[kluski]

Since the OP posted images from a non-XI, I am sharing some from my 2006 330XI. The front driveshaft is directly in the way of the fill plug. It does make it a pain as you have to disconnect the driveshaft to fill the tranny back up. Then install the driveshaft so you can run the car for 20 minutes, then remove the driveshaft and top the tranny off again. I do not know if you can run the car and go through the gears without hooking the driveshaft back up, so I went the long route and re-connected it in between to make sure I didn't screw anything up.

It did make a big difference. I started to notice a harder jerk when it downshifted and sometimes the gears would hang longer than they used to. After changing the fluid/filter, those things went away.