[ddaniel1]

Part 1 of 6

As I have posted before my son has a uber high mileage 2000 328i that we bought to learn E46s, at 268K miles my son called at 11 at night and said the car had no gears, I had to work early so I told him to call AAA and I would look at it the next day, he had no gears at all vice having reverse and no forward gear so it sounded like no fluid, I thought it could be a blown cooling hose and went to sleep. The next day I looked at it and sure enough the cooling hose was popped off at the cooler, I snapped it back on, yanked on it and it felt secure, I had left off the plastic under shield after fixing all of the oil leaks we had to watch for a few months, we had had heavy rain so I thought driving through a deep puddle might have knocked the hose QD loose.

I got a filter kit, replaced the filter and refilled with dexron VI fluid, it took 7 quarts so the transmission was pumped pretty dry, I was really sweating the condition of the transmission at this point, I revved it in the garage put in gears and everything seemed fine, on the test drive however the hose blew loose again, my oldest son was chasing me and saw it immediately and let me know, I shut it down and had it towed back home, ordered and replaced both cooling lines like I should have done as soon as I saw the hose popped off. It took another 6 quarts and the transmission tested fine, no slipping and no codes.
I was pretty stoked and that sets up the story for the transmission failure. After 7000 miles on the new fluid and hoses, we got a dreaded gear light, checking the codes with DIS and got a P0732 incorrect gear ratio second gear, fault memory was a 34 EGS Gear monitoring 2, I checked fluid and some drained out and it was totally brown with nonmetallic particles in it, I was pretty bummed knowing that it was fairly new fluid but at the same time, since it was only second gear and not something that was affecting all gears it was not a catastrophic failure or low pump pressure. I cleared codes, reset adaptations to see how long the car could drive before I yanked the transmission.

I started calling around to get prices etc and was getting wild quotes of 3500-4500 to rebuild and 1000 for a used one with 90 day warranty, I did get one place that quoted me 1500 but it sounded fishy and I felt they would raise the price once it was opened up. I just could not see spending this much when the car is realistically worth 5 to 6 tops with its mileage.

I decided to rebuild it myself since it was on my list of stuff I always wanted to learn. I was surprised how little info and DIYs are out there on this transmission, plenty on ZFs but none on the GM past the solenoids on the valve body. I now know why buy hopefully this DIY can turn it around.
You must have the ATSG manual for this transmission, I bought a hard copy off Ebay and then found it digitally on line, I preferred having the paper book propped up on the bench as I was working. Google 5L40E.pdf
They are also viewable on scribd.com, to download you need to pay for a 1 day pass, it was on there that I found the GM technical manual:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/34140538/5L40E

It was expensive to buy elsewhere, this has the entire theory of the transmission it helped a little and would be very useful for troubleshooting but the actual manual was the critical piece, there are also some bulletins I found that I will post.
Identification of the transmission and its year is critical.

Mine was a 99-01 model, after 2002 it changes and I believe after that it is a AS390 or 5L50E, here is an article on the blog of the site that I bought almost all of my parts from:

http://cobratransmission.blogspot.com/2009/01/5l40e-5l50e-rebuild-kit-year-change.html

I stumbled onto these guys and noticed they had a live chat function that was up on weekends, I started working with them and they were very helpful with my newbie questions, I highly recommend them, there prices seem reasonable except for their valve bodies.

http://cobratransmission.com/

Here are their list of parts and kits for the 5L40E and related transmissions:

http://cobratransmission.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_11_19_44

Pics of part number
I also got Trans-jel from them, I chose red, you need it:
http://cobratransmission.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4_2235&products_id=200000010

I also decided to replace all solenoids and got them in a kit off of Ebay for 119.00:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190835980359?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

My goal was to build a 200,000 mile transmission so I decided to go with the master kit that includes the pistons for $542.00 as you will see later, all the difficulty with these transmissions is centered around the pistons, they are known as bonded pistons and are a royal b*tch to install even with the special tools and I believe those special tools are the reason for the lack of DIYs, they run over 1000 dollars but there is now an alternative know as SEAL EZ for under 100 dollars

Here is a youtube video of the install of all the pistons you will do in this rebuild; it absolutely was not as easy as this guy did it! I may not have had enough finger strength and my hands hurt for days after trying to push in these pistons. I will go into detail on my difficulties and how I overcame them when I describe each clutch pack, watch this very closely for the angles of the cones:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMPcyIc_V2k

I went through two cans of each of the freezing spray off amazon, I also got the cone kit on amazon also, as well as some of the tools:


http://www.amazon.com/Lubegard-19540-Seal-E-Zee-Cone-5L40E/dp/B006NIB8CW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1376167576&sr=8-2&keywords=5l40e+seal

The freezing compound:

http://www.amazon.com/Lubegard-19522-SEAL-E-ZEE-Step-Fitting/dp/B006HI7QUG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1376167729&sr=8-2&keywords=Seal-E-Zee

In some cases I found a found a work around for the special tools such as the seal EZ but in others I invested in the tools on Ebay with the idea that I could resell them once finished. I will describe each one required in this DIY and include a pic.
I was able to complete the job but it was a challenge, I was not able to do everything I had originally planned to because of delayed delivery of tools for the pump, time pressure and uncooperative vendors on the valve body when I tried to get one that was sonnax modified.
The transmission is in and is working well for 500 miles now, no leaks and no slippage or codes so I count it as successful.

Removal of the transmission is covered by many of the good swap DIYs on here so I don't have anything to add on that, please refer to those. I did pressure wash it once out. You need to keep the environment as clean as possible so you don't contaminate the new transmission.

I gathered several boxes 1 and 2 gallon Ziploc freezer bags to keep the parts together and separate as I went
I put a Folgers coffee container over the input shaft as I stood the transmission up on the bell housing so it would catch the draining fluid.
By the book, once the tranny is out you start by removing the tail section, note the spacers, needle bearings and such and be careful to keep everything in order and bags as you go

Pics

Note the parking pawl out and in, this is what holds the car in park:




Then on to the valve body, remove pan and start removing the electrical connectors from the solenoids, speed sensors and shift indicator, this was my first indication of problems with a high mileage transmission, the connector lock tabs were totally brittle, the first one I removed cracked, being super careful I still cracked 3 more, this led me to needing a harness from the dealer part no 24367504752, 160 bucks from:

http://www.partswebsite.com/bmwpartsupply/oemparts/bmw-113/ 24367504752.html

These guys are a great source with great prices in San Diego for OEM parts. Other dealers were quoting 250 and I didn't want to wait on ECS.



Pics


Part 2 and 3 will focus on the last 2 remaining clutch packs and the valve body, reassembly, list of materials.

 

[ddaniel1]

Part 2...


after the tail section was off and valve body out I flipped it over and placed on 2 stacks of 2x4s to clear the shaft sticking out the back



The pump and bell housing is very straight forward remove the 7 bolts, the little shaft O-ring


and lift off the bell housing/pump assembly, set it aside and cover to keep clean. If you forget to remove the O-ring it will try to pull the clutches out with the pump. Be mindful of the plastic washer spacer that goes between the pump and direct reverse clutch. It ties into the clearance checks at the reassembly.


Refer to IS-5L40E-1.pdf page 8 and 9 the numbers refer to those pages.
Lift the Direct reverse clutch (2) and forward coast clutch (3) out as a unit, you can also pull out the Forward Sprag/Input Sun Gear Shaft (4) the Direct Clutch Hub (5) and the O.D. Clutch Hub/Intermediate Sprag (6), what you be left with looking down into the case will be the Intermediate/Overdrive Clutch Housing (7) and it is secured by the largest, strongest snap ring you most likely will ever see. I will get back to that later.
after the tail section was off and valve body out I flipped it over and placed on 2 stacks of 2x4s to clear the shaft sticking out the back. Here is the snap ring:




I actually built some snap ring pliers to do this and was able to get the snap ring out but it kept slipping off and it showed me that I needed the ratcheting locking function to safely reinstall it so I bought the pliers off Ebay for 120, this snap ring is stout, I have no doubt if it went flying it could seriously injure you or a bystander.
My first iteration was 1/2 inch angle iron and some snap ring bits from a harbor freight snap ring plier set, total fail, the angle iron just bent and didn't budge the snap ring so I went with 2 inch strap, you can see the ½ inch angle on the nose, since I had already drilled and tapped it for the bits I just cut off the ends and bolted them to the strap, this worked to get it out but was unsafe to rely on just muscle to keep it compressed.

The lock function is critical, I was happy I had the real ones for the reassembly:



the 6L80E has some similarities, mainly the snap ring which we will move to next at 27:00 of this bilingual how to by Mr. Hiram Gutierrez, more on his great channel later:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qLL-bgTwF4
He shows how to get it out without the tools, I don't recommend this process, I was too nervous about dinging up the case to try this.

Here is some basic theory to set up the knowledge, each clutch assembly consist of a hydraulic piston that when fluid pressure is applied by the solenoid and valves in the valve body, the piston applies force to a number of inner and outer frictions, when pressed together the frictions lock to each other and connect the hubs together depending on what gear you are in etc.
Each clutch pack requires some sort of spring pressure to return the piston to its resting position, to disassemble and reassemble the clutch packs you need a method to compress those springs, some of these are simple and a couple require a specific tool which I will show later.
Two types of springs are encountered in the 5L40E, the Bellville and a multiple coil spring type, the ones with the fingers are the Bellville type. The book refers to a "foot press" which is an 200-500 dollar set up that would be prohibitive for the DIYer in my opinion, the spring compressors I bought and when I improvised with c clamps I was compensating for not having that foot press. The book also makes the assumption in several areas that you are a trained transmission re-builder where it sometimes just says "compress the spring" without any pictures or guidance on how to do it. There are good pictures in the manual of each clutch assembly so I took pictures of the first few to illustrate a few items and stopped taking pictures when I got in a hurry to get it reassembled and in the car. Hopefully others can do this in future and add more pics.

Direct reverse clutch
This came apart easily after compressing the spring with the screw type spring compressor, note the Bellville spring,


The process I used throughout was:
Disassemble one clutch pack at a time no matter what. Each spacer, retaining ring, friction etc. was removed flipped 180 degrees over and set on the bench in the exact order it was removed, I then slid the pieces above and below the frictions halfway apart, matched up the new frictions,

soaked them in transmission fluid for 15 minutes and then stuck them back in the stack of parts the way they came out,


then on reassembly I just flipped each part 180 and slipped it back in in order, I was pretty anal about this but looking back the book has pretty clear pictures of each part and the order they go in.


Inspect each hub for discoloration or blue color that might indicate overheating, I had some discoloration but it came right off with a brass wire brush so I did not have to replace any hard parts


Forward and coast clutch had a shaft sticking out so the threaded compressor would not work, I used two opposing c-clamps to compress and the coil spring assembly to disassemble this one.

I clamped the shaft in aluminum vice jaws. The shaft of this has 4 Teflon sealing rings which need a special 3 in one tool to install and resize, part no J-14530 there is a -1 -2 and -3 tool that come as one assembly, 100 bucks used:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kent-Moore-Input-Shaft-Seal-Installer-Set-5L50E-6L50-6L80-6L90-J-45130-/230884638758?pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&hash=item35c1cc0026&vxp=mtr
Refer to page 65 of the manual, You install three scarfed Teflon seals making sure the ends line up right with the angle of the cut together, not opposing, Google scarfed seals, the top ring is solid and it requires the long hollow tool -2 to push it down into the groove evenly, I had to help it the last 2mm, you then lube the -3 resizing tool with trans-jel and slip it down over the Teflon seals and leave it there until you are ready to the tranny back together, I messed up the top ring the first time but I caught it in time and smoothed it back into the groove and got the resizer on properly. It compresses the Teflon so the pump can slip over them easily when you install the bell housing at the end.
See the 4 teflon rings on the shaft?, solid is on top:

 

[ddaniel1]

Part 3

The piston installs of these two were fairly easy with the seal ez kit. And the rebuild was uneventful, you will also need a dial indicator setup for checking clearances, you can do this mechanically or with low pressure air, I chose mechanically, I needed to google this to fully grasp what needed to happen, once understood it was straight forward and an important QA step that verified you didn't leave anything out or put in an extra friction in for example, Mr. Hiram Gutierrez has a kick ass channel on YouTube, he has all sorts of transmission videos, too bad he doesn't have one on this transmission but the one on 4L60-E here at 9:00 minutes shows the exact process of reinstalling the frictions and continue watching as he tests the clearance with a dial indicator, you will do this procedure each time you reassemble a clutch assembly to the specs in the manual so you need to have it down pat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkyPoeAcxOI

If the clearance doesn't meet the book double check reassembly and the book will refer to spacers that you need to change to get the correct clearance, all of my clearances were right on in the middle. I used my lathe and mill table for the dial indicator setup.



A good place to get the dial indicator setup is littlemachineshop.com cheap but effective:
http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1593&category=

The remaining two clutch packs that were removable after the snap ring is out were the most challenging for several reasons, they both had very skinny large diameter Bellville springs and very thin fragile pistons, as well as the most difficult piston to install

To remove (7) Intermediate/Overdrive Clutch Housing and (9) Center Support 2nd Clutch/Low/
Reverse & 2nd Coast Clutch I could not get a good grip on them, I tapped gently on the output shaft and got them to move, once they were moving I was able to reach inside the case and turning it upside down got them out, in between them is the (8) intermediate sprag, just remove it and set aside as well as the output shaft and planetary gear assembly, there isn't anything you can do to those.

In order to compress the skinny Bellville springs you need a tool P/N J-44764 it has a thin lip that slips inside the groove to compress these skinny springs, I would be hard pressed to a work around in that diameter. You then use the screw type compressor to squeeze it down.



Shot of the two spring compressors:


The Overdrive and intermediate clutch housing came apart with a combination of the spring compressors and the 44764, I used LP air to pop the old pistons out, they still had quite a good seal.
These pistons are where my real problems began, the first thin one I tried to force down in the cone to freeze and it bent! I was able to straighten it but try as I might I could not get it to seat no matter how many time I tried, I just could not get enough force on the little thin piston to get it in.
The edges of where the piston seats are razor sharp, I cut myself multiple times and finally ordered the tools that the book specified to protect the pistons from the sharp edges and guide them in. I ordered a J-45135 from ebay as well as the ones needed for the next clutch that used the thin piston:
J-45136 and J-45140, I could not find a J-45145 I believe it is a misprint in the book.






These are tapered cones that protect the seals from the sharp edges and also compress the piston to pop in, I would not attempt this job again without these, seal ez kit or not.

On the center support the thin piston was easy with the new tools but the last piston was the hardest one, it is the one with 3 sealing lips that he mentions in the seal ez video, I could not get it to seat not matter what I tried, freezing etc. it would not seat, in the end I put the old one back in because I was out of time, I tested it with 15 psi air once installed and it still has a tight seal with no leaks. I was more confident doing that than forcing the seal in and probably cutting it. This was the first of two compromises I made in the rebuild.
Once those clutch packs were reassembled and clearance verified with the dial indicator it was time to move on to the valve body which was the last item before reassembly.

 

[ddaniel1]

Part 4

I wanted to get a Sonnax modified valve body for improved reliability, either through an exchange or to have mine done, I put inquiries in on 5 different websites for quotes and only got a response from 1, that one sounded good but in the midst of an email conversation they stopped responding, I think a lot of these companies want to deal only with shops and not with individuals, in the end I did not feel comfortable paying money to anyone that had a communication problem. So I rebuilt the valve body myself and replaced the solenoids with new ones, I probably could have ohmed them out to see how they looked but for $119.00 I thought it was cheap insurance.

Valve body, there are two halves









Pay attention to the check balls, new ones were in the kit:





Attached is an important bulletin on the valve body, when removing the accumulators it is important to keep them in order and all together, I labeled them 1 through 4 and put them in individual bags. read the bulletin for why, the book didn't have this info.

The hardest part of this job was removing the gaskets, there are three and they get stuck to the aluminum, I tried multiple types of gasket remover and in the end it was a careful application of a razor blade, took me several tedious hours. I also cleaned each solenoid and valve passage with brake cleaner and LP air.

On the three gaskets, two are almost identical, you have to look very closely to see the differences around the check balls, make sure you make a note of which one is which, once everything is squeaky clean it is time to reassemble, because you have two halves and multiple stacking layers you need alignment pins to keep everything lined up, I bought some off Ebay and the set only came with 3 instead of 4, I went to home depot and got their longest 6mm x 1.0 bolt and cut the head off, looking back I could have done this for all 4, if you want the set they are J-39068

The one I modified from home depot was plenty long enough to do the job.

You line up the two bottom halves with the alignment studs sticking up, place on a gasket, the metal spacer plate, another gasket, then the piece with the check balls, making sure the manual valve is lined up correctly, with the check balls stuck in with a glob of trans-jel so when you invert it they don't fall out. Then the next gasket and the last half, start putting in all the bolts taking care to make sure no bolt holes are restricted, then torque to 8 ft lbs. Then replace o-rings on accumulator pistons and replace accumulators in the exact order removed. Torque them to 8 ft lbs. Install solenoids if you haven't already and you are almost ready to install the valve body after the case is assembled.

 

[ddaniel1]

Part 5

Putting everything back together was a little tricky, I had some trouble getting the planetary gears into the output shaft assembly but they finally fell in and rotated fine, then the center support went in, the sprag and then the overdrive clutch pack and the infamous snap ring, after some measurements required by the book to show you have the right thickness of snap ring, mine was right inside the spec. It also shows you have everything in place or the snap ring wont fit in the groove.
Once the snap ring is in place securely it is time to do the front half of clutches and sprags, items 2,3,4.5 and 6 from the initial pdf I posted. Remove the Teflon ring re-sizer we put on in part 2, inspect the 4 Teflon rings for damage.
It is a little tricky to get the frictions lined up so the clutch pack slide together all the way, I finally removed all the shafts and assembled them out of the transmission, then with the transmission horizontal, slid the whole assembly in and mated the shafts by rotating the assembly back and forth, it looked like everything was in but there is a tool to check it, refer to page 114 and 115 in the manual:

You set this up on the case, then flip it over and check the gap between it a the plastic spacer on the pump, if it is correct you have everything back together properly. You are ready to install the pump, there is a seal for the torque convertor that needs to be changed, there is a tool to make sure it is centered perfectly J-44766:

Install seal and tighten the little torx bolts the remove the tool, replace the bell housing o-ring and the seals and gasket on the back of the pump. This was my second compromise, a company I bought the pump alignment tool from took 15 days to ship the tool, I did not want to open the pump without it and since I had no pressure problems I sadly left the pump sealed up. Smear the plastic spacer with trans-jel to keep it ion place and Carefully lower the the pump and bell housing assembly down and seat it, it should go flush, install the bolts and torque in a the pattern in the book page 116 to 16 ft lbs. replace the small shaft O-ring we mentioned in the beginning and the rotating assembly is complete, turn the output shaft to make sure nothing rubs or is bound. Pretty unlikely if all the clearances checked out.
Turn attention to the valve body area, install input and output speed sensors, the valve body to case seals (2) and you are ready to install the valve body and harness, line up the manual valve and shift indicator, carefully seat the valve body making sure it is flush, install all the bolts loosely and tighten it down, torque to 8 ft lbs in the sequence in the pub on page 119. Install harness and connect all connections route harness under where you can so it doesn't rub or get pinched in the pan, install new filter and pan and you are ready to seal the rear end. Remove and replace rear shaft seal and O-ring in output flange, put needle bearings and spacers in place on output shaft, place new gasket under rear cover and push it in place, mine took a little pressure to get it to seat, torque seven bolts to 16 ft lbs. Put spacer over shaft and install flange, install thick washer, then nut, place in park and torque output to 42 ft lbs.
Wet torque convertor shaft where the seal rides with new transmission fluid and slide in torque convertor making sure to engage the pump and seat it fully, from here on out make sure the torque convertor doesn't slip forward when installing the transmission. It is common to damage the front pump when trying to mate the bell housing to the engine if the torque convertor doesn't stay seated.
The new transmission is ready to install, I changed rear main seal on the engine and replaced 8 flex plate bolts with P/N 11227805885, and an OEM guibo all from http://www.bmwpartsupply.com , but did not change the down stream oxygen sensors like I originally planned.
I just ran out of time and money and had to get the car on the road. It took 8 and a half quarts of fluid, I filled the pan with the engine off, the started the engine and started filling until it ran out, then cycled the gears and kept adding fluid up to 8 and half, by that time it was up to temp. Dropped the car and test drove, it shifted like butter, no noise, no hesitation going into gear and no leaks. Yay!

Failure modes! So what did I find? I found what was causing the slipping, second coast clutch:

The one next to it was so overheated it warped:


Overheated frictions, worst at bottom, what the should look like at top, shiny silver, not blue.


All the old frictions, quite a few:

 

[ddaniel1]

Part 6
I will list all parts and tools use and add a discussion of what the minimum cost could be on this job, I do not count the cost of the tools because I intend to resell them or return them. I believe that the piston function could be tested with LP air and only changed if leakage was noted, a kit with no pistons is around 300.00 and the pistons are available individually. I may not have needed the new solenoids and I don't expect everyone to need a new harness like I did. With these things in mind I think that not counting tools the job could be done DIY for around 500.00 with a new filter and fluid. Remove changing all the pistons and this job is a piece of cake that could be done in a weekend. I hope this DIY is a valuable contribution to the site since I have gotten so much help with all of the other DIYs I have completed.

 

[wildirish317]

Very nice write up! Thank you.

 

[BMWCaptain]

Excellent job of describing this rebuild in detail. You went into detail about the tools and even provided some theory on how these things work.

I had the same problem with installing the thin piston ring. I had a big discussion with the manufacturer about it and still could not help me. I finally froze it for three days and then got it to work.

 

[ddaniel1]

Glad to hear I wasn't alone with that thin one, did you have any trouble with the one with 3 seals? Thanks for the reply,after googling the heck out of this subject, looks like this is the first DIY on the internet on this transmission. I still intend to finish the last post, just been tight on time.

 

[ddaniel1]

BTW captain, I see you have done both, how did the ZF compare in difficulty?

 

[BMWCaptain]

BTW captain, I see you have done both, how did the ZF compare in difficulty?

ZF is so much easier. For ZF pistons, you just replace the o-ring on the piston itself. No large cir clip either. You don't really need any special tools for the ZF, other than to compress the springs. Aligning the clutch packs take a little more time than on the GMs.

Pistons are the hardest part of the GM rebuild. Yes, I did have problems with the 3 lipped piston too. I think I got it after about 3 tries. I found freezing in the freezer with the cones on helped.

 

[CORVAIRWILD]

Great write up, I think my 03 xi has a German tranny tho. My former head mechanic and I rebuilt the 4L80E tranny from my '93 Silverado 3/4 ton 6.5TD pick. It was a GM authorized rebuilt with about 140k, (284k now) and I had a local shop rebuild it, but the guy was an incompetent thief, and it lasted 500 miles. So I dragged it 400 miles to Toronto, and installed it last fall, and I only put about 50 miles on it before the water pump started dripping last month, so I removed it, a very rusted thru bolt broke, and I drilled it, and penetrated the front cylinder, so who knows when I'll get to drive it again.
BTW, on the 4L80, we didn't use ANY special tools, everything is hammer and chiselable together lol

 

[jporter396]

thanks for dedicating your time to post this. if even one person is helped by this that is one very eased mind!

 

[CORVAIRWILD]

The down to earth explanation of the failed tool build really shows that these are hard to rebuild, and time is your enemy, and too bad folks don't ship their tools and parts the next day.
I buy a fair amount form ebay, and the vast majority of vendors get the parts out post-haste.
I bought all my tranny parts from winnerschoice transmission supply in New Jersey, and Rich Sr was invaluable with his advice... He went thru every part of my disassembled trans over the fone, as the amateur that I am, inspected them, and he told me EXACTLY what I needed, and took back unneeded parts...

http://myworld.ebay.com/winnerschoicetransmissionparts/&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2754

 

[ddaniel1]

Looks like those guys (winnerschoice) don't sell parts for the 5L40E. I do see the ZF.

 

[CORVAIRWILD]

I would call them, very pleasant to deal with. Is the 5L40 like the 4L80, in that the TH400 shares parts?

 

[Starless]

Dude, I'm saving this in pdf right now with all pictures and videos to use later if need be. People do not produce DIY guides of this caliber every day. AMAZING work! I take my hat off to you! :bow: Thank you.

 

[ddaniel1]

Starless, thanks, I always considered your DIYs as a standard to meet, I appreciate the feedback.

 

[2003silver330i]

Great DIY. If my ZF tranny ever decides to break down I may just rebuild it instead of replacing it. Hopefully you and BMWCaptain are still around to answer my questions if and when that day comes.

 

[ddaniel1]

Hope I will be around! I have not done a ZF yet but I am looking forward to learning it, there is a good DIY on here for ZFs.