Question on changing trans pan gasket
 

On my 2005 x5 4.4, Ive got that newer style trans pan with the one hole to both drain and fill the pan. The dealer says 'only they can fill transmission fluid with a special pump, while the car is running' and that its impossible to do it on your own.

Ive got a tranny leak on that gasket that I need to fix. Is this really something only the dealer can do? Ive got the parts on order, but I dont wanna drop the pan only to find that I cant fill it later...anyone else do a DIY on this one and have any advice?

just get a tranny fluid siphon pump at pepboys or any auto parts place for under 20

Absolutely not. I'd find yourself another dealer. You can get the pump that screws onto the top of the tranny fluid bottle. Stretch your pecks and start pumping. If the hole is on the side of the pan, it's easy. You mention 'newer' style and i'm unfamiliar with that. if the hole is on the bottom of the pan then yea, that could be a challenge that even I don't know how the dealer would do it.

heres a couple pics to help....first one shows the pan and drain\fill port on the bottom, and second is close up of the port they are talking about. As you can also see, she's leaking ;)

when i look at it, seems like the smaller port is for draining, and larger port is for filling...anyone know best way to do this?

Ok yea that's completely different from my e53 x5. That looks like a challenge. My only guess would be that there is some sort of one way valve? This is on the bottom of the pan right? It doesn't look like its on the side of the tranny.

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First of all, you want to get that filler plug in the side of your tranny loose before you drain it. If it is frozen, you have no way of refilling it. I imagine you have the ZF tranny which is quite different than the one shown above. the filler plug is very close to the CAT so be careful as it is very easy to burn your hand when refilling the tranny with the hand pump. There is no other way to fill the tranny. And Yes, My motor was running when I filled it. You may find that the pan bolts are frozen in place. I had to heat my pan bolts with a small torch and jar them free with a small drift. I destroyed three brand new torx bits trying to get them out. After this process, you will need new bolts and washers. I replaced my bolts with tempered steel hex heads. I also used anti -seize compound on the new bolts, so next time is a breeze.

Good luck

Here is a picture of the bolts. The original is the steel colored one.

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/3...tranny0008.jpg
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Here is a picture of the original filter still installed and pan removed.

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/5...tranny0009.jpg
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Here is a picture of the cleaned pan and magnets inside....Dont forget to clean the magnets!

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/2...tranny0001.jpg
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Here is a picture of all the solenoids that do your shifting for you.

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/8...tranny0011.jpg
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Recommend you read this thread.

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...ion-fluid.html

This, coming from the same people who tell us to NOT change the tranny fluid ever while transmissions are dropping left and right due to never being serviced :rolleyes:

While I've never done a diesel, there is no reason why you can't do this yourself as long as you can get the truck in the air, level and enough room underneath to pump in more fluid. The engine needs to be running, trans at a certain temp and then it'll start flowing out the hole when it's reached it's capacity. Killcrap replied on the link JCL's posted about where the fill plug is, just make sure that you're using only a BMW replacement filter. You can either reuse your fluid, purchase more BMW fluid or get compatible fluid you can get elsewhere for probably 1/4 the cost if you search around for it on here, Google, etc. Your call on that.

Or did you mean it literally? If so, how does a fluid change prolong the life of the mechtronics unit, solenoids, sensors, wiring, torque converters, and all the other devices that have led to transmission failures?

No argument at all here with people changing their transmission fluid if they so choose, but let's not pretend that it is going to fix all the world's problems.