Tranny and differential fluid

Time for my Inspection II and the manual says to change the Tranny and differential fluid. I called the dealer and they don't sell it by the quart, only by the gallon at like $50 each. Anyone know what I should use and where to get it?

Suck it up and get a few friends together and do a few trannies. 5 Liter bottle, $120 with BMW CCA discount. One bottle will do about 3 cars.

Same with diff fluid.

WHile I would use other fluids in other BMWs, I stick with factory fluids in the M3 due to warranty concerns. Especially in the diff, which is not like any other BMW diff.

Some dealers will sell you a quart or so if you bring your own clean container. They buy it in bulk packages.

Thanks Pinecone, but there ought to be a law against this type of thievery by BMW. Anything to keep us D-I-Y'ers from doing it ourselves.

Originally Posted by jayf

Thanks Pinecone, but there ought to be a law against this type of thievery by BMW. Anything to keep us D-I-Y'ers from doing it ourselves.

It's enough to do trannies in two M3s, and one regular E46. It's also a much better fluid -- make absolutely certain that you get BMW MTF-LT2. I need to pick up another bottle myself.

Yeah, so it is only about $40 per car. But, if you can't afford to maintain it, you can't really afford the car.

lol i never heard of anyone call gear oil -diff oil!!!

Originally Posted by EuroRocket

lol i never heard of anyone call gear oil -diff oil!!!

Huh?

We are talking about two different fluids. One for the tranny, and one for the diff. Both are special BMW fluids. LTF-2 for the tranny, XJ for the diff. ESPECIALLY the diff fluid.

You could use Royal Purple or RedLine or Mobil 1 in the tranny, but since at leat one board member has had a tranny replaced, I wouldn't want to give BMW any excuse to make good on their warranty (within warranty period, outside of warranty, do what makes you happy).

Be sure to get limited slip fluid for your M3. Most dealers are getting their oil from drums which are for all BMWs. Only M-cars have limited slip and most Dealers have no clue. Using regular oil will damage the clutches in time. The correct oil is #83222282583. My ex-dealer almost ruined my diffy because they used the wrong oil at Insp 2.

The correct XJ is SAF-XJ + FM Booster, bmw 83222282583. This oil is correct for limited slip which M-cars have. Any other oil without the booster is primarily for bmw's without limited slip which is all bmws except for M-cars.

I can't believe the dealer would use the wrong oils in an M car, that really sucks.

This hasn't been a problem at most dealers for a while now. But good to check.

BMW is recommending a new fluid for their limited slip differentials, 83222282583. If dealers use the old fluid, 83221470080, the differential is destined to start grinding. There is a SIB 330102, but the dealers are interpreting it a bit foolishly, some think, the differential has got to grind a bit before adding this special oil. To avoid a problem, that is, if the dealer refuses to put in the new oil unless it grinds, it might be best to say you hear some grinding when the car is cold when making left or right turns. Or, you can accept what they say and change to the new oil when it begins to grind which won't be long on the old oil. Just hope you are still in warranty because if long term damage occurs, it takes $3K to get it right at the BMW dealer.

Originally Posted by johnw

BMW is recommending a new fluid for their limited slip differentials, 83222282583. If dealers use the old fluid, 83221470080, the differential is destined to start grinding. There is a SIB 330102, but the dealers are interpreting it a bit foolishly, some think, the differential has got to grind a bit before adding this special oil. To avoid a problem, that is, if the dealer refuses to put in the new oil unless it grinds, it might be best to say you hear some grinding when the car is cold when making left or right turns. Or, you can accept what they say and change to the new oil when it begins to grind which won't be long on the old oil. Just hope you are still in warranty because if long term damage occurs, it takes $3K to get it right at the BMW dealer.

Good God has your useless propaganda spread to bimmerfest now?

Please post the SIB then.

Back in 2002 when the grinding problem came to light, the SIB did say to ONLY use the new fluid when the customer compains of grinding, and that the fluid was NOT to be used all the time. In fact the SIB says to change out the special fluid after a certain number of miles.

Originally Posted by Pinecone

Please post the SIB then.

Back in 2002 when the grinding problem came to light, the SIB did say to ONLY use the new fluid when the customer compains of grinding, and that the fluid was NOT to be used all the time. In fact the SIB says to change out the special fluid after a certain number of miles.

Here's a link to the SIB and also a thread where we're having this discussion. The SIB says that the oil with the FM booster is for diffs that grind. It makes no mention of an "across the board" change for the diff oil. Johnw & Zimmer insist that the oil with the FM booster is the oil that all M3's are supposed to have. I would believe it if they could prove it but whenever I ask for proof they convieniently ignore my posts. The thing is that some dealers are putting the oil with the FM booster in at the 1200 miles service and acting as if it's the proper oil, whereas other dealers are using the standard 080 LSD oil. Read through the thread and you'll see what I'm talking about. Either way I'd like to get to the bottom of this.

http://www.thatsoundsagoodidea.com/b...ins_330102.pdf

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=83475

Good god, you were embarrassly run off M3forum...do your brain-dead preaching somewhere else.

OK, the first link is the newer SIB than teh one I had mine serviced under. The older one said to replace the special fluid with standard fluid after a certain interval. This one says that the special oil should be used from then on.

But again, it only says that it should be replaced IF there is a problem. I suspect the special fluid actually increases the slip in the diff, just like running more friction modifier does in any LSD. And that is why some racers run diff fluid without ANY FM to increase the lockup.

Originally Posted by johnw

Good god, you were embarrassly run off M3forum...do your brain-dead preaching somewhere else.

First of all "embarrassly" isn't a word. Second, I wasn't run off from anywhere if anything you're the one who's left the thread because you can't come up with any proof. Third, I'm not "preaching" anything, I'm just trying to find the correct answer to this question and I could really care less if you're right or wrong. What I do care about is getting to the bottom of this and making sure that false information isn't spread on the message boards.

Don't get mad at me because I won't allow you to advise people without questioning your credibility. Empty insults will not hide the fact that you have no factual information to prove what you're suggesting. If you really want to earn the respect of the people here why don't you devote some time to researching this and help us out by actually providing some credible evidence to back up what you're saying. I can't understand why you don't get this, but just because "you say so" or "you think so" doesn't mean you're right.

Originally Posted by Pinecone

OK, the first link is the newer SIB than teh one I had mine serviced under. The older one said to replace the special fluid with standard fluid after a certain interval. This one says that the special oil should be used from then on.

But again, it only says that it should be replaced IF there is a problem. I suspect the special fluid actually increases the slip in the diff, just like running more friction modifier does in any LSD. And that is why some racers run diff fluid without ANY FM to increase the lockup.

This is the same way I interpret the SIB. In fact the guy I spoke to at the dealer told me if I was racing the car that I wouldn't want the oil with the FM booster, so this further makes me believe that 080 is the proper oil to run if you do not have grinding issues. Someone also mentioned that the FM booster might increase the slip in the diff and wasn't really an ideal solution, but I forget who. Wouldn't BMW publish a TSB if the specified diff oil was to be changed in ALL M3's?

Originally Posted by Pinecone

Please post the SIB then.

This post is for reference and anyone coming across this in the future:

http://www.bmwtis.com/tsb/bulletins/bulletin_graphic_temp/B330102g.htm

http://www.bmwtis.com/tsb/bulletins/...p/B330102g.htm