[djy5005]

Before someone blasts me, I've searched threads here and other forums and cannot find anything other than anecdotal evidence that people have put various oils in their transmission without some detriment. There doesn't seem to be any facts laying around for this question.

I have the 6MT transmission for my 2010 328xi. I need to change the oil in it, but cannot find actual specs required for the transmission, beyond the Genuine BMW oil specs. The BMW brand looks like that it's a GL-4 with an MTL-LT-3 compliance rating.

However, I've seen other oils which state that they are GL-5 oils that meet the MTL-LT-3 rating as well. I've also seen Redline advertise their ATF4 fluid as desired compatible fluid with the 6MT transmission, even though they have other MTL-LT-3 compliant fluids. But I know GL-4 and GL-5 oils do not play well with each other in differentials, so why would it be any different in a transmission, with even more dissimilar materials introduced?

Does anyone know what the actual requirements for the 6MT are? Not anecdotal evidence, but factual requirements. I don't even know if the BMW branded fluid is the right stuff, to be honest - It could just be like the giant oil drums that they use, even though it might not be the totally correct oil for the car they still use it because "bulk".

[wayman519]

If you are not going to use Oil, Fluid or lube from BMW then use the selectors below to find the right product.

https://fuchs-eu.lubricantadvisor.co...ry=us&lang=eng

https://www.liqui-moly.us/en/product...101/USA/ENG/1/

[djy5005]

Originally Posted by wayman519

If you are not going to use Oil, Fluid or lube from BMW then use the selectors below to find the right product.

https://fuchs-eu.lubricantadvisor.co...ry=us&lang=eng

https://www.liqui-moly.us/en/product...101/USA/ENG/1/

If you look at the liquiMoly website, it also conflicts with BMW standards. In fact, I'm pretty sure that it doesn't even list a lube that is compliant with LT-3.

I saw another thread on another forum where a guy recently called up the redline rep and asked him about the LT-2 to LT-3 change, and the Redline rep had no idea. He said if that was true that D6 fluid was more appropriate than the recommended D4 on their website. It just seems like there's so much misinformation about the topic for these transmissions.

[wayman519]

Originally Posted by djy5005

If you look at the liquiMoly website, it also conflicts with BMW standards. In fact, I'm pretty sure that it doesn't even list a lube that is compliant with LT-3.

I saw another thread on another forum where a guy recently called up the redline rep and asked him about the LT-2 to LT-3 change, and the Redline rep had no idea. He said if that was true that D6 fluid was more appropriate than the recommended D4 on their website. It just seems like there's so much misinformation about the topic for these transmissions.

Try emailing ZF or Getrag. ZF brands its own fluid, not sure about Getrag.

I ran into a similar issue with CHF11S steering fluid. Fuchs has 4 labels for the same stuff for different markets. Confusing as hell.

Whats wrong with MTF5100 from liquimoly?
Says it complies with :
BMW 83 22 7 533 818, BMW MTF LT-3, Fiat 9.55550-MZ6, Ford WSS-M2C 200-D2, Toyota, VW G 052 178, VW G 052 512, VW G 052 726, VW G 060 726, VW G 070 726

[hassmaschine]

IMO - if you just want to make this easy, just get it from BMW.

This is a once a decade/100k miles oil change. The extra $10 or whatever to know it will work perfectly is worth it.

As an example, I'm pretty sure I know alternative fluids you could use on an xdrive transfercase that are half the price of OEM. In theory, they're cheaper and would work just fine. But, in reality that's at most a $10 savings.. spread out over 10 years / 100,000 miles it's just not worth the effort.