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Originally Posted by sblument
Today I had lunch with a colleague of mine who used to be a mechanic. He said that he thinks manufacturers such as BMW have gone with lifetime fluids in the diff and similar components due to the following reason: when the fluids were changed in the older diffs with drain plugs and no lifetime fluid, enough of the mechanics would mess up the procedure (no idea how) and the diff would have to be replaced at the manufacturers expense. They decided it would be cheaper to design them with lifetime fill fluids, and prevent this from occurring. He said the diffs will go 200k+ miles, etc.
I'm just relaying what I heard, not saying its gospel.
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I've also heard that BMW didn't go to "lifetime" (ie, 100k miles) and 15k mile oil change intervals until they began to offer free scheduled maintenance on their cars. Was it a coincidence of new fluid technology or marketing?
From what I've read in Roundel, BMW's A/T's have a poor history long term (75-100k miles), so for those who have experience with them are even less enthusastic about lifetime fills.
Now I've asked BMWNA where the fill plug is on the A/T and they only tell me it's a sealed unit w/no fluid changes.
In reality, most people, regardless of intent, will not keep their cars past 100k miles where the benefit of more frequent fuilds changes would become apparent. My $.02