Hi I had my 2008 BMW 535i sitting on stand for the past 3 weeks. Today I decided to work on it with the intention of draining and refill the transmission plus replace all of the seals. I open the FILL PLUG, not the drain plug, and around 4 quarts of transmission fluid came rushing out into my catch bucket. To my surprise the color of the transmission fluid was..A RED WINE COLOR. is this the normal color to see when opening up the fill plug. I am the second owner of this car, and as far as i know the transmission fluid was never change, cause the transmission is showing sign of leakage, plus the car fax didnt show any transmission services for the original owner. I am just wondering if the color of the fluid coming from the transmission should have a red wine color or not..thanks

 

Lifeguard 6 is not red - it must have been changed.

When mine came (original fluid) out it was like dirty cooking oil - and definitely smelled different to typical ATF.

What does it smell like?

 

Lifeguard6 is not red. Used Lifeguard6 is usually light to partly dark brown in color, it almost looks like new engine oil when it comes out.

fluid will come out of the fill plug if you dont have the car running, that is normal.

 

Hi ripley thanks for responding the color of my transmission fluid is more like a red wine color not dirty cooking oil. here is an attachment of what the transmission fluid looked like from my transmission. To me it look like some one change the fluid out and put in red line instead.

 

Hi KyleB thanks for responding the color of my transmission fluid is more like a red wine color, here is an attachment of that the transmission fluid from my transmission looked like. I am thinking that the original owner or the dealer who i bought the car from service the transmission and replace the ZF lifeguard fluid with something else which i am thinking is REDLINE. or some other fluid which is red in color. Now my question is can i still refill the transmission with ZF lifeguard 6 even thought the torque converter has this red color fluid in it..

 

thanks guys for this thread i am new to BMW i have a 2008 550i touring i checked the trans oil level and saw it looked like cooking oil i thought OMG its dieing expecting to see cherry red so thanks to you for easing my mind that is the color it should be