This ZF gearbox is widely regarded as the best automatic gearbox ever released. Found in various vehicles such as the Bentley Continental GT, Aston Martin Vanquish and the Lamborghini Urus. BMW released this gearbox with the BMW 7-Series F01 and has since been fitted to all automatic BMW model’s, in both X-Drive, rear wheel drive and with newer models front wheel drive.

Your gearbox is an extremely sophisticated piece of engineering that needs to be looked after with regular oil changes. These transmissions are built up of a few hundred components, some of these components are designed to wear out (like clutches) through making use of them. Your driving style and proper maintenance have the biggest impact on the overall lifetime of these transmission components. We see a lot of vehicles with very high mileage (over 200,000 miles) with factory-built transmissions, that have lasted through simple planned servicing.

BMW claims that the gearbox on these vehicles are ‘sealed for life’. If you further quiz them on this statement they deem life at 100,000 miles. Almost any independent or gearbox specialist will recommend gearbox oil & oil filter changes in line with ZF (the gearbox manufacturer for BMW) every 60,000 miles. Trust ZF, they have designed and built this transmission.

The old-fashioned way of servicing automatic gearboxes was to simply drain them from the bottom however this wasn’t that effective as over half the oil could be held in the torque converter so using this method sometimes only changed 40-50% of the oil.

Our method is to use the Mahle Pro ATF exchanger. This cutting-edge modern technology changes the gear oil with the engine running. This is massively more effective and changes 90-95% of the oil. Our machine has 2 glass vials on it which shows the old oil coming out and the new oil going in. This is a great part of the process we usually photograph this to show you as it is a very good example of what the inside of the gearbox looks like.

• When servicing a gearbox we always check for any leaks and clean down prior to removing filter. If any additional gaskets are required we would speak to you about replacement as this would be an ideal time to replace them.
• A gearbox flush is added manufactured by BG transmission products - this cleans the inside of the gearbox and helps flush out any unwanted contaminants.
• Our machine then goes through the process of exchanging the fluid. Once it is done we compare the colour of the new oil going in with the old oil that has been removed. Some neglected gearboxes sometimes require some extra fluid flushed through for perfect results though this is a rarity.
• A gearbox protectant treatment is then added also by BG Transmission products.
• A final oil level check is performed followed by resetting gearbox adaptions if and where required

We are the only garage within the East Kilbride area offering ZF and Automatic gearbox flushing and servicing using this method. Don’t be fooled by other companies using the old fashioned methods.