Low mileage bmw compact - advice

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Tue 15 Apr 2003 10:21
Low mileage bmw compact - advice - ian
I recently bought a 19,000 mile 5 year old 318ti automatic from a little old lady. It's now done 23k and is loosening up nicely! it was serviced by BMW before I bought it and due to it's age they changed the brake fluid, coolant, and plugs along with the oil. It has only had 2 oil services in it's life previously (I guess it was serviced on the "lights", and it has been used infrequently).

It has a 4 spd auto box, should I be looking to change the fluid in this kind of transmission to prolong the life of the box, and what about the differential, would this benefit from change at this age or shall i leave it for a few more miles.

Besides a somewhat lumpy idle (a characteristic of the m44 engine I understand) the car is fun to drive and burns no oil so despite it's low miles it seems unscathed.

Thanks, Ian
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Tue 15 Apr 2003 21:47
Low mileage bmw compact - advice - Dizzy {P}
Ian,

The question of changing auto box fluid has been aired and argued before on this forum. Having run various automatics since 1970 without ever changing the fluid, I'm not totally convinced of the need for it, however I can't see it doing any harm so I concede that 'it's not a bad idea', given also that modern cars have a much-reduced gearbox fluid capacity.

The service schedules for some BMW cars do include changing the ATF and the diff oil at the Inspection II service (typically every 30,000 or 40,000 miles). Personally, I would leave well alone until the car has reached that sort of mileage and then seek the advice of the local BMW dealership.
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