A happy tranny

[afstud]

Just wanted to report a good high mileage transmission fluid change, I have a 2001 3.0i x5 with 193k miles, Never had a fluid change as far as im aware, the Fluid that came out was Black like oil, I bought the Castrol Dex6 for my GM tranny thanks to a member on here for clarifying the correct fluid. Reason i felt i needed to do the oil change was because i was expierencing a hard shift from first to second on harder acceleration, if i drove normally which i usually do it would always shift smooth and precisely in every gear as if nothing was wrong, so i wanted to see if new fluid would help with that jerk into second. Well the first drain and fill made it less noticeable, but still there if i pushed the car harder from a stop, well i waited a couples weeks in between the change so that i wouldn't shock the transmission with new fluid, so today i just did the second drain and fill and what a difference! It literally feels like new, you don't feel any shifts at all and it even feels peppier, the shifts are smooth as butter and quick, it also completely got rid of my hard shifting between first and second which was the main goal of this and to have that peace of mind. That said i would definitely recommend draining and filling your transmission at least twice, it could help you save your transmission. The real test is long term but i have no doubts. Have a great weekend everyone!

[Bayerische E53]

That's one hell of a thread title.

[blackx]

only in wisconsin

[afstud]

I knew that would get peoples attention.. little known fact, i guess at one point Appleton (my city) was the sex change capital of the world. weird. i know.

[Bayerische E53]

Just bustin' your chops, OP.

In all seriousness, that's very nice to hear. I've got 155K on mine and I've never changed the fluid. I haven't done so because there have been lots of transmissions that have bitten the dust soon after a flush due to the dislodging of "particulate matter" (for lack of better terminology) stuck in the unit. But I keep hearing of people having good results with the "multiple flush" approach ... so I may go ahead and do it at some point.

A few questions:
How many miles did you drive on the first flush?

How many miles have you driven since the second flush?

Going forward, with what frequency do you plan on changing your fluid?

Keep us up to date on how things get on.

[afstud]

did the first flush about 2 weeks ago and it was driven about 400 miles until today when i did the second flush and ive been driving it around after words and its been silky smooth, ill report more as time goes on and after a few thousand miles.

[upallnight]

How was the fluid color when you drain the pan for the second flush? I know it wouldn't be black as the first, but was it ruby red? Did you replace the filter for eitheer the first or second drain and fill or do you still have the original filter?

[afstud]

first drain and fill the fluid was black/dark brown, second was kinda redish but still had brown to it, i did not do the filter and gasket change yet because im going to drain and fill one more time and on that one in will do the gasket and filter.

[tmv]

Good to know the improvement.
I think you should have used a cheap/aftermarket filter first time around to catch whatever in the tranny. Leave it in there for the second change. Replace it with BMW filter on the third change. That's what I did, but only 2 changes.

[BigBlack48is]

Originally Posted by tmv

Good to know the improvement.
I think you should have used a cheap/aftermarket filter first time around to catch whatever in the tranny. Leave it in there for the second change. Replace it with BMW filter on the third change. That's what I did, but only 2 changes.

BMW doesn't make their own filters