*The Official E53 Manual Transmission Registry Thread*

[Joshdub]

Nice! It looks great. The trim vinyl wrapped?

[Ricky Bobby]

Francesco welcome and your X looks great, the wheels are not seen often on E53's!

You should have plenty of X's in the DC area, TerminatorX5 (black 4.8is) lives near you as well as a few others I'm sure.

Love your OE 5 speed Titan Silver shift knob, I almost went with that to match my trim but did a ZHP knob instead

[franccesco30]

Thanks Ricky, indeed the 177 style wheel is a bit rare, I really like them but tons of work to keep them clean.

Shifting Knob was a birthday present, chosen by me of course. Thanks for the info on the E53 members.

Cheers

[franccesco30]

Yes vinyl wrapped all interior pieces, I did it about three years ago with the 2D wrap, I'm sure the 4D is even nicer, worth doing the work, would recommend it.

Cheers

Francisco

[lo_jack]

Any of you guys ever pull your manual trans out and put it back in?
I have a leaking rear main...

[cdowd]

I pulled mine last month to replace the clutch. i have a lift so it wasn't that bad. I replaced the transfer case chain while i had it apart. you need to remove the exhause, transfer case, clutch slave, then pull it out. if you have any specific questions please feel free to ask.

[Sarek]

Pulled the trans many times. Havent seen a rear main issue yet. I have seen many oil pan gasket leaks...........

[Joshdub]

It doesn't look that bad of a job. Lots of room down there to work. I'd invest in a dedicated transmission jack.

[mcurcio1989]

Speaking of dropping transmissions - lets talk transmissions. First of all out of curiosity is our unique to the x5 or is it used anywhere else? I have to imagine it is used on other vehicles due to the low production numbers.

What fluid / change intervals do you all use. Any additives that help smooth things out or what have you. I purchased my x with 68k and I'm up to 102k now. (yikes) I think a fluid change is and has been in order. I've started noticing that my 1 / 2 gear sometimes don't want to slide in after idling at a light. I'm hoping fluid will help out, wondering if others have noticed this and worse comes to worse maybe I have a tired synchro or something.

After dropping the 900lb tranny in my freightliner toterhome (using a shitty tranny jack and some big as ratchet straps mind you) I don't have a lot of respect for whatever difficulty would be involved in dropping this thing.

[Ricky Bobby]

Unlike your Xdrive transfer case on the 04-06 models, the 5speed or 6speed MT in the E53 can use normal manual transmission fluids.

I used Redline fluids in all my driveline, and am happy. I personally chose Redline MTL for my manual trans, my intervals are 50k for driveline fluids, I bought the X5 at 59k so I changed it around 60k. I'll do it again at 100k, same with diffs and Xfer case.

Some other fluids known for use in the MT's in our E53's are:

-Redline MTL
-Redline MT-90 (slightly thicker than MTL which is why I chose MTL, for the cold winters in Jersey)
-Redline D4 ATF

Riggodeaux has used a LubroMoly anti-friction additive in his trans, he has posted the part # somewhere in these threads, a google search should turn it up. I think on his maintenance receipt he did Redline D4 ATF and the Lubro additive, don't quote me.

Hope that helps, but yes unlike the AT models which everyone says is lifetime and is hit/miss on fluid changes, our MT's will benefit from regular intervals of changing trans fluid. you also can buy magnetic drain/fill plugs to catch any metal particles (www.drainplugmagnets.com)