Sarge

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience changing the transmission fluid on the 535xi wagon?

I've found this thread which goes into great detail for a sedan 535i, but I'm wondering if there's any difference with regard to the AWD wagon? Is the capacity greater? Is there an auxiliary transmission cooler on the wagon? Is there any difference with it being AWD vs RWD?

I've got the Bentley manual, which is meant to service EVERY gas-powered iteration of the E60/E61 in the US market, and it makes no distinctions between the automatic transmission on a 525i vs a 550i vs a 535xi wagon. Are they all identical?

I'm planning to order the parts and do it myself, but I'm not sure what to order. (9 liters of BMW fluid, 24 drain pan hex bolts, new plastic drain pan with integrated filter, correct?)

If I don't have a scan tool, will I need to take it to a shop that has one to 'let it know' it has new fluid?

Lastly, has anyone changed the differential fluids?

The car just passed 100k, so I'm out of warranty and generally looking to 'protect' everything I can...

Below are photos of the Bentley pages covering the transmission fluid, FWIW.

Thanks for any advice!

bmWay

Hello,

I had the Transmission fluid/ oil, filter, seal changed at 250.000km on the clock.
Was not doing it myself as DYI, but after speaking to my mechanic it's not something that you can't do yourself in terms of special tools or other specific reasons. You need to of course "kill" the car, disconnecting battery, have tool to measure oil level. that's all i can comment form my own experience.

vash68

I never heard that before.

I had just replaced most fluids on my e61 with 40kmi.
I used all BMW fluids since my cars is still under warranty.
All DIY except xfer case since neither I nor garage knew hot to get to fill plug untill they dropped entire cat back exhaust - well, turns out you dont have to, but instead can use 11" long allen wrench L-shaped to stick it above exhaust into a fiil plug - now I know!

Bentley manual totally sucks in every department - it shows RWD car on tranny pages which is much easier to work with - but in our AWD cars you will need to drop front drive shaft before you can get to fill plug on tranny. To do that you need your front wheels to spin freely so u can remove all 8 torx bolts from driveshaft by rotating it.
Dont forget to replace those bolts since they are aluminum.

You don't really need a tool to check ATF level, but the trick is to add the last liter of ATF with THE ENGINE RUNNING and the car level - tranny sucks in the last liter.
Here is my thread with great answers from bimmerfest member:
ATF replacement went wrong - how to check level - Bimmerfest - BMW Forums

If you are not inclined to replace 100% of ATF volume and ATF filter, then you don't need to drop ATF pan, just use drain plug to drain about 5liters of ATF, which is approx %60 of capacity. Or u can do 3 drain and refills.

No need to reset computers for ATF of xfer case fluids, at least I did not find any option.

Differentials are easier to work with, except for the front one - you will have to remove reinforcement (skid?) plate held by about 8 bolts, then retorque them. I did not replace them, but ideally you would.

Rear diff was the easiest to access - it is all open.
My BMW dealer sold me BMW XJ-spec fluid that they use on limited slip differentials - they use it on both - LS and non-LS diffs.

I topped off powesteering fluid with Pentosin 21s.
Brake fluid was just replaced by BMW dealer.

Get all the new fill and drain plugs and washers!

Good luck!

Sarge

Well, after many months of procrastination, I finally went ahead with this project. Thanks very much to Vash68 for the above comments, as well as the linked post. I must have read it thirty times before diving in.

So, first I pulled the plug on the transmission drain to give it maximum time to drain.

Then I started on the differentials; They are fairly straightforward. The rear has no drain plug, so I used the standard 'pump' you buy to put fluid INTO the diff, to take it out. I bought a little vacuum line fitting and a couple feet of vacuum line to connect to the 'pump' end to use it to drain the rear diff (it comes off a spool at the parts store, so it's perfectly curved to get to the bottom of the diff). Then I ran a few 'cleaning' pumps through from the new fluid (used Amsoil "Severe Gear" 75W90 in the front and rear diff). I reused the fill plug because it turned out to be the 'o-ring' type instead of the type that uses a crush washer. I've read elsewhere that people tend to just reuse these, so hopefully it won't leak.

The transfer case was a massive nuisance. I could not find any way to use the 11" long arm allen wrench to access the fill plug, so I dropped the exhaust and the transmission brace to gain access. I squirted some CorrosionX (by far the best lubricant and nut buster I've ever used) on the heavily rusted exhaust nuts, and they came right off. Next the brace comes off (takes some wiggling around). Then I drained and filled the transfer case with BMW-spec transfer case fluid from Bav Auto. It took about 450ml. reinstalling the exhaust required using some small C-clamps to draw the exhaust back onto the studs. The bigger PITA was the trans brace, which required quite a bit of muscle and torquing to get lift into place and reinstall the bolts.

As for the transmission fluid: I had let it drain for 24 hours, and the cheap dollar store bucket I drained it into indicated a tad over 6 liters had drained. BavAuto advised buying only 6 quarts, so I had to order another. In fact I ordered two more, just to be safe. By the time those arrived (I'm in Wyoming, they're back east in NH) several days of 'draining' had gone on, and the bucket indicated I'd drained just over 7 liters of transmission fluid. I did the fill with the A/C on, ran it through first and second gears and reverse (it wouldn't engage third with the driveshaft removed) and let it run for about 8 minutes beforehand to warm up.

Most people only seem to get 5.5 liters if they don't let it drain overnight (i.e. 12 hours), waiting 12 hours nets 6.5 liters, but something I did that may have drained a bit more was jacking it up so the nose was elevated a bit, and then lowering it level again, and repeating (patiently hour up, hour level), so I thought I might have actually gotten about 7.3 liters out.

Ran the car, and it shifted better than ever and is running great.

V70Cat

Is it worth doing?

V70Cat

I thought it was life time fluid?

wooboodoo

I just got 2008 535 xit but sitll have my 11 years old 325 xit with over 150.000 miles and I've never changed transfer case, tranny or differential fluids...
I though same is in newer models but now I want to make sure...