changing tranny oil

[aziankingz]

Planning to change the transmission oil in my manual transmission. I heard to use automatic transmission fluid. I went over to autozone and got 2 bottles of Castrol high mileage ATF - is this good for the tranny? Anyone have any experience with it?

[668M42]

You should be okay with that. at the dealer we'd recommend castrol dexron III atf because thats what our system says e36 318i/is/ic/it all require. and i've only sold what we have here. i guess thats as close to experience that i can get! hope that helps homey

[spidertri]

Depends on what the sticker on your trans says. Some later model e36s require MTL, I know mine does.

[CirrusSR22]

If you have a transmission needing ATF (by the sticker, as spidertri stated), that High Mileage Castrol should be just fine as it meets the Dexron III standard. I looks like most of the ATFs on the market meet Dexron III, among dozens of other standards. It's hard to go wrong fluid-wise with a system (transmission, steering, etc.) that require Dex III.

[MPWR]

More than likely it will take Dextron III ATF. My M3 and ti both take ATF, and they are both manuals. But again, do what the red sticker tells you to. You'll find it on the side of the tranny by the fill plug.

[tiFreak]

I use ATF, it works fine and it's what my car calls for

[aziankingz]

thanks for all your feedback guys.. going to look at the sticker on the tranny.. should have done it when i had the car up when i changed my oil.

[tiFreak]

you could check your owners manual too, but by the time you read this you probably will have already crawled underneath your car

[dguzzardo22]

has any one changed there trans filter in a auto ?


i work at oreillys and i constantly have ppl comming in and gettin the filter .

is it really worth it?

[ti-billy]

i have a 96 318ti w/5 speed manual, i called the BMW dealer today to get some fluids, oil filter, fuel filter....etc; anyway, i asked the parts guy (who said he used to b a tech) about changing my trans fluid and he said it takes "MTF-LT2" and i said ill take 2 quarts, and he said they only carry it in bulk and i would have to bring my own container

[CirrusSR22]

They sell the BMW MTF-LT2 in 5 liter containers at the dealer. Problem is they want $146.45 for the 5 liters at Tischer. My local dealer has it listed for $215.65. Stupidly insane. You can get Pentosin MTF2 (supposedly the same as the BMW branded fluid) at Pelican Parts.com for $21 / liter. Still way too much if you ask me.

[EPolk V]

I havent had any personal experience with the castrol but their other oils are descent(not the best out there) but descent so you should have no problems.

I do recommend Redline D4 ATF. When I first got my car there was only a cups worth of fluid and it was black but I put some of this stuff in and there was a drastic improvement. I had 2nd gear crunchiness and it is almost gone

Its around $10 -/+ and you need two.

Someone told me that putting new synthetic in an old transmission will wear out the seals faster but I still put it in and after 2 months no negative effects are there.

[pdxmotorhead]

It doesn't wear them out, it just cleans them off, so without the dirt sometimes a weep will start...

Dave