Transfer Case & Rear/Front Differentials Oil Change
 

Hi all, i am going to change my engine oil this weekend and planning to change gear oil for transfer case and R/F diffs. too. My X is 74K miles it is the time to change oil for TC and RF diffs. I am going to buy gear oil 75w90 at dealer tomorrow. I am not sure how much oil I will use for TC and R/F differentials.
Does anybody know? Thanks so much in advance!

If your e53 is prior to the "xdrive system" (Clutch Packs) then the Transfer case takes ATF ~.5L and diffs 75w-90 ~1.4L (rear), ~.7L (front). I used Red Line Oil D4 ATF and 75w-90. Fill till fluid comes out the fill whole in all three applications.

If it has xdrive, then use BMW fluids from the dealer.

k

kab, thanks alot - i have facelift E53 meaning it has xdrive system. You're right, I called dealer to verify whether they sell just 3 liters of differentials 75w-90 or the whole bulk of 75w-90 oil. Dealer part saleperson told me to bring 3-4 liters empty can for differentials 75w-90 ( he said normally dealer don't carry small amount of differentials oil i don't know if it's true or not).

just make sure you undo the fill plug first before draining!

thats interesting...i just did my diffs and the front took more then the rear. I mean i pumped the front till it leaked out the fill hole. did the same for the rear and so i ended up placing about 900-1000ml in the front and about 800ml in the rear....and i have 141K and it was never changed.

the rear looked redish and see through but the front looked like burnt red with lots of what looked like gold dust....

so im just double checking things and the oil container has what its labeled as 350ml left so that means i had to 946 so thats 1892-350=1542 is what i filled so it means about 842 front and 700 in the rear.

My front differential took about 3/4 quart and rear ~1.4 quart - I refilled the same amount of oil that i drained out. Front diff oil look darker and than the rear.
Transfer case oil was completed dark when i drained it out and it should be refilled after 60K. Since i saw the transfer case oil that dirty, I am going to do the transmission oil change soon too, but this should be done by dealer.

Hey artman, how's your steering tic tok issue? Mine was resolved after replacing another steering rack. Replacement steering rack is anther major problem and it took me up to 4 hours to finish this job.

Ok so i had the car level so i tilted it a bit and was able to get the rear to about 1.4. but found major issue. The front diff oil looked like oil with gold dust...lots of metal dust . the rear diff oil was the best. it was reddish but see through. the transfer case was blackish.

StartX5, yea i still have that sound... definitely considering a new rack. ill have to look at the rack one more time and see if anything can be done....or at least find the source of the sound. bc i had this from the beginning so thats why im so hesitant on replacing it. but i might have too.

artman, if you prefer to replace steering rack, PM i help where to get better price for part.

Start - you can definitely do the transmission fluid yourself. I have an '06 X5 3.0 Automatic. The fluid is Dexron VI, commonly available. I chose to go with Valvoline. I did the drain, pan drop, filter replacement (OE BMW), and filled with fresh fluid (~6qts IIRC). Given that you can't get all the fluid out in one shot, I drove around with it for about 2 weeks then did a drain and fill with some more fluid. The objective there was to dilute the remaining fluid with fresh fluid and then put in some more fresh fluid. Been driving that way for 35K miles now and no issues.

Wayne, i can do the transmission fluid, it's not difficult to change tranny oil. however, i will bring my X5 to dealer and let them do it for me - i will do it sometimes next spring when it's 85-90K miles, plus i will do air conditioning gas flush and refill at dealer too.