vaca

I actually forget whether or not they had washers......if they did, I did NOT change them. I do know they were a nice snug fit so I have no worries whatsoever that they'll leak or seep. Also, you know you need a 14mm Allen (inverted hex) socket, right? The plugs came out easily, by the way.

miguex

I recommend you read this http://transmissionfluidguide.com/Benefits...shing.12951.htm

lcc014

Agree, flushing is the right way to do it. But, for DIYers, there is no BMW flushing procedure avaliable in TIS to perform the flush. Even dealer just do the drain and refill with oil pan replacement. Unlike my Volvo, Volvo service manual did show how to flush. I flush my Volvo's tranny fluid every 30k miles with Mobile 1 ATF and new drain plug O-ring. So, drain and refill is the only way to deal with E60 for now until someone can find a procedure for DIYers to perform the flush.

I don't believe that drain and refill is waste of money. 4 - 5 liters of clean fluid in the system is better than nothing at all. If you do the drain and refill up to 3 times in a road, you can get about 80% - 20% (clean - old) in the system. There is no 100% clean fluid when using drain and refill method.

pinguhk

I agree not wast of money at all.
Also this cost much less than changing a new gearbox

starpup

I just hit 50K if someone does this can they do a DIY for all of us to follow I would really appreciate it and sure all the other E60 members would also!

miguex

there is DIY for BMW 3 series but it should work for our 5-series. Similar procedures.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticl..._Fluid_Auto.htm

Or from X5 forum.

http://www.x5world.com/x5-e53-forum/7957-t...change-diy.html

vaca

That first link to pelicanparts.com is for a 4 speed GM transmission 4L 30E I beleive. It is also used in Isuzu Troopers, and coincidentally, I used to have a Trooper and changed that tranny fluid several times.

Even though the transmissions are very different, the e60 530i has a six-speed ZF, and the older 3 series had a four-speed GM, the change procedures are almost identical. I have done both transmissions myself. The biggest differences are:

1) a LOT more clearance under the trooper
2) you need to remove some of the under engine, aerodynamic panels from the 530i
3) the plugs are different (GM uses regular hex bolts, ZF uses allen (inverse hex) plugs.

If someone wants a tutorial for the 530i, here it is.....

1) safely raise the car at least 10 to 12 inches
2) remove underpanels...several screws and such...no real trick here, but sort of a pain
3) unplug the fill hole first from the SIDE of the trans...keep engine off of course, fluid should come out of the fill hole, yes that is correct
4) remove the main drain plug....let drain
5) install drain plug
6) refill with atf using pump or whatever you can figure out to get the fluid in...it gets messy here
7) engine still off.....fill til the atf runs out of fill hole
8) start engine and let idle
9) fill another quart or so until it drains out again
10) quickly put plug back in
11) clean up the big mess

12) if you want to be perfect you can find out the exact temp that tranny is suppposed to be and then open fill plug at that temp and let the little excess drain.

I just let it go expecting that maybe there's a few extra ounces in there since I filled while the tranny was barely warm to to the touch.

Hope this helps.

lcc014

Thanks for the step by step instruction. One question though, from step 7 to step 8, did you put the fill plug back into the tranny first ? When you said "let the little excess drain" in step 12, does that mean open the fill plug while engine is running will have some fluid come out ?

Thanks,

pinguhk

thats for the write up.
its the same foe my 525 too

vaca

I don't think I bothered to put the fill plug in after filling with engine off (between 7 and 8 as you write)..again, it's pretty messy

Under 12, which I did not do myself by the way, is in order to get the EXACT right level. The tranny should be filled to the bottom of the fill plug while the tranny is at a certain operating temperature. (I am not sure exactly what that temp is).

The warmer the fluid, the more it expands..so the level will rise as the fluid temp rises, and conversly will fall as temps fall.

Now, I do not think there would be a very big difference in fluid volume or level between say, 70F and 100F....I would imagine though that there might be a meaningful difference between 70F and 200F. So, I would suggest against opening the fill plug at high tranny temps since it is likely that more fluid than would be ideal would come out.

Also, like I posted earlier, I think filling while engine is running and tranny is at a reasonably warm to the touch, would be fine.

I am NOT a master mechanic or anything, but I did go to college (Rutgers) as a mechanical engineer and have been very successful at maintaining not just my family's cars, but also those of my brother's, parent's, in-laws friend's, some neighbors, etc.