The Story of SKETCHI - 05 ZHP Sedan

[Vas]

Last Monday packed the bags and left for vacation.

Drove to Wilmington, North Carolina ( Roughly 400 miles ) and spent a couple of days there. Then left mid-week and drove to Cape Charles, Virginia ( Roughly 300 miles ) and then after a couple days there back to Virginia ( Roughly 250 ) miles. While at these destinations, put roughly another 250 miles driving the car. In the end put on about 1200 miles on the car and rolled over 177k.

Took my toolbox and extra engine oil/coolant. Car has not been using any extra oil after the ccv rebuild with the O2 pilot mod. Still on the original radiator but no leaks to report. Overall a successful road trip.

Things to note though:

1) Slight steering wheel shimmy which I believe is the tires needed to be balanced ( have not done it since they were mounted ). They have been wearing evenly but the rear tires are getting close to the wear bars. Mileage on the set is roughly 19,000
2) Clutch/Flywheel/shifter rebuild - no issues to report and everything is working as is. However I finally heard the famous gear chatter from the transmission. After a couple hours of driving and the transmission getting hot, the noise sounds like there is straight cut gears inside of the transmission. Sitting at idle in neutral with the a/c is when the noise is most audible. However my hunch is the type of oil that is inside the trans ( d4 atf mixture ) which I think is personally to thin of an oil when heated up inside a manual transmission. Plus I am not a big supporter of using ATF inside a manual vehicle.

So I will be doing a drain and refill and going with Redline MT90 which has a higher viscosity grade.

Otherwise no complaints or regrets going to a single mass flywheel and a spring clutch disk. Pedal feel is great, easy to manage and consistent.

Will report back when I will swap trans fluid.

-Vas

[san]

Redline actually recommends using their ATF for manual transmission BMWs.


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[Newjack]

Vas, for what it's worth I run D4 ATF in the 135i. I originally swapped in Redline MTL, but I had issues with cold starts. Every time from a cold start when I would shift into second gear, I could hear a very brief grinding noise and it didn't feel good. I quickly switched to Redline D4 ATF and the problem has completely vanished.

I ran Redline MTL in the ZHP which is a heavier almost diff heavy fluid and never had any weird problems in the ZHP. I think your right to switch to that fluid in the ZHP.

With the newer BMW's they use a much thinner fluid. The stock fluid in the 135i is actually D6 which I thought would be too thin.

[az3579]

Redline actually recommends using their ATF for manual transmission BMWs.


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This. MTL causes me to have issues engaging 2nd gear in the wintertime, and overall the notchiness is increased when using the MTL. The D4-ATF has an absolutely perfect feel in my gearbox.

[704sw]

Would it be possible to do a blend of the two?

[Vas]

Redline actually recommends using their ATF for manual transmission BMWs.


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Redline does recommend D4 ATF and the reason alot of people like it is due to its viscosity 70w80 ( equivalent to motor oil that is 0w20 ) which makes gear engagements easy. And for auto/step cars this fluid is great due to the flow that is needed inside the transmission and the torque converter.

However Redline does offer 2 different fluids for manual cars.

Redline MTL (viscosity 75w80 - equivalent to motor oil that is 5w30) and Redline MT90 (viscosity 75w90 - equivalent to motor oil that is 15w40) and I think the thicker oil at 100 degree Celsius is the trick to getting the noise down when the transmission is hot. And according to Redline the MT90 does eliminate notchy shifting even when cold.

[Sockethead]

I just use the BMW manual trans fluid.... no issues ever

[Johnmadd]

Great conversation here. I have that famous sound also, Vas. I definitely want to hear your feedback after the drain and refill. Oh, and if it works you gotta put a psa sticky. I will try the same if it works for you.

[Vas]

I just use the BMW manual trans fluid.... no issues ever

I was actually looking into the factory bmw fluid as well. It is a GL4 fluid that is a 75w90 viscosity ( identical to the Redline MT90 )

Only thing is that the cost is $35 per bottle vs the Redline which is $17 per bottle.

So thickness level - OE Bmw Fluid/ Redline MT90 > Redline MTL > Redline D4 ATF

[Newjack]

I was actually looking into the factory bmw fluid as well. It is a GL4 fluid that is a 75w90 viscosity ( identical to the Redline MT90 )

Only thing is that the cost is $35 per bottle vs the Redline which is $17 per bottle.

So thickness level - OE Bmw Fluid/ Redline MT90 > Redline MTL > Redline D4 ATF

Vas, when I first bought the ZHP I flushed the OE fluid with new Penosin fluid which was what BMW recommended and apparently used as the OE fluid for my transmission.

A few years later when I switched to Redline MTL I honeslty didn't notice a difference. It was hard to tell if the Redline was better because of the fluid itself or if it was just clean fluid. The Penosin fluid was 75w-80 according to my records.