Help - Selling my Alpina D5

[The Hybrid]

Hi everyone,

I've decided I'm selling my beloved Alpina D5. I love the car but as I work from home, I hardly use it and the missus uses it more than me.

However, I'm not 100% sure what to do here, so any advice would be appreciated. The ZF unit in my car has never been serviced and I was on the verge of getting it done before I sell it. I spoke to a BMW specialist to book the car in for a service and fluid change on the ZF unit but as the car as done 118000, they said if they service it now, it's more than likely to cause problems and if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

They recommended that if it was being done at the 80 - 90000 miles, they said I should book it in.

So the question is shall I bother with it?

It runs smoothly and has no issues. I thought if I get this done, then there shouldn't be any issues.

Thanks

Stuart
p.s. When I do sell it, it won't be the last Alpina I have, I'll be looking at another one in the near future.

[D3orbust]

I don’t think you’ll have any trouble selling, I got a decent price for #21 when I part Ex’d against my B5.

Just factor in the price for the service when you sell.

They are still a great car.

[Metrics]

You will get lots of opinions on this. In some ways you can understand the garage not wanting to create problems due to the preventative maintenance of an oil change!
If the car is running fine, and you are looking to sell, leave it as it is. Something for the next owner to consider.
I had the gearbox oil and filter changed on my D5 at 87k

[Marc 76]

I recently had my car serviced at a BMW specialist (Autohaus north of York) and asked about a potential future AT fluid service (and pan change because the filter is part of the pan)

They said its much discussed because apparently ZF say the box is sealed for life, but Alpina list it as a servicable item in their service schedules.

So on that basis they said they can do it, but whether it needs to be done or not is debatable.

So that got me thinking i wonder if its still listed in the service books as a legacy from older auto boxes, or whether Alpina just think due to the increase in power and torque from the standard BMW cars its better to have it done.

As i've also heard of issues being thrown up after the service, i havent bothered just yet!

[Grumpyjohn1957]

So on that basis they said they can do it, but whether it needs to be done or not is debatable.

Don’t know Marc. Dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t!
See my post in general chit chat. Bit the bullet and changed it on the basis I frequently “enjoy” the cars darker, animalistic side.
I endeavour to maintain her to an extremely high standard (with the bills to match) fluids being critical to this. Apparently M5s are supposed to have diff’ oil changed around 60K and the transfer box at 30K. I’ll be having this done shortly, despite the lack of authoritative guidance. I suspect you’re mechanically sympathetic to the D5 but don’t know your milage. Probably no harm in having it done if in excess of 100K as the fluid will be ageing regardless. I can assure you it will behave differently afterwards, hopefully for the better once re-adapted. Seems to be a dearth of information on ZF8s other than from people with broken ones.

[Marc 76]

See my post in general chit chat.

Ah yes, that's a very interesting post John. I knew i'd seen it a while ago i just couldn't remember which section it was in!

It is something on my list of to-do's as the car has crept over 100k recently, and although i like to hit the loud pedal on occasion it does spend the majority of its time motorway cruising in 8th so in general it doesn't have a hard life.

Perhaps next service i'll include this too, especially on your recommendation that a difference in smoothness is apparent. Not that i think anything feels untoward at the moment, it would be nice to have it feel even better!

I wonder if the relearning is to do with any software reset that the tech might have to do, or simply the box recognising a change in the oil viscosity and taking time to adjust to that.

[Metrics]

They said its much discussed because apparently ZF say the box is sealed for life, but Alpina list it as a servicable item in their service schedules.

When I researched this a few years ago I found the opposite - ZF as the manufacturer state changing the oil and filter at 100k kms (60k miles). While BMW state it's sealed for life.
I'm not aware of what Alpina themselves recommend (anything you can share on this would be great), but on the whole I've found Alpina to "officially" to follow BMW (I suspect due to the cars being easy to run and maintain through any BMW main dealer), but unofficially they suggest doing things differently based on good engineering practice (like more frequent oil changes).

[Charles]

Many years ago, I was told by Alpina to change the oil every 60k miles, despite the sealed for life statement by BMW