Not at all. they only came with SMG gearbox, if I am not wrong. I hunted that steering wheel for a while - and it is only non-stock upgrade I have. Love it and drive on manual most of the time.
Auto trans service
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Good tô know it was serviced before.
This is on my tô do list, i have the gm one. It is leaking on the pan, it has some red sealant in the gasket so sameone was there before, i will check the atf colour.
Once again cheers on your success, long life for that e46, it surely fell on the right hands.
This is on my tô do list, i have the gm one. It is leaking on the pan, it has some red sealant in the gasket so sameone was there before, i will check the atf colour.
Once again cheers on your success, long life for that e46, it surely fell on the right hands.
I'd say I don't have paddle then, as there's nothing on the steering wheel, just the shifter.
Seems to want a lot more every time I let it cool and try to top it off again. I'm running it and shifting gears, then letting it cool an hour and topping it off.
Ok, then no I certainly don't have that.
I haven't even worked out how to operate all the dash controls yet, just been focused on the jobs at hand, one at a time. Then there's BMW's unique names for everything lol.
I'll get there soon enough.
Pumping the ATF out of the cooler is a good move by the way. Cleaned the fluid much quicker, and I could've done without a couple of drain downs for sure. Next time will be simpler.
I did stick my aquarium thermometer strip to the pan on the trans, then let the car sit for 2 hours with the bonnet open. It was just around 26C when I started the car, and had gone past the highest reading of 35C by the time I'd topped it right off. I might check it one more time in the morning from cold, and that will be it.
The trans had been serviced before by a complete jerkoff, and the fluid had a bit of color and contamination so I was glad to do it. Plus I just don't trust the previous owners mechanical work...everything I've seen done on this car has been rough. I've just been lucky that he didn't manage to destroy something expensive, and I'm hopeful I've now covered most of his handiwork.
Love the return line off method. Worked a charm. First flush blew through dirty, second was clean.
![922179]()
Did not have to worry about the bolts being seized, they were finger tight with no loctite. A couple had even worked their way out a little. How it wasn't leaking I'm sure I don't know, but it triggered my OCD and I cleaned all the bolts and applied a drop of medium blue loctite before torqueing them to 6Nm.
![922180]()
The magnets were quite clean of metal debris, but the previous mechanic had lost one. Totally amateurish, but I don't think any real harm will come of it over 60,000kms when I do it again. I did think the magnets were pretty weak, and wondered about replacing them with those rare earth magnets which are strong as hell. I also thought about adding 4 more as there's recesses in the pan that would hold them. It would be a 5 dollar mod.
![922181]()
My little weed sprayer bottle was star of the day! Worked an absolute treat for 9.50AUD. It's already losing pressure, so I'm assuming the oil has attacked the chinesium seals. I'll use the last bit I've got in there by sucking the ATF out of the power steering reservoir and topping it up each drive (I use the same ATF in the trans and PS) to flush it a bit further, then I'll throw it away.
![922182]()
I don't like this trans fluid filling/levelling procedure. A dipstick would've been so much more definite, but it is what it is. I'll check it from cold one more time in the morning, which will still be over 22C, then I'll button it up and hope it all goes well.
The trans had been serviced before by a complete jerkoff, and the fluid had a bit of color and contamination so I was glad to do it. Plus I just don't trust the previous owners mechanical work...everything I've seen done on this car has been rough. I've just been lucky that he didn't manage to destroy something expensive, and I'm hopeful I've now covered most of his handiwork.
Love the return line off method. Worked a charm. First flush blew through dirty, second was clean.
Did not have to worry about the bolts being seized, they were finger tight with no loctite. A couple had even worked their way out a little. How it wasn't leaking I'm sure I don't know, but it triggered my OCD and I cleaned all the bolts and applied a drop of medium blue loctite before torqueing them to 6Nm.
The magnets were quite clean of metal debris, but the previous mechanic had lost one. Totally amateurish, but I don't think any real harm will come of it over 60,000kms when I do it again. I did think the magnets were pretty weak, and wondered about replacing them with those rare earth magnets which are strong as hell. I also thought about adding 4 more as there's recesses in the pan that would hold them. It would be a 5 dollar mod.
My little weed sprayer bottle was star of the day! Worked an absolute treat for 9.50AUD. It's already losing pressure, so I'm assuming the oil has attacked the chinesium seals. I'll use the last bit I've got in there by sucking the ATF out of the power steering reservoir and topping it up each drive (I use the same ATF in the trans and PS) to flush it a bit further, then I'll throw it away.
I don't like this trans fluid filling/levelling procedure. A dipstick would've been so much more definite, but it is what it is. I'll check it from cold one more time in the morning, which will still be over 22C, then I'll button it up and hope it all goes well.
Hold your turkey baster on the pan with some insulation to get the pan, not the atmosphere. When you are just under 40C, the level is perfect at the fill hole. Above 40C is no good.
You are the first person that I have heard of doing it the way you did it; let the pump on the trans pump till bubbles and stop, Right? Maybe I should go back and reread. I have a 6HP19 on an E90 that I'm going to change.
You are the first person that I have heard of doing it the way you did it; let the pump on the trans pump till bubbles and stop, Right? Maybe I should go back and reread. I have a 6HP19 on an E90 that I'm going to change.
A lot of people have done it that way. I like to have a helper to shut off the engine when I change jugs of fresh ATF.
I’ve used this method on countless BMWs (and other models) over the years with excellent results and nary a problem.
I use an electric pump instead of a manual one to pump the fresh ATF into the fill port, because it’s so easy.
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1,388 Posts
It is not clear to me that Azadani was filling trans with ATF at the same time he was flushing the old fluid out...Isn't that how it is supposed to work? What am I missing?
I don't think you ever want the engine running/transmsission turning without a full pan of fluid...
Ok,
So this may have turned to shit for me...
Topped her off this morning, and went for a test drive. Drove beautifully, and noticeably smoother.
BUT. Now I have water leaking from the back of the transmission, dripping off the back of the the pan. WTF could that be?? Looks clean, I'm not even sure it's coolant yet but it's hot. I'm catching some in a jar so I can see if it's blue.
What on earth could be going on here? I'm letting it cool down to see if I've lost coolant.
Initial thoughts would be that the heat exchanger split or something while pulling the hose off...I was pretty gentle and had a tool to do it, came off easy.
I'm hoping this isn't a complete disaster unfolding.
EDIT:
The water dripping is clear and has no taste at all, which suggests it's not coolant. Obviously I didn't drink a glass of it, but when I was bleeding the system I got a couple of drops in my mouth and there was no mistaking the taste for some time after.
The car was driven all day in heavy rain before I parked it up for this job, so possibly there was a pool in the chassis or something.
Today is also humid as hell and I'm using the AC. Would condensation drip back there?
My thoughts are that if the trans had somehow taken water in, it would instantly go mental with the gear changes, if not detonate all together.
There was no sign of this during testing/filling with the motor running on stands, but I didn't have the AC on either.
I would appreciate any expert advice here...it's freaking me out a little.
So this may have turned to shit for me...
Topped her off this morning, and went for a test drive. Drove beautifully, and noticeably smoother.
BUT. Now I have water leaking from the back of the transmission, dripping off the back of the the pan. WTF could that be?? Looks clean, I'm not even sure it's coolant yet but it's hot. I'm catching some in a jar so I can see if it's blue.
What on earth could be going on here? I'm letting it cool down to see if I've lost coolant.
Initial thoughts would be that the heat exchanger split or something while pulling the hose off...I was pretty gentle and had a tool to do it, came off easy.
I'm hoping this isn't a complete disaster unfolding.
EDIT:
The water dripping is clear and has no taste at all, which suggests it's not coolant. Obviously I didn't drink a glass of it, but when I was bleeding the system I got a couple of drops in my mouth and there was no mistaking the taste for some time after.
The car was driven all day in heavy rain before I parked it up for this job, so possibly there was a pool in the chassis or something.
Today is also humid as hell and I'm using the AC. Would condensation drip back there?
My thoughts are that if the trans had somehow taken water in, it would instantly go mental with the gear changes, if not detonate all together.
There was no sign of this during testing/filling with the motor running on stands, but I didn't have the AC on either.
I would appreciate any expert advice here...it's freaking me out a little.
Joined
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1,388 Posts
Yeah I think your condensation hose from the AC system is in that general area.
Yes you are right, I just confirmed it doing the same lap with/without AC. I feel like a bit of a tit, but I'll leave it all up so some other poor bugger doesn't have a mild heart attack like I just did. In my defense I've never seen anything leaking out of it before and I'd just done a job in the vicinity.
Strange place to drain the condensate...straight over the back of the gearbox?
Anyway, she's driving beautifully and shifting gears well. A clunk that sometimes happened when I coasted to a near stop and took off again is completely gone, high speed changes are almost unnoticeable and it's kicking down a gear very nicely.
Job worth doing, and I'll do it again in 60,000kms at a nice round figure of 300,000kms. After that I'll do it every 100,000kms. I did the diff while I was under there, and it was slightly low on fluid.
Joined
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1,354 Posts
Yeah the evaporator drain is dumping water directly above the transmission. So much of these cars is well engineered well. And then there is that. And the window regulators. And the...lol
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Sent from my S61 using Tapatalk
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1,354 Posts
... automatic transmission. Both zf and gm have made some great automatic transmissions but somehow bmw managed to source the worst of both at the time.
Sent from my S61 using Tapatalk
Sent from my S61 using Tapatalk
No, I wasn't filling at the same time but I had a helper watching for bubbles. Here's how I did it step by step:
1. I drained the pan and filled it again.
2. I disconnected the return line from the heat exchanger and connected a piece of clear plastic tube to the heat exchanger outlet, running to a waste oil container.
3. Ran the motor in park until it had pumped out the torque converter and started to bubble. Dirty ATF came out.
4. Refilled pan (engine off) and repeated step 3. Clean ATF came out.
5. Changed the filter and cleaned the tray, refilled fully and topped off with motor running.
6. Ran motor for a while, shifting between all gears and used manual shift function as well.
7. Shut down and drained pan one more time. Unnecessary, ATF was clean.
8. Topped off again and am waited for car to cool for last running top off at room temp.
9. Started car cold in the morning with AC on and checked level. All good.
Probably a fair bit of overkill and fluid use, but if I got another car that was new to me I'd do it that way again the first time. Next time I may well drop steps 4 and 7 depending on the state of the fluid with the first drain, as I'll be using the same fluid and know the history of the trans servicing. I should point out that this trans had been done before, and the fluid was what I would've called "medium dirty". Definitely happy to have changed it, but it wasn't too bad.
At no time was there any noise or anything when the open hose bubbled, but I shut it down straight away. It was very quick to empty the trans, so I didn't get to move the shifter at all during steps 3 & 4. I worked the gears a lot in step 6. After all that I felt it was good that I rechecked the level cold (motor running) the next morning, as it did take a bit more.
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