had that with SWMBOs 1 series. Got to 5yr (35k just) and they 'suggested' that all 4 sets of brakes and pads needed done (based on 'braking miles'), battery cable was corroded, drive shaft reluctor was corroded. All in about £3000 of extra work on a car worth about £5k.

 

They got very flustered when I challenged this, they couldn't define what 'braking miles' meant, and the suggestions were withdrawn when I 'suggested' that some of the work might require a trip to the small claims court since the car was less then 6yr old.

 

Ran the car for another year without doing any of the 'suggested' work.

[Aspman]

Beemer not really much more expensive to service than anything else, they didn't get cheaper, everyone else got dearer. Even the indy I've used a lot is more than £50 an hour for labour now.