Originally Posted by haigha

I used the Valvoline MaxLife when I did three drain / add cycles back last summer and fall. So far so good. I didn't reset the adaptions. Lots of opinions on which fluid to use. Valvoline says they make the spec for my N62 4.4, but it isn't certified. It's something like a fifth of the price of the ZF fluid.

It's important to do two, or better, three cycles so that you replace most of the fluid. Most of the ATF is in the torque converter, not in the pan.

Critical (which I missed the first time): run the engine and go through the positions on the shifter after the initial fill. There's a write up on this in the docs section, I think. I also put it in Sport mode and shifted up to 3rd gear (brake on).

Just because your shop added as much as came out, that's not necessarily the correct level. Mine had lost fluid through the common problem of the mechatronic sleeve o-rings getting flattened.