<E30> New Final Drive and Transmission oil

[Michiel van Wessem <jmvw@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

Today I put new oil in both the final drive and transmission (Getrag 260 5
speed) of my 87 325es. It took me about 2 hours and it was the biggest mess
I've ever made. I'll tell you why.

I wanted the car to be level to change the lubricants. Our driveway isn't
level, so I packed everything I'd need into the trunk and went to an unused
parking lot. I put the car on four jack stands, put the drain pan under the
final drive and removed the drain plug. It was windy and cold. The wind
blew the stream of oil away from the pan. To catch the oil better, I put
the cardboard box that my oil had come in under the drain pan. The drain
pan fell off the cardboard box and landed upside down. Major oil spill. TV
crews came to film the birds that got stuck in it.

To put the new oil in, I had a cheap contraption from Pep Boys that is
supposed to screw onto your oil bottle and then you can just squeeze the
oil bottle and it'll shoot the oil through a transparent hose. It also has
a valve to stop the flow. Unfortunately this thing doesn't screw onto
Redline quart bottles, but I could kind of jam it on. In the store the hose
had been folded double with a rubber band around it. I had to keep this
kink pinched with my fingers to prevent it from stopping the flow of oil.
Finally, the way that shut-off valve worked, it kept wanting to close by
itself. 

Between the valve wanting to close, the kink wanting to stop the oil, the
bottle wanting to come loose from the hose and not having a lot of room to
hold the slippery bottle upside down and squeeze it, putting in oil was an
ordeal and it took most of my time. For the transmission it was even harder
then for the final drive. I would recommend anyone who has to add
lubricants in these places to spend the money and buy a decent pump. 

Part of the old oil from the final drive seemed to have metal in it. The
transmission had a magnetic drain plug and there was some metal on this,
but not a lot.

As I mentioned, I used Redline oils. I got these by mail order from the
Ultimate Garage. What I order there I usually get the next day and I like
that (plug for Steve D. :)

Redline Oil was very helpful in giving me information about their products.
They've send me a folder with a lot of detailed information. 

In the final drive, I used Redline 75W90NS. This is different from Redline
75W90 in that it doesn't have a friction modifier which makes things even
more slippery. Usually people use 75W90 for street applications. I
understand 75W90NS is commonly used in racing together with a separate
additive to fine tune the amount of slip in limited slip differentials.
Dave Granquist from Redline Oil wrote me this about it:

>We recommend the 75W90 in open as well as limited slip differentials
>because the friction modifier helps reduce the friction, reduces the
>temperature on the gear face as well as the fluid temperature. It is
>beneficial to use the friction modifier, but the 75W90NS will work.

I used the 75W90NS because I had already ordered it and I have no doubt it
will do a fine job for me.

For the transmission I used Redline MTL. Dave Granquist told me there might
be a label on the transmission, which indicates what lubricant to use.

>The label should be affixed to the passanger side bell housing.
>In '86 to '92 BMW's with Green Label - MT-90
>			Red Label - D4ATF
>			No Label - MTL
>
>Units with D4ATF or MT-90 use 17mm external hex drain and fill plugs.
>Units with MTL use 17mm internal hex drain and fill plugs.
>
>I would recommend finding out what fluid should be in your transmission, as
>you can see there is a wide variety of fluids. The MTL is recommended in
>the '85 and earlier BMW transmissions.

My transmission had no label. Of course this may have peeled off over time.
It did have external hex plugs. This and the fact that my car is from 87
would suggest to use MT-90. Because it seems to me that these lubricants
are similar (MTL is 75W/80W and MT-90 is 75W90) and because I'm stubborn, I
stayed with the MTL that I had. 

After I was done, I drove to the nearby food store, got a 25 lbs. bag of
cheap kitty litter and I went back and poured this out over the oil puddles
that I had made. Tomorrow I'll go back with a dustpan and sweep it up. A
shower got rid of the oil in my hair.

The results are satisfying. As soon as I drove away I noticed how smooth
the cold shifting was. Very nice. Things have become quieter too. I may
have been slightly low on these lubricants before. The side seals on my
final drive as well as the rear transmission seal have been sweating out
oil ever since I got the car. I'll see how this is affected by the new
lubricants. 

Good luck,

Michiel (87 325es http://www.vramp.net/~jmvw/cars/BMW/ )

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