Re: 1999 E39 Transmission question


"Scott Dorsey" <kludge@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:hog4oi$jlg$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Jeff Strickland <crwlrjeff@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I wish I knew more about transmissions, but I don't. The fluid guide for
the
THM-R1 says to use Dexron III / Mercon, but the GM 5L40E fluid guide says
to
use only Texico ETL 7045, or a specific BMW part number. The THM
transmission fluid is _NOT_ shown as a "lifetime" fluid, whereas the 5L40E
fluid is indicated as "lifetime."

There is no such thing as a lifetime fluid. I don't care WHAT GM says
or what BMW says. They just want to sell you a new car when yours fails.


I get that. My point was that the THM transmission does not claim to be
lifetime, and therefore should have a published fluid change interval in the
Owner's Manual. The GM 5L40E claims that it is lifetime fluid, and the
Owner's Manual states this plainly. I don't happen to agree with the claim
of "lifetime," anymore because of the experience I had with one car.





I don't know what the impact would be of replacing the fluid with a
different fluid -- switching to your favorite brand of synthetic for
instance. I was lead to believe that it's damn near impossible to get all
of
the fluid out of the transmission and torque converter, which makes me
wonder if the remaining old fluid would contaminate the new synthetic
fluid
one was switching to.

Yes, when you do a fluid change, you only change about half the fluid in
the system, if it's an automatic transmission. This means that whatever
fluid you use needs to meet the BMW specs and it needs to be compatible
with
the original materials. That's why I recommended the Red Line and Royal
Purple fluids, both of which are certified to meet the BMW specs.

There are others out there, too.

I was under the impression that the original poster had a manual, though,
and with a manual things are a little different in that the stuff is not
being used as a working fluid, just for lubrication. So the
characteristics
that are important are different ones. Again, Red Line and Royal Purple
make fluids that meet the BMW specs, but the good news is that it's a
whole
lot easier to flush everything out and there's no torque converter to hold
fluid in.

Rough shifting into second and third on the manual can also be caused by
linkage alignment issues and the linkages possibly needing lubrication.
Still, it's more than time to change the fluid and I'd do that first.
--scott


I was thinking he has an automatic because he just bought, or was still
considering the purchase, the car from an old lady that only drove to the
grocery store. Certainly there are old ladies out there that are adept at
the workings of the extra pedal and the near constant manuvering of the
lever, but most 5 Series cars in the States are automatics so the old lady
on her way to fill the fridge can slip the lever into D and forget about it.
I don't think I have ever seen a 5 Series with a stick shift. Sure there
might be some, but I don't recall seeing one. Well, the exception being the
M5, where I would expect more sticks that automatics, but I haven't looked
all that closely to say one way or the other.











.

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