Transmission and differential fluids

[easport]

I bought my 2001 330Ci used and I got a bunch of service records from the previous owner. The receipt for Inspection II shows transmission fluid as one of the part items. My question is, assuming that it means that the transmission fluid was flushed or changed during Inspection II, was differential fluid changed at the same time as the transmission fluid or are they two different things? If they are different, my car has about 65 kmile, I probably need to change the differential fluid soon. How much will this cost at an independent shop or is this an easy DIY? Thanks a lot.

[sd203]

Believe me, I'm not opting against changing the fluids, but call your BMW mechanic first, and speak to him about what you want to do. I have an Automatic, with 77,000 miles, and the dealer said not to worry about the trans fliud, the car is fine. But that's MY car. Having driven a stick most of my life, I have had little ocassion to worry about changing or topping off fliuds, but it's good that you are concerned. Preventative maintenance is always better than paying for a new transmission. While your at it, keep in mind that brake lines need to be bled, coolant flushed etc.... You'll do just fine if you stay on top of it. Good luck with the car.

[parabellum]

Call your dealer....yeah right....the same dealer who will tell you that the diff has "lifetime" fluid?

Swapping out the diff fluid is literally easier than an oil change....one drain bolt, one fill bolt...drain it all out....replace drain bolt...fill until fluid comes out of the fill bolt...replace fill bolt.

bimmerdiy.com has all the info you need to DIY.

And change the trans fluid every 30K with either redline D4atf or Royal Purple....either of those are 100x better than the crap BMW 'lifetime' fluid.

[Tangent]

And change the trans fluid every 30K with either redline D4atf or Royal Purple....either of those are 100x better than the crap BMW 'lifetime' fluid.

+1 for the Redline D4 atf/mtf. I recently changed my manual trans fluid and used D4 and the shiftiing is much smoother. Diff fluid got replaced with Redline gear oil, the 75/90 I think it was...

[Spitfire]

2+ it's really easy to do but you'll need a few supplies.
Call around before you go driving around for your differential oil at the chain autoparts stores.
Around here, NAPA, Autoquest, Autozone, Advanced Auto, O'reily-->none of them have the high-end oil that you want (I learned the hard way with the car already up on the jack stands).

[parabellum]

+1 for the Redline D4 atf/mtf. I recently changed my manual trans fluid and used D4 and the shiftiing is much smoother. Diff fluid got replaced with Redline gear oil, the 75/90 I think it was...

Absolutely....next to the short throw shifter kit...this was the biggest improvement to the shifting in my car....greatly reduced the cold weather notchiness.

And I like Turner Motorsports for fluids and other stuff: http://www.turnermotorsport.com/html/show_category.asp?txtsearchParamCat=E46328

Scroll down to find the fluids...

[ganseg]

I've done the Redline on my last two BMWs, but am wondering about Royal Purple this time - thoughts? (6 sp manual with 41K)

[Smoody]

I think that unless the service invoice specifically mentions a drain and fill or shows multiple quarts of fluid. I would operate with the assumption the technician just topped off the fluid level.

I would agree with the others here that you should change the fluids on a regular basis. When I drained the diff fluid at roughly 45K miles it was dirty. I changed the ATF at 65K and looked more like used motor oil instead of ATF.

[f1fan99]

Believe me, I'm not opting against changing the fluids, but call your BMW mechanic first, and speak to him about what you want to do. I have an Automatic, with 77,000 miles, and the dealer said not to worry about the trans fliud, the car is fine. But that's MY car. Having driven a stick most of my life, I have had little ocassion to worry about changing or topping off fliuds, but it's good that you are concerned. Preventative maintenance is always better than paying for a new transmission. While your at it, keep in mind that brake lines need to be bled, coolant flushed etc.... You'll do just fine if you stay on top of it. Good luck with the car.

Local BMW dealer will not change tranny fluid when the car is beyond 80k miles. Food for thought for you... (~$450 if they do)

So far my opinion of BMW auto tranny's is that they do not have much of a life beyond 100k. There are of course exceptions, but those cars probably were well maintained, with fortunate owners.

I will buy other bimmers, but never another automatic one.

[easport]

Swapping out the diff fluid is literally easier than an oil change....one drain bolt, one fill bolt...drain it all out....replace drain bolt...fill until fluid comes out of the fill bolt...replace fill bolt.


Is this for differential or transmission fluids? Or are they one and the same? Btw I have a 5 sp. Thanks.

[ImportFanatic]

Is this for differential or transmission fluids? Or are they one and the same? Btw I have a 5 sp. Thanks.

For both, tranny is up front behind the motor, has a drain bolt at the bottom, fill bolt on the side. Same thing with the rear differential, drain on the bottom, fill on the side.

[parabellum]

Yes...though I did forget to mention that the trans has a filter you can change as well.

My feeling is that the filter *could* be changed every 30K...but I think I will do it every other change...its not like an oil filter.

[Spitfire]

People need to specify manual or auto tranny.

The thread is all mixed up.

[CreamySmooth]

i h ave a 02 325 with 61k miles. Had the dealer change the auto tranny fluid n brake flud n all the other fluids + inspection II. Car drives MUCH smoother and shifts extremely smooth.

[Philly 318i]

+1 for the Redline D4 atf/mtf. I recently changed my manual trans fluid and used D4 and the shiftiing is much smoother. Diff fluid got replaced with Redline gear oil, the 75/90 I think it was...


How much Redline gear oil bottles do I need for 330ci differential?
Thanks.

[acarrera79]

get two quarts

[FSUmac]

Ok, I have a 2001 E46 330i and a 2003 E46 330i. Both are sedans, both are auto transmission, and both have near 60k miles.

What kind of transmission and differential fluid do you recommend I use?

We looked under both cars and the transmission oil BMW part numbers were:

2001 330i, BMW part # 83229407807

2003 330i, BMW part # 83220024359


Thanks for any help you can offer. :)

[Tangent]

How much Redline gear oil bottles do I need for 330ci differential?
Thanks.

1 quart of fluid for the diff; it has a capacity of .95 quart. The trans has a fluid capacity of 1.3 quarts in the 330 vs the 1.1 of the 325.

Good DIYs: http://www.bmw325i.net/maint_rear_diff_fluid.shtml
http://www.bmw325i.net/maint_tran_fluid.shtml

[FSUmac]

Ok, I have a 2001 E46 330i and a 2003 E46 330i. Both are sedans, both are auto transmission, and both have near 60k miles.

What kind of transmission and differential fluid do you recommend I use?

We looked under both cars and the transmission oil BMW part numbers were:

2001 330i, BMW part # 83229407807

2003 330i, BMW part # 83220024359


Thanks for any help you can offer. :)

Anybody? :(

[parabellum]

Trans: Redline D4ATF.

Diff: Redline 75w90 gear oil.

Both are carried by Turner Motorsports, one of our vendors.

[FSUmac]

Thanks!

[ganseg]

I've done the Redline on my last two BMWs, but am wondering about Royal Purple this time - thoughts? (6 sp manual with 41K) What other good options should I consider? Thanks!

[Alekm]

Local BMW dealer will not change tranny fluid when the car is beyond 80k miles. Food for thought for you... (~$450 if they do)



Why wouldn't they? I have a 99 323 with 104k and I am preparing for a differential and trans fluid changes after I do my brakes, watter pump, belts.

[ImportFanatic]

Why wouldn't they? I have a 99 323 with 104k and I am preparing for a differential and trans fluid changes after I do my brakes, watter pump, belts.

Liability issues. Supposibly after 80k miles on an auto tranny, if you hadn't had scheduled flushes before, the dirt/grime/metal shavings or whatever have set place. Usually people say flushing old fluid after 80k can show leaks in gaskets or loss in pressure/friction amongts parts. This is do to gunk having sealed alot of gaskets and what not.

I don't see how they can say lifetime fluid in an auto gm tranny but I know some gm trannies in gm cars state to flush the fluid?

[FSUmac]

Trans: Redline D4ATF.

Diff: Redline 75w90 gear oil.

Both are carried by Turner Motorsports, one of our vendors.

So if I do a drain and fill, will the redline mix ok with the Esso ATF fluid left in the torque converter?

[ImportFanatic]

So if I do a drain and fill, will the redline mix ok with the Esso ATF fluid left in the torque converter?

A drain and fill wont do much. Auto trans have like 10+ qts of fluid in there, the drain will only drain like 3-4 at the most. Granted that's like 4 qts clean, you'd have to drain and fill like a few times after running it each time to even attempt to getting all the fluid swapped.

[mikeluvdakids]

A drain and fill wont do much. Auto trans have like 10+ qts of fluid in there, the drain will only drain like 3-4 at the most. Granted that's like 4 qts clean, you'd have to drain and fill like a few times after running it each time to even attempt to getting all the fluid swapped.

that sucks... a bmw certified shop quoted me for $130 to do an atf drain and refill... soyour saying it wouldnt be worth it since there is still dirty/old atf in there?

[ImportFanatic]

that sucks... a bmw certified shop quoted me for $130 to do an atf drain and refill... soyour saying it wouldnt be worth it since there is still dirty/old atf in there?

Auto trans have a drain plug? That sounds more like a flush to me. It's possible they drop the pan, replace the trans filter and trans gasket. That may call for 130$, but a true drain and fill on anything is no different than an oil change.

[mikeluvdakids]

oh ok...well its worth doing it in my opinion to try and preserve my car as long as possible... 83k miles and im NOT trying to have my tranny go up

[FSUmac]

A drain and fill wont do much. Auto trans have like 10+ qts of fluid in there, the drain will only drain like 3-4 at the most. Granted that's like 4 qts clean, you'd have to drain and fill like a few times after running it each time to even attempt to getting all the fluid swapped.

The charts I have seen say that 6.1 qts are in the transmission with the rest in the torque converter. Not sure how accurate that is. I figured since my car was at 60k, I might as well drop the pan, replace the filter and gasket, and get what fluid out that I can. I plan on going back in and doing it again soon to get more of it out.

[ImportFanatic]

The charts I have seen say that 6.1 qts are in the transmission with the rest in the torque converter. Not sure how accurate that is. I figured since my car was at 60k, I might as well drop the pan, replace the filter and gasket, and get what fluid out that I can. I plan on going back in and doing it again soon to get more of it out.


Might be so, the whole auto tranny is ran off of fluid. The valve body is depedant on fluid and the torque converter is a giant shell looking thing filled with auto fluid. Fluid actually turns the converter and the tranny. It never hurts to drop the pan and replace the gasket for preventative maintance, because it's better than nothing, especially for a DIY.

[ImportFanatic]

oh ok...well its worth doing it in my opinion to try and preserve my car as long as possible... 83k miles and im NOT trying to have my tranny go up

Definately.. :D

[justducttapeit]

so for my rear differential would you say:
Red Line Synthetic Differential Fluid - 75W140NS or else
Red Line Synthetic Differential Fluid - 75W90

My differential is all stock. 2000 323i

[soontobe]

To piggyback on the previous question, for a 330ci should I be using 75/140 or 75W90 for the differential. On the Turner Motorsport page the 75/140 is for the M series and the 75W90 is for the xi.......

[Lawrence1]

75W90 is what you should be using in your differential on all non-M E46 cars. the 75W140NS is too thick for a non-M e46 and it contains a limited slip additive that you don't need since non-M E46s are not equipped with an LSD.

[e36_m3_turbo]

How about Mobil 1 for diff fluid?

[Oz Striker]

Ressurecting an old post here, but i was wondering how much old diff and manual transmission fluid in left behind after a drain?

The reason i ask is i presume its not a good idea to mix signicant quantites of BMWs original oil with stuff like Royal Purple and Redline. If its only a small negligable amount then thats ok, but anything more than 0.25 litre/quart and i think i'd be unsure as to whether its worth doing.:confused