[kiwi29]

I'm new to changing oil on my car and I wanted to change my tranny fluid being that I'm almost at 60k miles, does anyone have knowledge of this? And is the differential oil the the same as the transmission oil?

[e90pilot]

Manual or AT? For manual trannies, the going consensus is 60k mi. BMW says you never need to change it. Someone recently sent a fluid sample to Blackstone Labs. The sample was from the factory fill at around 60k mi if I remember correctly. There were elevated levels of metal in the fluid from break-in but they didn't see anything too disconcerting givin that it was a factory fill. BMW's fluid is pretty good and the tranny isn't super hard on it.

The diff fluid is NOT the same as the tranny. It uses Castrol XO I think. The dealer does not have bottles of it like the tranny fluid. They only have large drums, but I think they can still sell it to you. They just put it in some other container for you. There have been people here, including myself, who did not change the fluid and it all slowly leaked out. There's no way to tell of it does other than changinge the fluid. My diff was fried and was $2000 to replace. Also there is apparently no drain plug so you have to pump it out. I would change it with the tranny fluid.

[BKV122]

Manual Trans- http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80198
Auto Trans- http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=367729
Diff- http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=385975

[kiwi29]

Originally Posted by e90pilot

Manual or AT? For manual trannies, the going consensus is 60k mi. BMW says you never need to change it. Someone recently sent a fluid sample to Blackstone Labs. The sample was from the factory fill at around 60k mi if I remember correctly. There were elevated levels of metal in the fluid from break-in but they didn't see anything too disconcerting givin that it was a factory fill. BMW's fluid is pretty good and the tranny isn't super hard on it.

The diff fluid is NOT the same as the tranny. It uses Castrol XO I think. The dealer does not have bottles of it like the tranny fluid. They only have large drums, but I think they can still sell it to you. They just put it in some other container for you. There have been people here, including myself, who did not change the fluid and it all slowly leaked out. There's no way to tell of it does other than changinge the fluid. My diff was fried and was $2000 to replace. Also there is apparently no drain plug so you have to pump it out. I would change it with the tranny fluid.

I have an Manual, how much would you say it'd cost from the dealership to change the tranny oil and diff oil? I want to get an actual lsd somewhere down the road but hopefully soon, I'm tired of uneven tire wear and would you say its really difficult to do? Or just tedious ?

Originally Posted by BKV122

Manual Trans- http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80198
Auto Trans- http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=367729
Diff- http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=385975

Thank youuuuu!

[BKV122]

I changed my mt and diff fluids to Redline fluids. If you know of a regular mechanic to change and you buy your own fluids should be less then the dealer. I think i paid about $100 for mt fluid and diff fluid for both front n rear diff, XI.

[Tom K.]

My dealer charged 1 hour labor to replace the MT fluid with Redline that I provided for my E46. I did it at 70k miles and noticed a definite improvement in shifting smoothness, especially in very cold weather.

Tom

[kiwi29]

Originally Posted by BKV122

I changed my mt and diff fluids to Redline fluids. If you know of a regular mechanic to change and you buy your own fluids should be less then the dealer. I think i paid about $100 for mt fluid and diff fluid for both front n rear diff, XI.

Would you say its hard to do alone? Id really rather do it myself to save money. I have access to a floor lift and most of the tools id need, I'm just unsure around the car itself. I see a lot of people doing it by themselves and it seems easier enough. Btw, where did you get the redline fluids from?

Originally Posted by Tom K.

My dealer charged 1 hour labor to replace the MT fluid with Redline that I provided for my E46. I did it at 70k miles and noticed a definite improvement in shifting smoothness, especially in very cold weather.

Tom

What about with AC blasting? I've noticed a lot of harder shifts whenever I have it on. How much did you spend at the dealership?