2004 X3 2.5i Transmission Fluid Change... WTF is wrong with my fill plug?

hey guys, I'm new to the forum. I picked up my x3 about a month ago and decided that I wanted to change the ATF. Did a bunch of research about what fluid to use, the procedure and what not so I thought I was all good to do it today. Apparently my X3 had other plans.

I started off by looking for the fill plug, which I thought i found (see image one).

I noticed that the plug was recessed in a hole instead of visible at the surface so I took a pic to see how it looked like. (see image 2).

When I saw that, I knew I was **** out of luck but I tried cleaning it with WD40 to see if the torx pattern would appear, but it didn't. It looked like a small circle, no pattern at all. (see image 3).

So does anyone know what's going on? I made sure that I didn't miss any other bolts that could have been the fill plug, it was the only one that made sense. Another WTF is when I looked up the parts on Real OEM LINK they didn't outline what 7 and 8 were, and I didn't see 7 when I was looking for it on the transmission.

I thought you had to suck out the fluid via an access hole on top? Maybe recalling this wrong however.

Haven't done the transmission fluid change myself, but looking at the realoem diagrams I see:

- for the 5-speed unit, that thing you indicate is called a sealing cover (1st. link below)

- could #10 be the fill plug (a hex nut, not internal hex) as that doesn't show up on the later 6-speed unit?

- for the 6-speed transmission, the fill plug is clearly indicated and is a bit higher up from the pan (2nd. link)
- hard to see on the 5-speed diag. where that #10 actually is, but about the mid-point and higher up from the pan than where you were looking

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...90&hg=24&fg=15

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...03&hg=24&fg=15

Originally Posted by Supercourse

Haven't done the transmission fluid change myself, but looking at the realoem diagrams I see:

- for the 5-speed unit, that thing you indicate is called a sealing cover (1st. link below)

- could #10 be the fill plug (a hex nut, not internal hex) as that doesn't show up on the later 6-speed unit?

- for the 6-speed transmission, the fill plug is clearly indicated and is a bit higher up from the pan (2nd. link)
- hard to see on the 5-speed diag. where that #10 actually is, but about the mid-point and higher up from the pan than where you were looking

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...90&hg=24&fg=15

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...03&hg=24&fg=15

Thanks for the reply, at least now I know what the thing I was looking at was lol. If the fill plug is #10 then they put that in a stupid spot hah, I didn't even see anything obvious when I looked up higher, but I'll have to take a second look.

I still find it really odd why the 2.5i trans fill location is so off compared to other bmw that use the same transmission. It's usually in a location similar to this from what I've seen:

haven't had much time to look further in to it, but I was looking at the RealOEM diagram again (LINK) and just noticed the disclaimer at the bottom: "Items pictured but not listed are not installed on your vehicle."

Which explains why the numbers 7 and 8 aren't labeled. I know that 8 is the fill plug on other cars that use the same transmission. And looking at the top of my first picture I can see a plug that doesn't have a pattern but it matches the location of where 8 would go. I wonder if i can replace that with a fill plug assuming that plug can be taken out.

Same thing applies to the differentials - only the other way around.

Some have a proper drain plug and some have a blank - so you have to drain and fill through the one plug.

The question is .... if that blank can be removed (without use of a drill) will the hole be already threaded?

Might be risky.

Originally Posted by Supercourse

Same thing applies to the differentials - only the other way around.

Some have a proper drain plug and some have a blank - so you have to drain and fill through the one plug.

The question is .... if that blank can be removed (without use of a drill) will the hole be already threaded?

Might be risky.

ah yeah good call, I don't think I will risk taking it out in case there's no thread.

after digging around a bit more I realized that the fill plug is number 10 on the diagram. Supercourse called it.

I figured it out by looking at an X5 transmission fluid change DIY and saw that the fill plug was a 17mm outer hex which is number 7 in this diagram: LINK. This isn't installed in the x3, but number 10 is the same part number as number 7. Can't believe it took me that long to realize that *facepalm*. Now i just have to locate it on my car.