The right oil for GM tranny is it Dexron 6??

[goldenbird]

purchased an X5 3 days ago with GM steptronic tranny and 113000 miles (2005 model). The failsave program occurred once in a 3 nearby short trips. parking the car for a few minutes solved the problem.error code is found to be p0734 gear monitoring 4 (error during up shift from gear 3 to gear 4). My experienced tech suggested to replace the tranny oil with the one approved by BMW (68$/Liter) as this might be the preventive solution and denounced replacing it with Dexron 3 as it is an outdated oil that might corrupt the tranny instead of protecting it. According to my research it is found that Dexron 6 is the right choice. Is it right? And was it satisfactory for those who replaced their tranny oil with Dexron 6??

[X5Ghost]

Trannys are expensive, I wouldn't use less inferior fluids and risk causing thousands $$$ in tranny repairs later. I usually use OEM recommended fluids.

You will find the tyranny and fluids somewhat a controversial topic on the forum and people have different and valid points of view.

[goldenbird]

Thanks X5Ghost. OEM fluid is not solely manufactured for GM X5 tranny. it is simply adopted from another manufacturer,but people at BMW don't disclose the secret for a commercial reasons not a technical one. Anyway I appreciate your warning

[imalabil]

My dealer told me Dextron VI is correct, BUT mine is a 2002 3.0. That's what I used.
Bill

[goldenbird]

Hey Bill. What was the result with Dexron 6? feel any abnormality or better and smoother shifting? since when did you made that change?

[imalabil]

No problems at all. It's been about 11k miles ago.
Bill

[goldenbird]

Thanks imalabil. My mechanic insists that it is not Dexron 6 as it looks different By visual inspection than that supplied by BMW. I called BMW yesterday and they insist on the life time fluid unless there is a reason to drain the oil, like water leaked in tranny. Anyway as the fluids may differs, there might be nice fluid to replace the original which works better, but you need at least to fully flush the old oil to not mix 2 different oil types in the tranny

[Zulu95]

I have been using Amsoil tranny fluid for the past 8 years. Any good quality synthetic fluid should suffice.

[tmv]

I've seen bad thing happen after a tranny FLUSH among E39 owners. The recommended procedure is to drain and re-fill at least twice, with the filter replaced, 1K mi apart.

[goldenbird]

I will not go into changing the fluid till I face that trans failsafe again. If it will happens a second time, I'll use the BMW fluid if BMW people suggest such a decision. Afraid to go into additional troubles. Thanks Zulu95 and thanks TMV