As I own a Td6 with a GM 5L40-E automatic gearbox and the ATF change procedure isn’t really explained anywhere (it's actually quite controversial), I thought I should write this down. As my car was approaching 125000km and after reading hundreds of posts both on BMW and LR forums, I decided it’s better to change the “filled for life” gearbox oil. I also was concerned with the shudders my car started to have while reversing, or the vibrations that were felt if stationary when in D. The documentation in RAVE does not deal with filter change, and the gearbox filter isn’t even listed in Microcat! The special Texaco oil isn’t even available in my country! So after identifying the GM5L40-E as the BMW A5S360R gearbox and the Texaco ETL 7045E oil as the BMW p/n 83 22 0 026 922, I tried to find them as cheap as possible. The oil is available only at the BMW dealer for 11EUR/liter, but the filter (p/n 24117557070) costs over 90 EUR there, so I found a Bilstein filter kit for 40EUR. I purchased 9 liters, in the end I used less than 7.

Click image to enlarge

Is this the same box as in a facelift 4.4 petrol, I have been thinking of changing the oil just to be safe. letters not necessarily in the right order

Nice procedure well put together for others to benefit from  Currently running FFRR MY10 TDV8 3.6L and a Disco 3 XS Commercial (tank like but very effective as a Company van). Plus one mint condition Track Day Car in the form of an E36 M3 3.2L Evolution circa June 1996 with lots of go faster bits and only 52k miles on the clock! Oh, plus a few bits to make it slow down really quickly as well! Luvverly.

Just had mine done at the local Auto specialist today. £140 all in, just thought I would share so others have an idea of price other than Landrover. I would have done this at home but at the price it made it hardly worth getting under the truck. £40 worth of fluid plus the cost of filter and gasket.

I had a momentary delay on the box between going from reverse to drive , most noticable when starting up cold in the morning. We'll see what difference I get tomorrow.

Trip home felt more lively through the box.. though that could be psychological... time will tell.

I have 77,000 miles on and wanted this done before the summer when we are towing to the south of France, especially after towing last year through those Swiss mountain passes and negotiating the Alps towing the tupperware palace.

Incase anyone's interested, I currently have a 4.4 V8 Discovery with the later 6 speed box (still searching for the replacement RR). This also suffers from the dreaded shuddering despite LR claiming it to be sealed for life.

Anyway, the LR techs wanted to double flush the box at a cost of about £450 which involves changing about 4 litres which comes out easily and refilling with fresh oil. The car is driven for a bit and the process repeated.

Now at best this is only going to change 8/14ths of the oil (yes the system in total holds 14 litres) so I had a very nice mobile chap come and do a "megaflush". This involves breaking into the cooling circuit by the radiator and plumbing the machine into the circuit. The engine is then run and the machine pushes fresh fluid into the system whilst drawing out the old fluid and retaining it in the machine. All 14 litres get changed as the process is only stopped when the new clean fluid can be seen in the sight glass. They actually claim 97% as it happens.

The net result is a smooth gearbox for £200+VAT all in. That's for doing the job at your place and includes the correct specification of ATF. Oh and a brew as well.

The chap is a sponsor on Disco3.co.uk and can be found under the name 4-tech. Hope this helps a bit.

Note, this doesn't include changing the filter but unless the box is seriously gunked up it's not necessary. The thing is actually only a strainer which is designed to deal with large debris such as bits of broken off brake band. Think of it like the oil pick up strainer in the engine sump and you're a lot closer. A filter it definitely is not and if it's blocked up badly enough to need replacing then you have issues which an oil & filter change are not going to fix

mzplcg wrote:

Incase anyone's interested, I currently have a 4.4 V8 Discovery with the later 6 speed box (still searching for the replacement RR). This also suffers from the dreaded shuddering despite LR claiming it to be sealed for life.

Anyway, the LR techs wanted to double flush the box at a cost of about £450 which involves changing about 4 litres which comes out easily and refilling with fresh oil. The car is driven for a bit and the process repeated.

Now at best this is only going to change 8/14ths of the oil (yes the system in total holds 14 litres) so I had a very nice mobile chap come and do a "megaflush". This involves breaking into the cooling circuit by the radiator and plumbing the machine into the circuit. The engine is then run and the machine pushes fresh fluid into the system whilst drawing out the old fluid and retaining it in the machine. All 14 litres get changed as the process is only stopped when the new clean fluid can be seen in the sight glass. They actually claim 97% as it happens.

The net result is a smooth gearbox for £200+VAT all in. That's for doing the job at your place and includes the correct specification of ATF. Oh and a brew as well.

The chap is a sponsor on Disco3.co.uk and can be found under the name 4-tech. Hope this helps a bit.

Note, this doesn't include changing the filter but unless the box is seriously gunked up it's not necessary. The thing is actually only a strainer which is designed to deal with large debris such as bits of broken off brake band. Think of it like the oil pick up strainer in the engine sump and you're a lot closer. A filter it definitely is not and if it's blocked up badly enough to need replacing then you have issues which an oil & filter change are not going to fix

Just been to see about getting my gearbox oil changed. I was quoated £150 to change about 4L - 5L only, no replacment filter.

After reading whats above this does not seem like a good oil change. Im not very good mechanicly so would prefer a garage to do this for me.

Can anyone give me some advice please ie is it worth doing

Best have the filter changed and a double flush. Removing the sump to replace the filter should allow around 7 litres to be changed, then when doing the second flush around 4 or 5 litres 

Cheers for that

It was mentioned that if I have the filter changed it would put the cost up to approx £350, but there was no mention of a reflush.

Think Ill have to have a look around and see what other garages come up with

Rather than just try other garages, try to search out auto trans specialists.

I Td6 SE
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Previous LR- Disco 300TDi Auto

A genuine filter and sump gasket costs in the region of £100 from LR and takes all of 30 minutes to change, so it looks like they are lubing your bottom when they give you the invoice.

There is a seller on ebay selling gaskets and filter for around £60, you can buy 20 litres of ATF for around £65 and the full process would take around 1 hour of your time