Pentosin Transmission oil

[Idious]

Where to aquire said Esso Fluids?

[fun2drive]

You can purchase this from a lot of vendors like BavAuto, RMSeuro, Pelican Parts. I buy by the case and used a location that sells Pentosin ATF1 for around 169 bucks shipped on sale.
European Motor Oil - Pentosin Transmission Fluids

Even Advanced Autoparts and O'Rielly's say they sell if for 17 a L.
Esso LT 71141 and Pentosin ATF1 are totally interchangeable and I just changed a friends X-3 filter and refilled the pan with this. Transmission will live a long time doing this.
By the way ZF calls this fluid Lifeguard5.
There you go...

[TriX5]

Any Transstar location has the original ZF in qt sizes for $18 plus change.

[fun2drive]

I don't even know what Transstar is and I have never seen any container including Lifeguard5 that is provided in anything but 1 L.
Can you post a site for Transstar that is new to me?

[flatlander]

FYI. The Bavauto online store says that Mobile 1 ATF LT 71141 is a rebranding of the Esso LT 71141. They sell the Mobile 1 for our ZF trans.

[JCL]

Originally Posted by flatlander

FYI. The Bavauto online store says that Mobile 1 ATF LT 71141 is a rebranding of the Esso LT 71141. They sell the Mobile 1 for our ZF trans.

Agreed. But posters should ensure that they are buying the Mobil LT71141 fluid, and not the one of the many other Mobil ATFs (such as Mobil Multi-vehicle ATF referenced above) which do not meed the LT 71141 spec.

[mysweetx5]

The bottom line after many hours of researching about BMW's "Lifetime" Transmission fluid.
In the years before the early 1990s, BMW never had "Lifetime" fluid in their vehicles.
Over the course of time, BMW changed their policy, due to increasing competition from
other car manufacturers to be more competitive with costs and initial customer ownership.
Thus came about the "Lifetime" fluids or components on certain cars and equipment.

The consensus though is that the transmission fluid should be changed at some point
and is not "Lifetime". Depending on your driving style, climate and other independent factors
you should change your transmission fluid anywhere between 50k and 100k miles.
Sure, you could drive your car until the transmission fails, which may be over 100k miles,
it maybe be less or your transmission might never fail. The point is that your transmission
fluid is not "Lifetime" and should be changed.

Below you will find a PDF that will help you locate your transmission and approved oil for
your car. There are other "approved" oils from companies such as RedLine, Amsoil etc, but
use at your own risk. The ESSO ATF - LT 71141 is not a cheap oil, but can be found under
$15 online from different locations.

Next you will find documentation from the Bentley manual on how to change your oil in a E46.

Last you will find the official directions from ZF on how fill and check the ATF Fluid.

So, in conclusion, your ATF should be changed. If done correctly this will not cause any
problems to your automatic transmission. Most problems if any that occur, are due to
improper procedures or transmissions that already have problems and by changing the ATF
you can not turn back time on the damage which has already occurred.
Thus, people tend to blame theirtransmission problem on their ATF change.

Good Luck

BMW Transmission Chart Reference
Valvoline Letter / Valvoline Mercon V ATF => ESSO LT 71141
Quaker State Multi-Vehicle ATF => ESSO LT 71141
Amsoil Synthetic Universal ATF => ESSO LT 71141
Other BMW owners have also used Redline D4 ATF Fluid sucessfully
ESSO LT 71141 Specs
ZF Oil Reference Guide
ZF 5HP19 Transmission Document
ZF 5HP19 Exploded View

Parts needed:
ATF Fluid:
(Valvoline Mercon V ATF $3.99 quart at your local car store)
ZF5HP Capacity is 8.7 L / 9.2 qt without torque converter 6.1 L / 6.4 qt)
ESSO Fluid P/N:
(optional) (83-22-9-407-807)
Filter P/N:
(24-34-1-423-376 or 24-34-1-423-376-M103 ZF motor / FILTRAN Recommended)
Pan Gasket P/N:
(24-10-1-423-380 or 24-10-1-423-380-M30)
Drain Plug P/N:
( 24-11-7-507-555 or 24-11-7-507-555-BOE)
T-27 Bolts P/N:
(24-10-1-423-273 - Extras in case stripped during the ATF change)
Loctite Blue $6 (for the pan bolts)

Tools Needed:
8mm Allen Bit Socket - Need stubby due to tight constraints (Fill Plug) (30 Nm / 22 ft-lb)
6mm Allen Bit Socket - (Drain Plug) (35 Nm / 26 ft-lb)
T-27 Socket Bit & T-27 Screw Driver Bit (Drain Pain & Oil Filter) (6-7 Nm / 4 ft-lb)

Suggestions:
* Insure the FILL plug can be removed, otherwise if have drained the ATF, you are in trouble.
* Leave 4-5 Torx Bolts holding up the the drain pan if you are doing this by yourself.
* Tightnen Torx Bolts use blue loctite. Tighten one after the other, not star pattern.







Additional instructions directly from ZF, the manufacturer of the transmission

[JCL]

Originally Posted by mysweetx5

The bottom line after many hours of researching about BMW's "Lifetime" Transmission fluid.
In the years before the early 1990s, BMW never had "Lifetime" fluid in their vehicles.
Over the course of time, BMW changed their policy, due to increasing competition from
other car manufacturers to be more competitive with costs and initial customer ownership.
Thus came about the "Lifetime" fluids or components on certain cars and equipment.

I don't disagree that BMW (as well as many other manufacturers) moved to lifetime fluids, but you are ignoring the fact that both transmission design and fluid specs changed during those decades.

The consensus though is that the transmission fluid should be changed at some point
and is not "Lifetime". Depending on your driving style, climate and other independent factors
you should change your transmission fluid anywhere between 50k and 100k miles.
Sure, you could drive your car until the transmission fails, which may be over 100k miles,
it maybe be less or your transmission might never fail. The point is that your transmission
fluid is not "Lifetime" and should be changed.

There is not a consensus. I agree that the transmission may fail, but why do you believe that changing the fluid prematurely will extend that life? Failure does not equate to wear out.

You list a number of alternate fluids, but if one is going to change it to reduce the risk of failure, why increase the risk by using universal fluids that don't meet the ZF spec? When companies such as Quaker State and Amsoil say that their universal fluids can be used in most LT71141 applications, they don't usually meet either spec. Sure they may work. But if one is quoting ZF service docs to back up a position then why not follow them and use a legitimate fluid?

Most problems if any that occur, are due to improper procedures or transmissions that already have problems and by changing the ATF you can not turn back time on the damage which has already occurred. Thus, people tend to blame their transmission problem on their ATF change.

Yes, changing the fluid on a transmission with problems isn't likely to fix anything. But you are ignoring the transmissions with no problems that only exhibit symptoms after changing the fluid. High detergent levels in the new fluid, and viscosity that is often lower, can precipitate a failure. That risk has to be balanced against the benefits of new fluid, remembering that the data does not support the premise that fluid breakdown causes most of the failures.

[mysweetx5]

The bottom line after many hours of researching about BMW's "Lifetime" Transmission fluid.
In the years before the early 1990s, BMW never had "Lifetime" fluid in their vehicles.
Over the course of time, BMW changed their policy, due to increasing competition from
other car manufacturers to be more competitive with costs and initial customer ownership.
Thus came about the "Lifetime" fluids or components on certain cars and equipment.

The consensus though is that the transmission fluid should be changed at some point
and is not "Lifetime". Depending on your driving style, climate and other independent factors
you should change your transmission fluid anywhere between 50k and 100k miles.
Sure, you could drive your car until the transmission fails, which may be over 100k miles,
it maybe be less or your transmission might never fail. The point is that your transmission
fluid is not "Lifetime" and should be changed.

Below you will find a PDF that will help you locate your transmission and approved oil for
your car. There are other "approved" oils from companies such as RedLine, Amsoil etc, but
use at your own risk. The ESSO ATF - LT 71141 is not a cheap oil, but can be found under
$15 online from different locations.

Next you will find documentation from the Bentley manual on how to change your oil in a E46.

Last you will find the official directions from ZF on how fill and check the ATF Fluid.

So, in conclusion, your ATF should be changed. If done correctly this will not cause any
problems to your automatic transmission. Most problems if any that occur, are due to
improper procedures or transmissions that already have problems and by changing the ATF
you can not turn back time on the damage which has already occurred.
Thus, people tend to blame theirtransmission problem on their ATF change.

Good Luck

BMW Transmission Chart Reference
Valvoline Letter / Valvoline Mercon V ATF => ESSO LT 71141
Quaker State Multi-Vehicle ATF => ESSO LT 71141
Amsoil Synthetic Universal ATF => ESSO LT 71141
Other BMW owners have also used Redline D4 ATF Fluid sucessfully
ESSO LT 71141 Specs
ZF Oil Reference Guide
ZF 5HP19 Transmission Document
ZF 5HP19 Exploded View

[mysweetx5]

BMW Transmission Chart Reference
Valvoline Letter / Valvoline Mercon V ATF => ESSO LT 71141
Quaker State Multi-Vehicle ATF => ESSO LT 71141
Amsoil Synthetic Universal ATF => ESSO LT 71141
Other BMW owners have also used Redline D4 ATF Fluid sucessfully
ESSO LT 71141 Specs
ZF Oil Reference Guide
ZF 5HP19 Transmission Document
ZF 5HP19 Exploded View