Auto Transmission Service Results

[Jon D]

My 04 ZHP was recently in the shop for SES light so while it was there decided to have them do a transmission service along with a few other things just cause. Car has about 42K on it so by no means was it overdue. Car was driving fine did not anticipate seeing any real difference just figured fresh fluid and filter after 8 years couldn't hurt.

Boy was I surprised. Car is shifting much cleaner now in both D and S modes. Also seems faster shifting in manual mode. FWIW I'm in S or manual 90% of the time.
:like

I encourage anyone who has not done this service at least once to do so and may your results be as positive as mine.

[jayjay_dee]

Great to hear positive results...

On my "To Do" list for a while now...

[danewilson77]

Great feedback. Thanks. What was the cost of service?

Sent from SIGFest 2012

[johnrando]

Thanks Jon. It's on my todo list. I drive in S 90% of the time, M the rest, never in D.

[Jon D]

Great feedback. Thanks. What was the cost of service?

Sent from SIGFest 2012

Well after digging for the receipt..
Labor - 1.7hrs @ $110 = $187
Filter kit = $114
ATF 5.5qts@ $17 = $93.5
Total = $394.5

[danewilson77]

Well after digging for the receipt..
Labor - 1.7hrs @ $110 = $187
Filter kit = $114
ATF 5.5qts@ $17 = $93.5
Total = $394.5

Not bad honestly.

Sent from SIGFest 2012

[WOLFN8TR]

Thanks for the info, I need to do mine bad. Not sure if it was ever changed. I bought it with 96,000 and know have 105,000. Sometimes it doesn't want to up shift when accelerating hard.


Sent from my 1982 Commodore 64.

[Washburn]

Was it a drain/fill or complete flush ?
only 5.5 qts of ATF?

[WOLFN8TR]

Check this out.

ECSTUNING TRANNY KIT-8 Quarts of oil. Watch the video.

http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E46-330Ci-M54_3.0L/Drivetrain/Transmission/ES2523867/


Sent from my 1982 Commodore 64.

[Jon D]

Was it a drain/fill or complete flush ?
only 5.5 qts of ATF?

I'm assuming a drain fill based on quantity of ATF. In my case probably all that was required, if I had 100K+ and never done a service I would think doing a flush would make lots of sense.

[Ryans323i]

That's good news Jon. :thumbsup

[WOLFN8TR]

Has anyone successfully done this themselves in their garage? The issues I have is getting the car high enough off the ground to work on.


Sent from my 1982 Commodore 64.

[danewilson77]

Has anyone successfully done this themselves in their garage? The issues I have is getting the car high enough off the ground to work on.


Sent from my 1982 Commodore 64.

I have.

Sent from SIGFest 2012

[jayjay_dee]

Check this out.

ECSTUNING TRANNY KIT-8 Quarts of oil. Watch the video.

http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E46-330Ci-M54_3.0L/Drivetrain/Transmission/ES2523867/


Dane, is the above all i need, i got green stickers...


I have.

Good to hear, im hoping we could do my auto trans Sunday morning...

[WOLFN8TR]

Dane how high did you lift your car to get underneath and work on tranny?
The part that kinda freaks me out is letting it run while your underneath topping off the oil.


Sent from my 1982 Commodore 64.

[danewilson77]

I lifted my car as hi as I could get it with my jacks....and mad damn sure it was safe. I employed lots of additional safety features.

The kit is all you need. I thought it also came with the pan bolts (pre-loctited as well)? You'll need a mode of force to get fluid into the tranny as well. Follow the auto DIY to a "T", and ensure you get as much as you can.,...OUT. Then make sure you shift, through the gears as described in the DIY. I did this a few years ago on the 2001 325i ZSP. Car ran like a top afterwards.

The kit offered at www.bavauto.com also includes the bolts. Not steering you from ECS (As they are my vendor by choice), but I would want to be sure about that first.

[WOLFN8TR]

Sweet, thanks for the info! Gonna do this asap.


Sent from my 1982 Commodore 64.

[danewilson77]

Sweet, thanks for the info! Gonna do this asap.


Sent from my 1982 Commodore 64.

Forget about the "mode of force" comment I made. Idk what I was thinking.

Sent from SIGFest USA

[WOLFN8TR]

Kinda figured it was referring to fill the tranny with a pump.

"Use the Force".


Sent from my 1982 Commodore 64.

[danewilson77]

No....no pump my friend. You have to fill via the pan (Look at Auto DIY......it will explain this). I don't believe theres a fill plug on auto tranny. only drain?

[danewilson77]

I have no idea what I'm thinking about.

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=438667

I swear I thought you had to fill the pan....then bolt it up.

[echo46]

I did a full drain, filter replace and refill last year on my 1995 E36 325 I vert. It took me about 3 hours. I jacked the car up and put it on stands then used the jack as a back up. I had to remove two pans and the filter. The hardest part was the refill because you have to fill the large pan with fluid then bolt it up. In retrospect I would have used a car jack to slowly raise the pan into position then bolt. When I did it I had tranny fluid all over me because it was so hard to hold the pan steady. To top up you have to warm the engine and run through the gears. Then fill to point of overflow at the fill plug. It is very important to warm the car up to get the tranny fluid level correct. I was a bit paranoid and kept checking for a few days. Well wroth it. I did it on the E36 at 87,000 miles.

[danewilson77]

^This.

[WOLFN8TR]

Thanks for the links Dane. This part was funny at the end.

"Congratulations! You have done the impossible and changed the ATF on your BMW".

I suppose you could fill the pan first, it would be faster. The part that freaks me out is running the car on jack stands, shifting thru the gears THEN getting underneath the running car to top off the fluid.


Sent from my 1982 Commodore 64.

[echo46]

Yes, I remember thinking that I am absolutely out of my mind being under the running in line six. I tried to be fast.

[danewilson77]

Yes, I remember thinking that I am absolutely out of my mind being under the running in line six. I tried to be fast.

Preparation, and planning is key.

Sent from SIGFest USA

[echo46]

You know, I think there is actually an operating temp that the tranny should be filled at, I just can't find it right now, Dane do you know off hand?

[jayjay_dee]

Fluids ordered... I hope I get them before the SIG-fest...

3950

[Washburn]

does the Torque converter on our cars also have ATF in it? i'd guess yes - if so, then how do you get the ATF out of that? does the TQ has its own drain plug?
(my tbird's TQ does have its own plug and the ATF inside it also gets changed during drain / fill OR complete flush service)

[danewilson77]

does the Torque converter on our cars also have ATF in it? i'd guess yes - if so, then how do you get the ATF out of that? does the TQ has its own drain plug?
(my tbird's TQ does have its own plug and the ATF inside it also gets changed during drain / fill OR flush service)

All of the fluid does not come out.

Delivered from SIGFest USA

[Washburn]

thats why i am wondering if the a flush (which gets rid of the ATF in TC also), is better than a drain/fill

[danewilson77]

thats why i am wondering if the a flush (which gets rid of the ATF in TC also), is better than a drain/fill

Yes. A flush is better.

Delivered from SIGFest USA

[Washburn]

That's what I wanted to hear -
when the time comes it will be a flush for my ZHP...i can't stand the thought of changing only part of ATF and the nasty old ATF still being in the TC and getting mixed with the fresh ATF...Ugh!

[iZHP]

Just did a drain/refill, replace filter/pan gasket on the 325 (auto).
At 95k miles, I thought it was time. Fluid still had color to it.

Preventative maintenance ftw.

[jayjay_dee]

I did drain/refill my automatic transmission fluid last saturday...

The kit I bought from ECS came with 8 quarts of fluid but the fluid I drained from my car was only 4.5 quartz, so same amount of fresh trans fluid went back in...

Should I be concerned? Why did ECS sold the kit with 8 quarts and not just 5?

Im planning to buy 2 more quarts and do a drain/refill again sometime this summer...

[danewilson77]

You did not drain all fluid from torque converter.

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[WOLFN8TR]

Just did a drain/refill, replace filter/pan gasket on the 325 (auto).
At 95k miles, I thought it was time. Fluid still had color to it.

Preventative maintenance ftw.

Curious how you went about this. What method did you use to get underneath safely with the car running for the refill etc.

[Meric]

Does ZHP's come with Standart 6 SPD auto? Or 5 spds?

[terraphantm]

6MT was standard. 5AT was available for ~$1500 extra. There was no 6AT. SMG wasn't offered with the ZHP either

[Washburn]

You did not drain all fluid from torque converter.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

This - that's why I harp about FLUSH vs drain/fill.
you only replaced part of the ATF.

[jayjay_dee]

You did not drain all fluid from torque converter.



This - that's why I harp about FLUSH vs drain/fill.
you only replaced part of the ATF.

thanks guys, im planning to do another drain/refill to put in more fresh fluid in my transmission...

[WOLFN8TR]

i'm planning to do another drain/refill to put in more fresh fluid in my transmission...

Poor Mans Flush....

That's my plan also.

[danewilson77]

What does the "Rich Mans Flush" run on an auto?

[jayjay_dee]

Poor Mans Flush....

That's my plan also.

Now im wondering what was done exactly on OP's car?

[danewilson77]

Now im wondering what was done exactly on OP's car?

Most likely...it was flushed.

[WOLFN8TR]

What does the "Rich Mans Flush" run on an auto?

The Toyota Stealership just quoted us $300 for our 4Runner.

[danewilson77]

The Toyota Stealership just quoted us $300 for our 4Runner.

OK....so....about $500.00 at BMW :shifty

[WOLFN8TR]

Ya Totally.

[johnnyrad]

I changed my dad's E46 2006 vert 330 auto about 2 months ago. It had something like 58k miles or so, I can't remember. I did the filter and fluid and it went smooth. Like DW mentioned you just have to plan, prepare, and take a deep breath. It was still a freakish thing being underneath there and topping off with the thing running. I was more concerned about burning my arm on the exhaust pipes then anything else. I didn't take the temp of the ATF while running I just used the "touch until it feels warm but not hot" method. I like to cook so I think my fingertips have a good sense of temperature ha ha.

Scary thing is now I need to do his E90 325xi and I'm a tad hesitant because I know nothing of this strange thing they call, the E90..that thing doesn't even have a dipstick :shift. I did find a few diy's on other sites for E90's so I'll give it a go maybe this weekend.

[WOLFN8TR]

Bump for Auto Dudes...

[TigerTater]

Bumping this...Has anyone done a real flush of the tranny? I was looking online and im thinking of doing the flush in addition to pan drop/filter change.

http://www.e46fanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=827105

pretty good idea, if done right will last you another 50-60k....Also planning on using Valvoline Dexron VI...as that is the fluid now deemed compatible with
ETL 8072B (http://www.valvoline.com/products/brands/valvoline/automatic-transmission-fluid/36)...plus its a real full synthetic and available at the local parts store vs. paying $12 qt for redline...

[TigerTater]

Bumppp


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[TigerTater]

Bump anyone use this oil?


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