> "When they don't leak, we tend to seen an automatic transission
> service life between 80,000 and 120,000 miles."
>
>-Ted
>

I see a lot of people repeating these "doom and gloom" stories on the BMW auto
trannys, but very few of them actually have any first hand knowledge of this
happening.

Just curious, Ted, how many BMW auto trannys have you owned that went bad? How
many friends with BMW auto trannys have you had complain of them going bad?

The major problem with BMW trannys going bad is that many owners fail to
realize that they need to periodically change the fluid and filter. One of the
primary reasons that this is so, is because many auto tranny techs tell BMW
owners that their transmission is sealed and/or has lifetime fluid, and the
owners take that to mean they never have to maintain them. In fact, I have
heard it often said, by auto tranny techs, that the fluid never needs to be
changed and that is a crock, even for the mis-labeled "lifetime" fluid. It is
amazing to me that so *few* BMW auto trannys fail in spite of this lack of
maintanance.

It is very frustrating to me when I read this sort of overstated comment in
periodicals that are devoted to BMW's. I have written pointed letters to the
editors of these rags whenever I have seen such stuff written, and always get a
polite response that mostly agrees with me that the BMW auto trannys are
actually robust, in comparison to other auto trannys. They usually say
something like, all auto trannys are suspect and subject to premature failure,
not just BMW's, but since their focus is on BMW's they only report on that
marquee. They agree that the premature failure rate is not all that alarming
or unusual, but feel that prospective owners of these older cars need to be
aware of the potential for an expensive repair.

Well, yeah, the engine could also fail anywhere between 80,000 and 120,000
miles if they don't get an oil change! :-)

I own 2, 1991 525i's with auto trannys, both of which work perfectly, and have
160,000 and 140,000 miles on them. Everybody I know or have talked to, and
that is quite a few, that own E34's (my focus) with auto tranny's have also had
similar longevity with no problems.

I wish somebody would start some rumors about the premature failure of the M5
engines - perhaps then I could afford to buy one. :-)

Dick Schneiders