ATF-L1 alternate & Good Differential Fluid ?

[adempster1]

I did a search in here and on google before posting but I was not able to make a decision so I come to you all.

I need help, my 98ti has 209K miles, I want to change my manual trans fluid and my differential fluid. I don’t have the money to spend on the BMW lifetime ATF but I’ve heard that other brands work, if anyone knows can you list them. I also want to change my differential fluid; it has synthetic blend in it now I’m looking for a fluid that has worked well for others.

[DustenT]

Originally Posted by adempster1

I did a search in here and on google before posting but I was not able to make a decision so I come to you all.

I need help, my 98ti has 209K miles, I want to change my manual trans fluid and my differential fluid. I don’t have the money to spend on the BMW lifetime ATF but I’ve heard that other brands work, if anyone knows can you list them. I also want to change my differential fluid; it has synthetic blend in it now I’m looking for a fluid that has worked well for others.

Royal Purple SynchroMax for the tranny. Royal Purple MaxGear for the differential. MaxGear works with the LSD without any additives. I switched from Mobil 1 to Royal Purple and I can feel a difference in the gear box.

[adempster1]

Thanks Dusten, I did hear about the Royal Purple before but I needed to know from a TI owner. Thanks again, I’m going to do a search and order me some.

[J!m]

Redline D4 ATF for the tranny, and they make a few gear oils for the diff, depending on if you have a LSD or an open diff, and the oil weight you want. (By the way, Redline D4 is the only ATF with a gear oil rating for wear protection- I checked them all. No others with a gear oil rating regardless of price.)

I also use the D4 ATF in my Land-Rover R380 tranny, which runs excessively hot, and will totally cook conventional ATF in about a week in August... D4 still smells sweet after a year "driving the globe".

In the BMW you can get away with changing the fluid every other year, assuming you drive it all the time. I go about every third year, since I drive the car less often.

Same with the diff; however a LSD that sees track time may need a more frequent change interval, particularly with a clutch-type LSD.