Let's talk Transmission Maintenance...

[Jarhed1964]

BTW,

Got the valve body back in and was trying to fit the mechatronics connection in properly to seat the pins fully (not a lot of room in there for my fat hands). Probably going to have to twist the sealing sleeve one way or the other so that the pins fit properly. Either way, I gave up until tomorrow (this was about 3pm) because I think breathing the vapors of the old fluid got me very nauseous. I don't get sick often, but twice I had to crawl out from under the car and settle my stomach. I can't think of any other reason. That fluid isn't burned, but it stinks something awful. Almost as bad as my 14 year old's feet, or my mother in law's breath.

[Jarhed1964]

HA!

They sent me the wrong pan!

I'll try to exchange this one for the right one. In the meantime, I have to say, that sealing sleeve install was a serious pain in the kiester. Never again. NO room up there and you have to have the sleeve turned in the right position to slip into the valve body before it will seat fully, then you have to have the harness plug in exactly the right position to seat into the pins of the mechatronics connector. Yuk. Finally got it seated properly, cleaned the mating surface, then discovered the pan was the wrong one. Planning on keeping the fluid, bolts, and fill plug, and sending the pan back for the correct one.

24152333907 for a 2009 XDrive30 Sport. Looks like he has it, just a few bucks more.

[Westlotorn]

When I did mine last month the mechatronics sleeve was leaking like a pig. I ordered it with the pan gasket just because it was recommended at Pelican Parts. Lucky I did because once I got under there the leak was obvious.
If you level the tranny the rear tires will be about 4 inches higher than normal.
I read everything I could find for directions and ended up setting the car as close to normal level as I could. It worked for me. Car is running and shifting better than it ever has.
I do need to say, at the same time I changed the tranny fluid I went through the entire engine and replaced all the old seals. Valve cover, Timing Cover, Oil Thermostat gaskets, and all the misc O Rings and seals on the Vanos, Camshaft sensors, dip stick, Oil Cap, vacuum pump. Changed out the Oil Vent/PVC diaphragms, one was partially split.
With all these properly sealed again the engine idle is amazing, just like brand new.
Not any smoke from exhaust, no oil leaks.
Another gain was the tranny now shifts better than ever. Taking off in first gear is smoother than it ever was.
New Tranny fluid did not do this. All the new seals did. The 4.4L and 4.8L pull a lot of vacuum, if there is an oil leak the vacuum will pull air through the spot where the oil leak is. The air is pulled into the intake manifold and pulls oil along with the air into the intake. Easy to spot this problem, pull the hose off the front of your intake manifold that also attach's to both valve covers. If the intake manifold shows oil inside where this hose attach's you have air leaks. Many people think this is caused by valve stem seals but that is false. Valve stem seals will never put oil into your intake manifold, the air leaks will.
Once the engine is sealed up properly the computer will work normally and your tranny will shift much better as a side bonus.
Driving these cars with the system not sealed will make your tranny act up and shift hard. Not fixing the air leaks can help your tranny fail due to hard shifts.
My wife has commented multiple times how much smoother her X5 is coming off of any stop now.

[Jarhed1964]

Good stuff West!

My VCG, OFHG, and Trans Cooler Gasket are next on my list, along with new belts.

[Westlotorn]

Jarhed, Thanks for the bump. Just go into this job with the eyes wide open. All those jobs mentioned take time. Lots of time. I pulled one valve cover off 3 times because each time I thought it was together properly I found one corner or one part of my gasket not in place. I ended up buying some 3M weatherstrip adhesive and gluing the dang valve cover gasket in place for my final and successful install. The pass side was easy by comparison. The drivers side was not fun at all. On the 4th install without having to fight the gasket falling out it went smoothly.
When you re install the valve cover bolts/nuts they all fit and will start threading if the gasket is perfectly in place. If the gasket is rolled or out of place you will fight to get the nuts threaded. I did not think you should have to glue the valve cover gasket in place so I struggled harder than I should have. The 3M got the job done.
It is very hard to squeeze the valve cover over the cam sensor in the rear without it peeling your gasket out of place on install.
Mark

[Jarhed1964]

New replacement pan in hand. This time I ordered the right part number. Planning on a couple hours tmorrow to install, fill, and run the new fluid in. If I got the sealing sleeve in right and the pins seated properly, I'll be driving it around to test for that 1st gear slamming early afternoon.

[Jarhed1964]

So, I told you before I should not have messed with the sealing sleeve (it wasn't leaking to begin with, but I like preventive maintenance).

I have the new pan on, I have fluid in the trans (1st cold fill), but when I went to start the car and run it in, it won't start because it shows a trans malfunction.

First thing I looked at was the plug going into the mechatronics sleeve. Of course.... it's loose. It did not fully seat. And other than trying to have my 14 year old twist the plug while pushing it foward to find the tab to line up with the male side of the mechatronics plud inside the trans, I don't know what else to do. I cannot fit my hand up there fully to be able to manipulate the plug into place.

He gets $75 if he can do it, but I'm betting I'm calling Brothers Auto in Indian Trail on Monday to have them seat the plug and finish filling my trans for me with the Lifegaurd 6 I have. Flatbed won't be too expensive I guess. At least I got THAT going for me and there is 3 litres of oil in the trans so I won't worry about them pulling it onto the bed.

[Westlotorn]

I don't remember the plug being that difficult buy maybe my hands are smaller.
I did have the car quite high so I could extend my arms up comfortably. There is a lock inside the tranny, you pull the tab down to remove the plug and push it up when the sleeve is installed again. It won't lock up if the sleeve is not all the way in.
If memory serves me correctly I tried to install the new sleeve with the wire harness attached with no success. I pulled everything back out, got the sleeve installed and the locking clip back up in place and then plugged the wire harness back in. It worked on the second try and I have no leaks. Hope this helps.
Sometimes on the second try everything goes in like butter and you wonder why it was hard on the first try.

[Jarhed1964]

The sleeve was no problem. Like you, I tried plugging the harness in first, then putting the sleeve into the mechatroics unit. No luck. Trying to twist the plug into position with the sleeve attached was the problem.

So then, I put the plug into the trans, made sure it was fully seated and so on, then tried plugging the harness in. That is where I am right now... for the 4th time. The height is no issue, I just don't have the space to fit my hands around the harness to twist it so the tab in the sleeve fits perfectly into the plug. Even my 14 year old couldn't get his hands up there. I'm betting in the E70 3.0, they are going to drop the crossbar to get space.... which will still be tight up there to maneuver the harness plug. I would, but it's connected to the transfer case as well as the frame. I'm not playing that far.

Just hoping they don't rape me. They have two things to do:

1. Get the mechatronics harness plugged in
2. Finish filling the transmission with the 2.1 liters of fluid I have left.

The first cold fill is done according to the ZF instructions. Need to start the engine and run that in and fill again.

Originally Posted by Westlotorn

I don't remember the plug being that difficult buy maybe my hands are smaller.
I did have the car quite high so I could extend my arms up comfortably. There is a lock inside the tranny, you pull the tab down to remove the plug and push it up when the sleeve is installed again. It won't lock up if the sleeve is not all the way in.
If memory serves me correctly I tried to install the new sleeve with the wire harness attached with no success. I pulled everything back out, got the sleeve installed and the locking clip back up in place and then plugged the wire harness back in. It worked on the second try and I have no leaks. Hope this helps.
Sometimes on the second try everything goes in like butter and you wonder why it was hard on the first try.

[Westlotorn]

Mine was the 2008 4.8L but I think the tranny is identical.