DIY: 6MT Transmission Oil Change

Has anyone tried Pentosin FFL-4 75w Transmission Fluid? Bottle says it's for DCT but ECS lists it for every BMW manual. I'm confused. Did FFL-4 supersede MTF-LT-2?

EDIT: found this What's up with transmission fluid MTF-LT-2?

DavidZ wrote

Has anyone tried Pentosin FFL-4 75w Transmission Fluid? Bottle says it's for DCT but ECS lists it for every BMW manual. I'm confused. Did FFL-4 supersede MTF-LT-2?

EDIT: found this What's up with transmission fluid MTF-LT-2?

Yah everywhere I go shows to order ffl4 side mtf5 is no longer available

what kind of torque wrench are you guys using to tighten the fill plug/bolt?
i had a hard time fitting a torque wrench in the small space
so used a 1/4" drive which didn't quite go up to 25 nM

DavidZ wrote

Has anyone tried Pentosin FFL-4 75w Transmission Fluid? Bottle says it's for DCT but ECS lists it for every BMW manual. I'm confused. Did FFL-4 supersede MTF-LT-2?

EDIT: found this What's up with transmission fluid MTF-LT-2?

shimmy23 wrote

Yah everywhere I go shows to order ffl4 side mtf5 is no longer available

I've been doing a lot of digging on this. Pentosin insists that FFL-4 is basically an upgrade to MTF2, which is their MTF-LT-2 spec fluid.

I'm using FFL-4 right now. Seems great for shift quality.

Does the car have to be level? I dont have a lift at home :/

jerrick23 wrote

Does the car have to be level? I dont have a lift at home :/

Yes. Otherwise you might not end up putting the right amount of fluid in the trans.

IamFODI wrote

Yes. Otherwise you might not end up putting the right amount of fluid in the trans.

Ok! Thanks for the reply!

Gonna perform this service on my car soon with 60k miles.... I have no record of this being done before.

What is the general consensus on replacing the filter with a car with 60k miles? Necessary or no?

Great write-up op. thanks.

MikeyDawg wrote

Gonna perform this service on my car soon with 60k miles.... I have no record of this being done before.

What is the general consensus on replacing the filter with a car with 60k miles? Necessary or no?

Great write-up op. thanks.

Can't speak for the consensus, but IMO there's no good reason not to replace the filter.

Just make sure the gasket is centered on the new filter before you tighten it, and that it hasn't dropped onto the threads while you were screwing the filter in.

IamFODI wrote

Can't speak for the consensus, but IMO there's no good reason not to replace the filter.

Just make sure the gasket is centered on the new filter before you tighten it, and that it hasn't dropped onto the threads while you were screwing the filter in.

Yeah I guess there's no point in skimping out of a $50 part for a 30000 mile service item.

Thanks for the tip regarding the gasket.

About to tackle this again - moved to a warmer climate so I am going to change from Redline D4-ATF to Redline MTL in my 6MT. I have a bit of the gear rattle at idle with clutch out. Likely will make absolutely no difference but I thought I would do it because I am also going to be in there to change my exhaust. Might as well kill 2 birds and all that.

Since I moved, I have no access to my buddies AutoLogix. So, I had to go through the process of getting INPA and ISTA-D running.

FYI I bought a LZLRUN INPA USB to OBD cable from Amazon. It works well and stays connected, even when reading VANOS live data which is pretty data intensive. Bimmergeeks has some good information on INPA and ISTA-D.

My other approach was to try to find the car-side connector for the transmission fluid pump and then rig up a battery and a switch. I had a hell of a time even trying to find the part number of the plug. I may still try to find it just to complete the loop. Does anyone have this part number? But, now that I have ISTA-D, I should be able to trigger the pump to properly drain and fill the 6MT.

Cheers,

Scharbag wrote

About to tackle this again - moved to a warmer climate so I am going to change from Redline D4-ATF to Redline MTL in my 6MT. I have a bit of the gear rattle at idle with clutch out. Likely will make absolutely no difference but I thought I would do it because I am also going to be in there to change my exhaust. Might as well kill 2 birds and all that.

Since I moved, I have no access to my buddies AutoLogix. So, I had to go through the process of getting INPA and ISTA-D running.

FYI I bought a LZLRUN INPA USB to OBD cable from Amazon. It works well and stays connected, even when reading VANOS live data which is pretty data intensive. Bimmergeeks has some good information on INPA and ISTA-D.

My other approach was to try to find the car-side connector for the transmission fluid pump and then rig up a battery and a switch. I had a hell of a time even trying to find the part number of the plug. I may still try to find it just to complete the loop. Does anyone have this part number? But, now that I have ISTA-D, I should be able to trigger the pump to properly drain and fill the 6MT.

Cheers,

Curious to know if changing from D4 to MTL affected your gear rattle.

My Indy mech said I should replace my transmission oil when I took my car in for a service.
I didn't notice much difference in shifting.
How do I know if he was not bluffing and he indeed replaced the transmission oil?

fourrum wrote

My Indy mech said I should replace my transmission oil when I took my car in for a service.
I didn't notice much difference in shifting.
How do I know if he was not bluffing and he indeed replaced the transmission oil?

There is no way to tell unless you drain some to look at.

It's true that some report significant changes in shifting upon fluid change. But I detected no obvious difference in shifting when I replaced the black, thin, presumably 70K mile old factory oil in my manual trans to new Redline D4.

No changes in gear rattle (at idle, in neutral with clutch engaged) either, which most likely reflects wear in the dual mass flywheel or trans input shaft bearing.

I did this last weekend on my 2011 with 57k on it. Great write up, thank you much.
Just bought the car a few months ago so I don't know what was in the transmission but it was a little tough to shift into first and second gear when cold. It's been in the 30's and 40's here. Anyway, I switched to Redline MTL. Shifts better when cold but not as good when warmed up. Not bad though but I wish I knew what came out of it.

I just did this DIY on an e90 M3.

I bought the FCP Euro service kit that came with 2 bottles of the Redline MTL.

I filled till I got a small slow very slow drip from the plug and that took up 2 whole bottles.

Is the 2 bottles enough? Or do I need to take it for a drive and order a 3rd bottle? I figure the service kit had everything I needed but now on this thread I’m hearing people are using 2.5L... I should’ve paid more attention and gotten an extra bottle of this and diff fluid. Even my FCP euro diff fluids 3 bottles only got me as far as a small drip as well.

For those of us that don't have any of the software tools to properly cycle the trans pump could one simply drain and fill, run the car for 30 seconds, and then recheck fluid level and fill more if needed?

I'm looking at swapping a trans cooler which will inevitably cause me to lose a little bit of fluid.

PandaM3 wrote

I just did this DIY on an e90 M3.

I bought the FCP Euro service kit that came with 2 bottles of the Redline MTL.

I filled till I got a small slow very slow drip from the plug and that took up 2 whole bottles.

Is the 2 bottles enough? Or do I need to take it for a drive and order a 3rd bottle? I figure the service kit had everything I needed but now on this thread I’m hearing people are using 2.5L... I should’ve paid more attention and gotten an extra bottle of this and diff fluid. Even my FCP euro diff fluids 3 bottles only got me as far as a small drip as well.

Was the car level when you drained and filled? I've done this procedure several times but can't remember how much fluid it takes on average. As long as you've filled to where it's dripping out you should be fine.

//steve\\ wrote

For those of us that don't have any of the software tools to properly cycle the trans pump could one simply drain and fill, run the car for 30 seconds, and then recheck fluid level and fill more if needed?

I'm looking at swapping a trans cooler which will inevitably cause me to lose a little bit of fluid.

I think the pump only activates when the oil gets hot so just idling the car won't pump any fluid. When I installed my trans cooler I cycled the pump with this method. A previous time, after filling the trans, I left the trans cover off, went for a hard drive to heat up the oil and came back and topped off. Even if you don't, I doubt that the amount used up in the lines and cooler would get you to a dangerously low trans fluid level.

DavidZ wrote

PandaM3 wrote

I just did this DIY on an e90 M3.

I bought the FCP Euro service kit that came with 2 bottles of the Redline MTL.

I filled till I got a small slow very slow drip from the plug and that took up 2 whole bottles.

Is the 2 bottles enough? Or do I need to take it for a drive and order a 3rd bottle? I figure the service kit had everything I needed but now on this thread I'm hearing people are using 2.5L... I should've paid more attention and gotten an extra bottle of this and diff fluid. Even my FCP euro diff fluids 3 bottles only got me as far as a small drip as well.

Was the car level when you drained and filled? I've done this procedure several times but can't remember how much fluid it takes on average. As long as you've filled to where it's dripping out you should be fine.

//steve\\ wrote

For those of us that don't have any of the software tools to properly cycle the trans pump could one simply drain and fill, run the car for 30 seconds, and then recheck fluid level and fill more if needed?

I'm looking at swapping a trans cooler which will inevitably cause me to lose a little bit of fluid.

I think the pump only activates when the oil gets hot so just idling the car won't pump any fluid. When I installed my trans cooler I cycled the pump with this method. A previous time, after filling the trans, I left the trans cover off, went for a hard drive to heat up the oil and came back and topped off. Even if you don't, I doubt that the amount used up in the lines and cooler would get you to a dangerously low trans fluid level.

Yeah car was level on a quick jack.

Anyhow... I got it to the point of the fluid with a slow seep... but nothing gushing like in some of the diy videos I've seen.

Just to be sure I've ordered another bottle of Redline MTL from Amazon incase I cant find any locally over the weekend. So I can top off after driving a bit.

DavidZ wrote

Was the car level when you drained and filled? I've done this procedure several times but can't remember how much fluid it takes on average. As long as you've filled to where it's dripping out you should be fine.



I think the pump only activates when the oil gets hot so just idling the car won't pump any fluid. When I installed my trans cooler I cycled the pump with this method. A previous time, after filling the trans, I left the trans cover off, went for a hard drive to heat up the oil and came back and topped off. Even if you don't, I doubt that the amount used up in the lines and cooler would get you to a dangerously low trans fluid level.

I had the same thought. I wouldn't go drive it hard without re-checking but figured with no tools I could fill it until it drips out and then roll around the neighborhood to get the temp up a bit and then jack it back up to recheck fluid level.

Going to be doing this tonight. Do I even need to remove the strainer? Can I just drain and re-fill?

drained and refilled transmission fluid

totally forgot about the strainer /facepalm
oh well