Guys,
This is just a head's up for those that do their own Tranny service; My dealer refused to change the trans fluid at the 30k mile service (diff fluid was changed though..?) and BMW-NA pointed me back to the dealer without any admission that it should/shouldn't be done. I guess my manual & the TIS is suddenly wrong. Anyway, I took it upon myself to do the service. All in all this is a pretty standard MT drain/refill procedure.
What about smoked me is that "someone" had tightened the stamped washer/nut fastener on the cover panel at the driver's rear side until it stripped. At first I thought that the stud was turning...wrong. For those of you that have done the service yourself you know what a headache that was. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. Now I'm wondering if that's why they didn't want to service the transmission in the first place. Maybe "someone" knew about it?
Anyway, after about an hours worth of fighting & prying while turning it at the same time it surrendered. You definately need a pump to refill & be careful with the drain & fill plugs (8mm hex on my '09). They will be tight and don't want to break loose without a "pop" on the wratchet handle. Stripping these out would not be pretty.
Hope this helps another DIYselfer somewhere down the road.
