Vehicle: 2018 X5 50i, 8HP trans. Lessons: 1) Trans pan drain is plastic and SUPER easy to strip if you don't use the EXACT size. I ended up up cautiously punching a hole after stripping. It is a one-time plug, so once it's out, that's the end of it. 2) Pan screws are super soft and can easily stretch out to break...use a good torque wrench. My harbor freight special was not as calibrated as I hoped. 3) I appreciated the "extra fluid" everyone else seems to have; I used all but about 1/4 bottle (read below on my process) after taking an extra step and leaving probably 1/2 to 3/4 bottle on the garage floor with a crappy syringe-type filler. 4) This stuff stinks, and your neighbors will be mad. 5) Reinstall the servicing plug BEFORE shutting off the motor during top-up. After removing the pan, I made my own port adapter to push (low pressure) about 1qt up into the trans before seeing the brown turn to green (color of this fluid) raining down. This won't replace the torque converter fluid, only the fluid going across the gears. I then disconnected the hoses on the left side and pushed about 2qts through the cooler before it started turning green. I reinstalled the pan and followed Gareth's video for topping off. I waited until 45c, though, and my crappy syringe tool was too slow before I hit 50c using bimmerlink. Attempt your best to avoid this...it takes literally HOURS to come back down to low 40's, so I just stopped for the night and started over the next morning. Also, reinstall the plug BEFORE shutting off the engine as it will begin raining fluid as soon as you kill it. This caused me to go through the process twice. Was the extra effort I put forth with the cooler and trans-porting worth it? Probably not. I still had semi-brown flow after topping off. In the end I had about 1/4 bottle remaining. Next time, I will probably do it per Gareth's video and add the trans cooler just to use up some extra fluid, but I'll skip making a huge mess trying to push fluid up through the port across the gears. Test drive offered an initial "smoother shifting," but it may have been a placebo as now that I've driven some miles, it feels the same, but there were no problems to begin with. I did NOT run the transmission adaptation reset as I'm not ISTA savvy and I'm trying to find an alternative method. Otherwise, a great kit, a great video, and I'm good for another 60k. See you then!

Transmission shifts a lot smoother now. Serviced at 112k km (70k miles) on my G30 540ix

Perfect kit to service your ZF transmission. Fitment is perfect, even though the oil pan/filter looks different. Description clearly states it is the newest version from ZF. Drained 5 qts and it took the same amount to full at 36 C (96 F). 5 qts is completely normal as this procedure isn't pumping out the oil inside the torque converter. After I was done, I let the car idle for quite a few minutes to check for leaks. During the initial test drive I could tell it was shifting smoother, especially in comfort mode. This job isn't hard to do at all, but considering it was my 1st time, I took my time to make sure I didn't miss any steps. Rushing only leads to mistakes. You do not want to screw up a job like this. Everything happened exactly as the DIY instructions and video from FCP. Thanks a lot FCP.

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Love these kits from FCP. This is just about everything you need bundled together for your project on your ZF8. Most of the reviews say everything that's needed to be said. I would also advise buying a roll of pig mats for this project as it can be messy. On my X5 diesel, there is a crossmember that travels over 3 of the torx bolts towards the rear side of the pan/filter. As in the instructional video provided by FCP, you will need to either remove the crossmember for access or use a torx bit and open ended tiny wrench/low clearance ratchet to loosen and tighten these so I would advise setting up a game plan to try and access these bolts before proceeding if you are having to deal with said crossmember. Otherwise I am very happy with everything provided in the kit. I would not choose anything other than direct ZF fluid. As far as the pan/filter, the description states it is a revised version manufactured by HENGST. I did notice the design of the pan internals to be a bit different. Most notably, the new HENGST pan has less magnets than the original pan with a more transparent filter enclosure. The new pan is a perfect fit. I do also believe the new bolts are steel as opposed to aluminum. This may be a factor for your vehicle when torquing the bolts to specs per the BMW guides. My X5 has not had much issue shifting up to this point but I wanted to do this service before I hit 100k miles and I am at 99k. The car does shift a bit smoother in cold conditions just after initial startup.

These kits are great and very cost efficient. High quality parts and fluid. We have had 0 issue using these kits the last year or two.

kit worked great and video was great also. but i paid for 7 quarts of oil and only used 5. also oil drained measured 4.75 quarts. trans. is full at 40deg. c.

Changed fluid and filter at 53k miles for the ZF 8HP50Z in my 440i. Shifts great, maybe slightly quicker and smoother now. Parts were exactly the same as the OEM parts I removed.

Everything was eathy, parts quality same as Oem, car shifts smother now.

Fits great. Works perfectly