Good few weeks of car work....

[Golgade]

Over the last few weeks a have gotten years worth of car work done with all my free time: Intake gaskest, New MAF, Oil Change, Diff Fluid Change, Took apart dash for light changes, Fixed the hinge on the gas door, and today I did the transmission fluid, Boy what A PITA that was. And according to the date on the filter and the brown color of the fluid this was the first time it was changed in 160,000k, wow. Good thing I only changed 1/3 of it. But the best part was when I finally found the block # and found that I had an alusil block! I was pretty excited. According to the block it was made from 97, but I wonder what year it was put in? Does anyone know if they made a huge batch of the in 97 when they started putting them in or if they continued to manufacture them?
Now if I can get rid of that damn 1221 code, I'll probably cry with excitement........

Still a good few weeks.......

[Ross]

The dealer has the warranty information for your car which will include when the engine was replaced.
My dealer doesn't mind looking this stuff up but I've heard of others who refuse or deny the information is available so you may have to try several.

[Golgade]

Yeah the two dealers around me said they only have information from their work. I just assummed they dont really care about a 15 year old car. I just emailed BMWUSA, I am hoping they can help or at least be willing to point me in the right direction.

[BMW4LIFE]

Hey

I had a couple questions for you...

a) how does the tranny feel now that you changed the fluid?

b) how hard was it to change the diff fluid

c) what fluid did you use

d) notice a difference in the diff


thanks

[Golgade]

Oooops, sorry I got a little ahead of myself, I dont know why I wrote I already did the diff fluid, I was planning on doing that in a few days, ill post after I do it. The tranny, I only empty what was in the pan and changed the fluid, because I didn't want a bunch of fresh stuff clearing stuff out and getting it in the passages or filter. The fluid was nasty anyway brown if not black, looked exactlly like the oil I just got out of the motor. Anyway, it already seems to shift better, but I havent really reemed on it not wanting to mess it up, but I assume if there was going to be a clog it would happen within the first few miles. I am going to do it again in probably another 10k, but there is improvement.

[BMW4LIFE]

to be honest....my main concern is for my tranny to start slipping...

someone along time ago here on this board told me that "if isn't broken...don't fix it" so I have like 100K on that tranny since I have owned it and have not changed the fluid...

I want to because I have began to notice random hard shift especially in S3 mode...

if anyone could advise (properly) I would really appreciate it! =)

[632 Regal]

1221 code removal, you did reboot the computer right?

[632 Regal]

to be honest....my main concern is for my tranny to start slipping...

someone along time ago here on this board told me that "if isn't broken...don't fix it" so I have like 100K on that tranny since I have owned it and have not changed the fluid...

I want to because I have began to notice random hard shift especially in S3 mode...

if anyone could advise (properly) I would really appreciate it! =)

Change a little at a time and you should be fine. It's when people take them to shops that flush everything at once and usually use generic fluid that isn't compatible that really starts trouble.

[BMW4LIFE]

Change a little at a time and you should be fine. It's when people take them to shops that flush everything at once and usually use generic fluid that isn't compatible that really starts trouble.

Hey Regal do you know how hard it is to change out the fluid and filter?

is there a write up of it somewhere on the site?

thanks

[Golgade]

Yep. Tried both having the battery disconnected (which I assume does it) and removing the harness in the boxunder the hood. Both times after new intake gaskets and a used but known working MAF. Came back on within a few minutes. No Change, And aside from the o2 sensors or a pluged cat, I dont know what to try next.

[Golgade]

Hey Regal do you know how hard it is to change out the fluid and filter?

is there a write up of it somewhere on the site?

thanks

Its pretty easy after jacking the car up. The biggest trouble I had was getting the filler plug off, which I didnt know was only $5 at schucks, so do yourself a favor and get that. Pretty much all you do is drain the fluid, take off the pan and filter, replace the filter, and fill her up until it start coming back out through the filler plug. The filler plug is the one that looks like a backwards bolt on the back of the pan. The method I used for filling requires two people but you can get a suction gun or pump with about a foot of hose to jam up there. I had about 5 feet of hose attached to a opened ended quart of fluid which i just kept filling and did it via gravity feed, it worked nicely.
Put the plug back on semi tight, and start the car up run it for about 5 to 7 minutes, because you want the fluid to around 80 to 120 degrees Make sure you run through all of the gears a few times.. I just assumed if the pan was warm to the to touch it was probably good. Now fill it again until it flows back out, Mine took about a little more then 1/2 a quart at this stage, so filling after its warm is important. Then tighten the plug and your done. All in all it took almost 5 quarts of new fluid to fill the pan when I was all done, and I imagine its a good idea to be kind to the transmission for the first few miles after your done.

[BMW4LIFE]

and just to clear something up...

The bently manual says that I need to use DEX-II on the tranny but it seems as though that everyone is going for the DEX-III?

I could have swore that I read that "tiger" wrote somewhere to not use DEX-II cause it "your engine will blow up" hahaha

any clarification would be great

My car: 1993 525i (production date is 8/93)

thanks

[Golgade]

Oh Sorry my silly write up was for the 530i transmission. But here is a good article from pelican parts for a e36 325i which share the A4s 270r/310r transmission you have:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/E36-Tranny_Fluid_Auto/E36-Tranny_Fluid_Auto.htm

Plus another more general article

http://www.europeantransmissions.com/Bulletin/DTC.BMW/BMWtransService.pdf

And Here the post about the fluid I followed:

http://www.bimmernut.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41090&highlight=transmission+fluid