lcc014

Finally, I bought the 8mm hex bit to try to open the fill plug. According to BMW TIS (provided by Rudy), fill plug is 8mm hex. However, there was not enough room for a 1/2" ratchet to unscrew the plug. Plug was very tight and obstructed by tranny shifter cable. I managed to use an 6 point extension and 14mm offset wrench to unscrew the fill plug. I had to use my leg to push the wrench to unscrew the plug.

8mm hex bit + 6 points extension + 14mm offset wrench.


Fill plug removed from tranny.


Fill plug hole.


I refilled tranny with fluid pump. Fresh tranny fluid was in golden color. It would be easier if fluid pump hose is more than 2 feet long. If that was the case, I could pump the fluid on the side of the car. But I pumped the fluid under the car, lying down.

Pumping fresh tranny fluid to tranny.


Other end of fluid pump hose.


Car was still on jack stand and a little bit inclined to the passenger side (due to the inclination of my driveway).

With a catch pan under the tranny, I pumped for about 2.5 liters of fresh fluid until it started to drip out of the hole. Now, that was the messy part. Removal of the pump hose and installation of fill plug. Hand filled with tranny fluid. I hand tighten the fill plug and then started the car. Car was idling for about 20 minutes. I stopped the car and opened up the fill plug. There was a bit of tranny fluid dripping out. Re-inserted the pump hose and started car again. No more dripping right away. I started pumping fluid again until fluid started to drip out of the fill hole again. Reinstalled fill plug to hand tighten + a little bit more. Then I went back inside the car.

With handbrake ON, foot on Brake pedal all the time, I shifted the tranny from P - R - N - D - P for 5 times. I stayed at each setting for about 10 seconds. When I did this procedure, I could feel that there was a little choke when I shifted from P to R. However, there was no choke at all from N to D, very smooth!! I stopped the car and then went back under the car to tighten the fill plug as much as possible with my hands. According to TIS, we are supposed to use torque wrench. There were really no room for a torque wrench to get into the fill plug area.

I lowered the car back on ground and drove it around the area to test the tranny without under covers. Everything worked fine and smooth !!!! I looked at the amount of fresh fluid used, it was about 4.45 liters. With all the dripping during several the pump hose/fill plug replacement, the actual fluid usage was about 4.1 or 4.2 liters. That was about the same amount of old fluid that I drained out.

Another thing when working under the tranny was that I saw the rear oxygen sensor located a bit after the passenger side front wheel. It was good to know about that. I will tackle the sensor replacement at 120k miles

vesil

Welldone! Thanks for good DIY documentation.

I think that I leave this to my dealer, because some special tools are required and with my milage I need fluid change only every third year. Good learning anyway!

lcc014

There was not special tools needed. All the tools that I used were standard:

For under cover removal - philips screw driver, 8mm socket, 10mm socket,

For tranny drain plug removal - 10mm hex bit,

For tranny drain plug installation - 10mm hex bit and torque wrench,

For fill plug - 8mm hex bit, offset wrench and 6 points extension.

That was it.

The messy part was to go under the car with limited room back and forth many times and to deal with tranny fluid......

SmithsonGA

Great job!!

At first the picture of the oil hand pump and plastic tubing looked like it went from the fill plug around and back into the tranny pan, but I see that is the top of your hand pump.

I am used to the ATF fluid being RED.

lcc014

You were right, the hand pump shaft did get wet after a few pump but there was no fluid dripping from the shaft. Also, this was the first time that I saw golden brown color tranny fluid. I use to Mobil 1 ATF in my Volvo which is pink red. So BMW uses golden brown tranny fluid !!

I need to find the vinyl tube that will fit the hand pump such that I can pump fluid sitting down next to the car not lying down under the car. It was very inconvenience and uncomfortable to pump fresh fluid under the car especially when moving pump from an empty bottle to a new bottle of tranny fluid.

vaca

Great write up and good photos to go along. It was certainly more comprehensive than my one paragraph that I posted a couple weeks ago. The photos add a lot.

Couple questions/comments: was I mistaken when I said you would need a 14mm Allen head socket?

You must have been a lot neater than me, sicne you wnet through only 4 and a half quarts, I went through quite a bit mor my garage floor will attest to that.

I didn't have too much trouble removing the fill plug, I remember it was little funny angle, but nothing too bad.

I wonder if I should have used the ZF fluid instead of the Mobil 1 I used. I have to say, that the transmission still shifts exactly like it always did, which is perfect.

Did you notice any difference in shifting?

lcc014

You used Mobil 1 ATF ? When I checked Mobil website to look at the Mobil 1 ATF spec., it did not mention anything about Shell M.1365 compatibility. That's why I went for the German fluid ($$$$).

For the fill plug, due to the tight space limitation, I used a 8mm hex bit socket and a 6 point extension. The extension plugged into the hex bit socket. These combination gave me the hex shape end for the 14mm offset wrench to grep on to. Without that 6 point extension, I had no way to use a ratchet of wrench to unscrew the fill plug. I hope that the photos + description could explain what I meant. Anyway, i found a sturdy 8mm hex bit socket from Snapon tool. It is a very short 8mm hex bit socket (only about 9mm long + the socket itself). I ordered it today and will be using this sturdy 8mm hex bit socket to make room for a 3/8" ratchet. If the 8mm sturdy hex bit socket works, then I can unscrew + screw the fill plug much more easier.

I only drove the car for a few blocks. I did not feel any different. I will drive the car more on Wednesday (80 miles from home to work and back home on highway). That will tell me any real difference.

sp100

Hey Icc014, I thought we are supposed to fill the fluid till it overflows with the engine running, transmission in park and the tempurature of the fluid around 100 degrees.From your diy, it looks like you had the engine off when you did your final fill. Please advise. Great diy though. I am planning on doing mine, but do not know what fluid to use. Castrol import multi vehicle atf state that it can be used for shell m-1375.4, which is the fluid in there now. I am leaning towards using it. Anyone used it?Please let me know.
Thanks

lcc014

Please read my post carefully. I did say that I stopped the car after idling for about 20 minutes. Then I open up the fill plug, reinserted pump hose and started car again. Pumped fluid after car started and stopped until fluid dripping out of fill hole again.

A forum member in Canada, he used Castrol oil.