OK I did transmission fluid flush on my 02 4.4i

[HPIA4v2]

OK, as promised, I am posting my experience flushing my tanny.
The car is X5 4.4i 2002 with 42500 miles on it. The car never abused, never tow anything, driven for longer distance not stop and go (just for reference).
BTW this is for car with 5-speed ZF transmission E53

The tools you need:
- T27 Torx bit
- 8mm Hex drive (for the filler and drain plugs)
- 10mm socket
- Torque wrench (lower range from arounf 6lbft to 50lbft)
- Oil manual pump to put the fresh ATF into the pan (see one of the pictures)
- Rubbermaid small step stool.
- Oil catch pan (I use 10 quart version)
- Plenty of rags or kitty liter, trust me you’ll have plenty Pentosin on your garage floor
- I use brake cleaner spray to clean the pans and hands

The parts
-Trans filter
- trans pan gasket
- new filler plug and drain plugs complete with gasket
- Esso LT71141 (I ordered 9 which is too many, I’ll say 6 quarts)
- Loctite blue (applied on the 22 torx screws while re-assembling the pan).

Decided to order the trans filter kit from Bavauto just to get everything I need in one shot, see picture-1.

Elevate the car in the air on all corners as high and level as possible. Use 8mm Hex drive to loose the filler plug on the side of the transmission housing, see picture-2. Place an empty oil catch underneath, there is about 1-1.5 quart of ATF. Once it turns to trickling, hand tight the plug back on and drain the rest of the pan through the drain hole (same 8mm hex plug on the bottom of the pan).
Again I plug the hole back so you wont get any Petosin on the face while loosening all of 22 T-27 screws that hold the bottom of the pan.
You might want to remove a protective cover plate which is held by 2 10mm screws and get the wires unclip and out of the way, see picture-3.

I forgot to take picture, but get a small Rubbermaid stool chair under the pan (this is like your extra pair of hands) and loosen all but 4 screws in the corner.
Unscrew the last 4 screws and drop the pan slowly; be careful there is about 1-2 quart of ATF left in the bottom of the pan.
I was surprised to see how dirty the trans fluid was, BTW I had a drain and fill service at 30000 mile so mine should in theory had about 25% fresh fluid put in already, see pictures 4 and 5. On Picture-4 you can see the difference between fresh ATF and the old one.

Pull the gasket and clean the upper part of the trans housing.
Clean the bottom of the pans and magnets. I used brake cleaners and it did a good job as you can see on picture-6.
If you want you can clean the solenoids, pressure regulator etc using lint-free cloth. To remove the filter you just unscrew 2 torx T27 screw and pull down on it. Again the filter has some ATF in, so do it carefully.
I put a little bit of ATF into the new filter and put it back on, don’t forget the rubber o-ring.

Now you are ready to put the bottom of the pan back on.
Apply a little bit of ATF, around the lip of the bottom pan, this helps the gasket to stay put. Make sure you align all the screw holes, again I used the step stool to bring the bottom pan up to the trans housing.

OK, no beer yet, the tricky part is next.
I used the manual pump with clear hose to refill the ATF. With the engine shut off, put about 3 quart of ATF (until a little bit start dribbling down the filler hole).
Hand tighten the filler plug and start the engine, once it reaches the operating temp shift through the gears slowly about 10 time or so. Make sure you have the emergency brake and brakes on while shifting since the car is still on the jacks.
Now put the car in neutral with the engine running, fill about another quart or 1.5 quart in until ATF start coming out the filler hole. Tighten the filler plug and torque it to 36lbft.
Don’t get your hand burn to badly, and now you can have the cold one J.

The last tips:
1) Put a thick cardboard to shield your hands from the exhaust while refilling the last stage.
2) Measure how much ATF drained so you can gauge yourself, don’t under fill or over fill. That’s why I empty my catch pan in the beginning.


Good luck.