ATF change, ATF lab report, ESSO no longer recommended by BMW or GM

[John Galt]

20,000 mile update: transmission is shifting perfectly well with no issues.

My 2001 3.0i X5 has 83k miles on it, and I decided to change the transmission fluid, even though BMW says the fluid is “lifetime”. BMW does not define what “lifetime” means, but they don’t give warranties past 100k miles. Think about that.

My primary drivers for changing the fluid were that 1) GM uses this exact transmission (A5S390R) in other cars and recommends 100k mile ATF changes 2) ATF just does not last forever (what does?) and 3) I want to get at least 200k miles out of this truck.

While trying to decide what fluid to use, I thought about using the originally recommended Texaco ETL 8072B (also by ESSO?), but, both GM and BMW say that this fluid should not be used, and instead BMW says that their part 83220397114 should be used and GM says that Dexron VI should be used. Presumably, 83220397114 is Dexron VI.

Question: I’ve seen data that says that 8072B is Dexron III, and I’ve seen people say that it is a full synthetic, but I’ve never seen any documentation. Can anyone verify that 8072B is really a synthetic (Group III or higher)?

With both GM and BMW recommending Dexron VI, I did not feel the need to go with the 8072B fluid, but, since I did not find anyone online that had switched their A5S390R to Dexron VI, I decided to go with Redline D4ATF. It seems to be the highest quality (group V base) ATF out there where I can find plenty of people using it without problems in their A5S390R. (yes, I do know that it is not certified Dexron III or Dexron VI)

If I could have found several people that went with Dexron VI in their A5S390R, I probably would have gone with Valvoline’s full synthetic Dexron VI (does anyone know what base stock that is?). Judging by the fact that Valvoline claims a full synthetic Dexron VI and pretty much everyone else says their Dexron VI is a blend, I have to assume that Dexron VI does not automatically equal full synthetic (as some people seem to claim).

In any case, the fluid change went very easily. I drained the fluid, dropped the pan, changed the filter, put everything back together and filled it per the BMW procedures. It took about 6.5 quarts. Even though it is a different tranny, the fluid and pan looked about like this, which, while the oil was very black, the plan was cleaner than I was expecting. Two days later, I did another quick fluid drain and fill (no filter change) to get at most of the rest of the old oil. It took six quarts the second time (no pan drop or fitler change). One thing to watch out for: part of the gasket of the original filter stuck up in the mounting hole and I had to reach in and pull it out. It was not a big deal, but it would have been if I had left it in there.

I sent the oil from the first change into Blackstone for analysis. Here are their comments: “Judging by what we found in this sample we don't think your BMW's transmission fluid has been changed before. All wear is above average but copper was the most out of line. Iron, copper, and tin all come from the clutch plates, while aluminum is from the torque converter. Silicon is likely from sealers used when assembling the transmission. Insolubles at this level may show sludge in the system. We think a few short oil runs should clean up your transmission. Try 10,000-15,000 miles on the next oil. The TAN read 3.6, showing the oil was very acidic.”

Here are the interesting numbers from the report:

Aluminum 90
Iron 192
Copper 417
Tin 16
Silicon 51
Insolubles 0.3%
TAN 3.6

Here is a link to my full report: D67388.pdf - Windows Live

None of this is very good, especially the TAN. I think that shows that BMW’s lifetime fill is really intended to mean 100k. I do not think my transmission was going to go another 100k with numbers like this at 80k. I suppose mine could be a fluke, but I doubt it.

The transmission was working fine before the change, and it is working fine now. Maybe it shifts a little quicker and smoother, but not much.