Yes makes sense if the initial drain is 5.5 liters(5 gallons is close to 5.5l). If you did get a quart where would you top up? because you cant. The only way to fill is to have the car level in the air and then the trans heated to temp stated. Are you sure your not talking about the power steering cause that actually takes red ATF. The trans is like motor oil.

FYI some local Napa stores do carry Pentosin ATF1 in stock in quarts

 

I went to my local and was told they buy it in large container and I would have to bring my own jug so I decided to look into other fluid replacement

 

well....i actually called another BMW dealer and was told they do sell the oil in 1/2 litters. Here is the BMW part number for it: 83220406929

i dont want to change the ATF just need to somehow top it off. I purchased a vehicle from an auction and the cooling system was removed including the trans oil cooler. I have reinstalled the cooling system and have refilled the POWER STEERING fluid (which was completely drained) but the vehicle wont engage into gear and my suspicion is that the ATF is low as well and needs to be filled back up. I am thinking i can just undo one of the pipes going into the trans cooler and fill up from there. I am now going to BMW to buy 1-2 litter of ATF by providing my own container.

 

DIY worked like a charm! Thank You OP!!!

 

What fluid did you use?

 

i got BMW part number 83220406929 that was the part number on the oil pan (sticker right under the full hole)

 

Yay finally got the trans service done 3 shops later. Cost me about 270 in labor well worth it since I just got done doing the complete front suspension which saved me enough money so I outsourced this job. Mine actually took 7.5 liters of fluid after drain. It was sitting for a few hours I guess. All in all not to bad. i did use the Mercon SP. The shop offered me there fluid whic was redline dtf 4 which was a little bit better than mine as far as wear protection and service intervals but the Mercon is more fuel efficient just needs to be changes every 2 years or sooner. Oh and pay the extra money for the Mecatronics rubber sleeve(20 bucks) its only assessable when pan is off and it is prone to leak when old.

 

I had the Mechtronics rubber sleeve replaced by dealer because it leaked after I changed the ATF. It was covered by the extended warranty - about $1000. When this part was replaced, my car only had about 50,000 miles on the wheels. So, I will consider to replace the sleeve again at 100,000 miles when I am going to change the ATF and pan.

 

I recently did a pan and fluid change for my 6HP26 using the excellent info from this post. I also ordered the mechatronics sleeve, but since it was not leaking, not even a little, I did not replace it. The refill was more difficult than I thought it would be and I ended up spilling about half a liter of the fluid on the floor. A hot exhaust pipe on the V8 runs right by the drain plug and I also got a bit of a burn from it. The car was on jack stands which made the job a lot harder than it would be on a lift. I strongly recommend using a lift for this job if you can borrow one or rent time on one.

Out of curiosity, I broke open the old plastic oil pan to check out the filter. I was surprised at how clean it was, it looked white, like new. Aside from some very fine metal powder on the magnets, the pan & filter were very clean. I drive my car pretty hard at times and expected to see a lot more evidence of it than I did. So, unless you are totally obsessed with tranmission fluid cleanliness, I would suggest that replacing the pan/ filter combo is not terribly important and could probably be skipped.

I also recommend that anyone replacing the pan & filter order at least 5 of the pan bolts. (I think someone else on this board recommended that, but I missed that post until after I had started the job.) I had a few bolts that were a bit corroded, difficult to remove and should have been replaced, but since I doubt I will replace the pan again, I didn't think it was all that important.

 

One question - how do you borrow a lift or rent one ? All the lifts in local garage or dealer are installed into the floor. Are you talking about something else ?

When I change the pan, I will replace all the bolts not just a few, peace of mind.